August 22, 2025 | 1:50 p.m.
With AI, maybe trust but definitely verify
I will start out by admitting my biases here.
4,447 Opinions results
August 20, 2025 | 12:39 p.m.Hotel conversions: High hopes, hidden landmines
It’s a tough time for hotel developers. New projects are sidelined by elevated construction costs, scarce financing and painful entitlement timelines. Stabilized asset purchases aren’t faring much better as rising cap rates and expensive debt are breaking underwriting. These market conditions have turned the spotlight on conversions, which, ostensibly, require less construction, less financing and less work overall.
August 19, 2025 | 1:11 p.m.Incorporating AI into a 2026 hotel business plan
Should we use artificial intelligence?
August 18, 2025 | 12:29 p.m.Overtourism on Everest smacks of tourism over-ego
The Asian country of Nepal has decided to allow free ascents up 97 of its mountains for at least for the next two years.
August 15, 2025 | 12:33 p.m.Will 2026 be good, or is it just far enough away to not matter?
Let me open today's blog with a complaint: As much as I love the Hotel Data Conference every year, what I didn't love about it this year was the complete overlap with hotel earnings season.
August 13, 2025 | 12:37 p.m.How to audit your hotel's inquiry form to maximize valuable requests
With all the constant, fast-paced changes to both paid and organic search engine optimization, and now the need to monitor your GEO (generative engine optimization), there’s no doubt your digital marketing rep is busier than ever.
August 12, 2025 | 1:41 p.m.Five questions to ask your food-and-beverage director each month
Hotel owners and general managers tend to focus on the rooms department, which is understandable given it typically generates the greatest revenues and contribution margins.- August 11, 2025 | 12:52 p.m.
Hotel, travel spend consistent despite inflation, costs
As the planet’s publicly listed hotel firms report their half-year 2025 earnings, their CEOs are being careful to offset generally good numbers with talk of demand and operational cost pressures. 
August 6, 2025 | 12:52 p.m.Forget the funnel. Welcome to AI: The new distribution channel
Twenty-five years ago, could you have imagined how the internet would transform our lives? Everything changed with one click. If I tell my friends’ kids how I used to do research, they look at me like I’m from another planet — and honestly, I can’t blame them.
August 5, 2025 | 12:26 p.m.What potential hotel investors need to know about investing today
Who wants to buy a hotel these days?- August 4, 2025 | 12:24 p.m.
Six places to visit when in Nashville for STR’s Hotel Data Conference
When this blog publishes, I will be in Nashville, Tennessee. It's my 11th trip to the Music City to attend STR’s Hotel Data Conference, a three-day event of data, data and more data about the hotel industry. - August 1, 2025 | 1:02 p.m.
Looking for the truth in Nashville
As I sit here to write this, we're only partially through the hotel industry earnings season, but some takeaways are already coming into focus. 
July 30, 2025 | 1:00 p.m.How to balance brand standards with franchisee flexibility
Franchised hotels represent a delicate balancing act. Brand standards can offer an outline for success, but if they’re too strict, they can also limit operators’ ability to deliver personalized, localized experiences to their guests.
July 29, 2025 | 12:24 p.m.Who owns the hotel's AV system?
It seems like a simple question, yet it often goes unanswered. Audiovisual systems can cost well into the millions of dollars, but they’re often forgotten until a failure creates a problem for everyone.- July 28, 2025 | 12:36 p.m.
My accent betrayed me during Las Vegas Treasure Island pirate interview
Last week I received a WhatsApp message from a contact in the industry to alert me that Accor had entered the Las Vegas market. - July 25, 2025 | 12:28 p.m.
Solar is still a bright idea
As a reporter, I get a lot of news releases in my inbox every day. - July 23, 2025 | 1:04 p.m.
Hotel revenue management: 6 strategies that work
If you're leading revenue strategy for a hotel, you probably already know the fundamentals. What separates a well-run property from one that consistently outperforms its competitive set isn't just systems or software. You’ll need to fine-tune daily execution, sound judgment and market fluency. 
July 22, 2025 | 1:03 p.m.AI agents, fruit-flavored water and the ingredient to hotel differentiation
In the mid-90s, cucumber- or fruit-infused water felt like a novel indulgence at luxury spas. Today, those once-refreshing touches — delivered via clear acrylic dispensers — have become so common that they often fade into the background. This shift illustrates a broader phenomenon in hospitality: “amenity fatigue,” where once-exciting hospitality offerings become expected and forgettable.- July 21, 2025 | 1:41 p.m.
UK airport drop-off charges and train fares continue to send wrong messages
This month, the cost of dropping someone off at a British airport, the so-called “kiss-and-fly” tax, went up — of course it went up, not down — at most from £5 ($6.70) to £7 ($9.38). - July 18, 2025 | 1:52 p.m.
What this industry needs is better communication
I've been covering this industry for a decade now. And that's not a matter of rounding, this month officially marks my 10th anniversary at this news organization, once referred to as Hotel News Now and more recently CoStar News Hotels.