Future of Lodging

Talk about eye candy. In our first-ever list of top hotel design firms, we spotlight the interior designs and architectural masterworks that are making hotels more comfortable, sustainable, and breathtaking.

Whether it is major online travel agencies selecting focus markets, or under-the-radar property managers like Frontdesk deciding to target second-tier cities, companies always have to strategically pick their spots. Sometimes there can be riches in the hinterlands.

It's not always apparent in the hyper-luxury narrative, but Dubai has a growing creative class. And 25hours is catering to it with a lobby and hotel that feels like a heartbeat in the middle of a financial district in the city. They are first movers for a coming flood of more lifestyle brands seeking a footprint in the city.

Management smugness can doom any company to falling behind. So it's reassuring to see hotel giants like Marriott International make innovation efforts and guest feedback more visible and central.

Booking Holdings and Expedia are changing their marketing strategies, a healthy development. Meanwhile, Airbnb widened its marketing edge.

How would you like to be a Sonder exec boasting that your free cash flow margin improved from negative 127 percent a year ago to negative 37 percent in the second quarter? Well, that's one measure of progress.

Vacasa is adding homes to manage in 2022 at half the pace of 2021 in the name of profitability. Without the big mergers and acquisitions of years past, Vacasa is pressuring its sales force to get more productive or hit the road.

Bigger rooms and kid-friendly accommodations yield longer stays — but come at a higher cost for those booking them, and for hotel operations teams.

Hyatt's move to change its revenue management software foreshadows a broader trend. Expect more hotel companies to embrace automation while looking at a bigger picture than just the supply and demand of rooms.

Airbnb leads the pack by far in its recovery from pre-pandemic 2019. But will that disparity diminish once the recovery of cities, and long-haul travel accelerates?