Samantha Shankman

Hotels are ambitiously opening new rooms, entering new markets, and increasing rates in order to take advantage of growing outbound travel, however, their growth should be tempered by memories of what too much supply and too little demand felt like during the downturn.

From luxury to boutique brands, changes in how travelers research, book, and experience hotels are impacting key experiences and forcing hoteliers to innovate on a company-wide and brand level basis.

Starwood is a leader in the lifestyle sector, but its international footprint and select-service room volume falls short of its competitors' at a time when the entire industry is looking forward to greater growth and profits.

Dixon is taking an active role in convincing federal officials of tourism's economic importance -- an important step that's needed to keep New York on the top in terms of international arrivals, and improve the experience of anyone arriving in the U.S. from abroad.

The promise of a one-of-a-kind eclair probably isn't enough to convince a traveler to stay at Le Meridien, but it does provide an accessible entry point to discuss and relay the values of the hotel brand.

Philadelphia will make the most of its selection by turning attendees' visits into potential for future events, widespread media coverage, and increased affinity among national decision-makers.

In order for hotels to drive direct bookings, it's better to keep customers engaged and on their websites by providing an unbiased, less controlled take on the property than have them leave and seek out other review and booking channels.

Route location plays a huge part in Alaska's and Hawaiian's continued success. A better indicator of aviation progress is overall industry on-time pefromance, record, which continues to decline.

Marriott is following through on the common ideologies of content marketing more than any other brand, which will make its initiatives even more fascinating to watch in a few years when we can tell whether they actually do or don't work.

Smart travel startups realize that the real money to be made is on the back-end and they’re creating solutions that in-house teams haven’t yet thought out.