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1. Tennis player says trophy stolen from hotel room during US Open
Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea apparently had a recent tournament trophy stolen from her New York City hotel room while competing at the U.S. Open, ESPN reports.
The 35-year-old posted on Instagram hoping for help getting it returned.
"Whoever stole my Cleveland trophy from room 314 at The Fifty Sonesta please give it back!" Cîrstea wrote in an Instagram story. "It has NO material value, just sentimental value. It would be [greatly] appreciated!"
2. Economists increasingly worried about White House-Fed conflict
Economists are warning that the broader market is underestimating how dangerous President Donald Trump's ongoing feud with the U.S. Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell could be for the long-term health of the U.S. economy, The Financial Times reports.
The news outlet's recent survey of economists in the U.S. and Europe showed 94% worry once Powell leaves, the Fed will make a "permanent shift at the Fed toward prioritizing jobs and lowering government borrowing costs."
“The Fed will become a puppet of the government,” said Christiane Baumeister, an economist at University of Notre Dame, who was among the respondents.
Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank and former head of the International Monetary Fund, is also raising alarms that a lack of independence at the Fed will have major negative implications, according to Business Insider.
"If it were no longer independent for this purpose, and instead depended on the dictates of one person or another, then I believe the balance of the U.S. economy, and consequently the effects this has on the entire world — since it is the largest economy in the world — would be very troubling," Lagarde said on French radio station Radio Classique.
3. How to build a better commercial strategy team
Building the ideal commercial strategy team at a hotel company comes down to getting everyone on the same page, and that includes aligning metrics and incentives, CoStar News' Natalie Harms reports.
"In the field, we find that directors of sales and directors of revenue many times run in parallel, and each one has their own objective, and we want to break those silos, and we want to make sure that there's more collaboration and cohesiveness," Lior Sekler, chief commercial officer at HRI Lodging, said at the 2025 Hotel Data Conference.
He stressed that sharing information is key to breaking down those silos.
"You don't know what you don't know," he said. "Everybody was focused on their own discipline, and there was no sharing of information, ideas, innovation. And now that all of the disciplines and all of the engines are working together, there's more of that challenge. ... We spend a lot of time on education, both at our level, the corporate level, as well as the field."
4. Subscription-based travel company takes hit due to weak membership growth
Spain-based air and hotel booking company eDreams ODIGEO saw shares drop 10% this morning after news that growth for it's subscription platform slowed in the second quarter, Reuters reports.
The company is a rarity in travel in deriving the majority of its revenue — 75% — from subscriptions, according to the news outlet. Subscribers grew by 20% in the quarter, compared to expectations of 25%.
"Though global air travel demand is growing at a slower pace than expected by airlines body IATA, eDreams' transition to a subscription-based business has shielded it from industry fluctuations," Reuters reports. "As a result of the increase in subscribers, the company swung to a net profit of 13.6 million euros in the April to June period, the first quarter of its accounting year, from a net loss of 1.2 million euros in the same period last year."
5. Chicago housekeepers say they are locked out due to labor dispute
Housekeepers are now protesting outside a downtown Chicago Holiday Inn and Suites saying they've been locked out due to an ongoing labor dispute with the hotel's ownership, CBS News reports.
While workers at the property voted to join the hospitality union Unite Here Local 1 in April 2023, they've been unable to reach a deal for a first union contract in the following two years.
CBS reports the property is owned and operated by affiliates of Illinois-based Hoffman Estates and Houston-based Level X Group.