Category: Recent News

At BTO 2024, Simone Puorto surprised the audience with a groundbreaking presentation: his keynote was entirely delivered by a digital clone created with advanced AI technologies. This avatar, built from 25 years of personal and professional content, perfectly replicated not only his communication style but also his voice, gestures, and signature provocative and philosophical approach. A concrete demonstration of AI’s potential, the presentation pushed the hospitality industry to reflect on the future of human-artificial interaction. Below is an exclusive interview in which Simone shares how his digital clone project came to life and the implications this innovation could have for the future.

In mid-November 2024, Adam Mogelonsky delivered the keynote speech at the BITAC Owners Fall 2024 conference on the topic of luxury and ultraluxury hotels, and some of the incredible ways that they are supporting their nightly rates.

We’ve all been there, anxiously checking if our salmon is that perfect shade of pink to know if it’s done. But here’s the thing: color isn’t always a reliable guide. Relying on it alone can leave you with dry, overcooked salmon or a raw center. Enter sous-vide cooking under the guidance of our Chef Cyrille Lecossois, Senior Lecturer at EHL and sous-vide expert: the foolproof method that focuses on temperature, not color. With precise temperature control, sous-vide takes the guesswork out of cooking and delivers salmon that’s perfectly tender every time.

On Tuesday 17th December, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enacted a new rule banning hidden “junk fees” in hotel bookings, vacation rentals, and event tickets. This mandate, which will go into effect in 120 days, requires that all mandatory fees like resort fees and cleaning charges be disclosed upfront, rather than at the final stages of booking. It’s designed to eliminate “drip pricing,” where a customer thinks they’re receiving a certain price until fees are added later on in the booking process.

Hotel owner, operator, and developer, Hotel Equities (HE), reflects on 2024’s achievements driven by partnerships, industry accolades, guest satisfaction, and employee growth initiatives, and shares optimism for the year ahead. This year, through collaborative goal setting and a commitment to delivering exceptional experiences and results, Hotel Equities continued to elevate its impact on clients, guests, and associates.

A total of 649 deals (mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity and venture financing) were announced in the travel and tourism sector during January-November 2024, which represents a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 5.9% compared to the 690 deals announced during the same period in 2023, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

When was the last time your hotel staff had data security training? The speed at which cyber criminals adapt their tactics can be frightening, and the only way to keep your business – and your guests – safe is to regularly retrain your team in the latest best practices for security.

Garner hotels, a new midscale conversion brand from IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), proudly commemorates a year of growth and success as it celebrates the first anniversary of its inaugural property opening in Auburn, Wash. After becoming IHG’s 19th global brand in August 2023, Garner hotels continues to build momentum through an owner-friendly conversion model, commitment to excellent service and prioritization of core traveler needs at an affordable price point.

Your body has its own internal thermostat, but scientific research has confirmed that your body also has a lipostat – a gauge that works to keep body fat percentage from changing quickly. The holiday season presents a challenge for maintaining healthy habits and can alter a person’s lipostatic set points to favor a higher body fat percentage, which in turn, due to the effects of compounding, makes it harder each year to lose weight.

For this, new creative methods are essential for hospitality to leverage teaching excellence based on the transfer of knowledge among professionals, i.e., experts from the industry who wish to expand their professional skills to include practical facilitation and teaching.