In our June 28, 2018 post on District of Columbia voters approving Initiative 77, which would incrementally increase the minimum cash wage for tipped workers to $15.00 per hour by July 1, 2025, and effectively eliminate the tip credit staring July 1, 2026, we noted the possibility of action by the D.C. Council to amend or overturn it.

The hospitality universe is constantly shifting and, more importantly, growing. In his opening message at RSS 2018, Duetto CEO Patrick Bosworth encouraged the hoteliers, asset managers and technologists gathered there to see opportunities for better Revenue Strategy, where others might only see obstacles.

Journera, the data and analytics platform launched by former Orbitz boss Jeff Katz, has raised Series A funding of $9 million.

The sixth annual Revenue Strategy Summit brought together technology innovators and hospitality industry leaders, including brand executives and asset managers, to examine the challenges hotels face in maintaining rate growth and managing a distribution landscape that gets more complicated by the day.

HFTP is pleased to announce the official slate for the 2018–2019 Global Board of Directors. Each year, the nominating committee — comprised of past HFTP Global past presidents, advisory council chairs and chapter presidents — is tasked with selecting HFTP members to replace the outgoing directors of the HFTP Global Board.

Late last month, California passed a sweeping consumer privacy law that might force significant changes on companies that deal in personal data - and especially those operating in the digital space. The law's passage comes on the heels of a few days of intense negotiation among privacy advocates, technology startups, network providers, Silicon Valley internet companies, and others.

When it comes to hospitality research, there is ordinary, and then there is Tanya Venegas. Tanya started as a teaching assistant working for the University of Houston in 2002. She was assigned to the HFTP Research Center which was founded as part of HFTP’s initiative to provide the hospitality industry with the highest quality resources and research.

Chapters provide a wide array of benefits to an association’s membership — not the least of which is the collaborative building of knowledge and camaraderie among local and like-minded industry professionals.

For many industries, the summer months mean one thing: Budget season is almost here. But how do you prepare for Budget season? What’s the best way to get ahead of the rapidly changing tide of technology in the digital marketing world? One word: ENGAGE 2018. If you’ve been to past ENGAGE conferences, you know that it’s unique in the world of customer conferences.

HITEC Houston, which attracted HFTP’s largest event attendance in history, may now be behind us but the year is far from over. At the end of this month on July 28 is the new Club Forum in Sarasota, Florida USA. Annual Convention is approaching quickly, taking place October 24-26, 2018 at the Omni Louisville Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky USA. And, capping off the 2018 events calendar is HITEC Dubai, which will be held December 5-6, 2018 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, UAE.

Ever think about growing your business with the plan to sell it someday, cashing in on your hard-earned work over the years? Or if you’re an employee with stock options, are you aware of the increases in value you can make with your efforts?

It has been announced that the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching 'enforcement action' against various OTAs to ensure that large online travel sites are fully complying with consumer protection law. The brunt of the CMA's investigation - launched in October 2017 - is concerned with whether consumers are being 'misled' by pressure- selling tactics, such as 'One room left!' messages, and hidden fees & charges that undercut any 'Best rate guarantee' the OTA may be displaying.

Would you go on a diet without knowing or controlling your weight and without using scales? Then why, as a professional, do you want to boost your direct sales without knowing its cost?

Given 15 million online hotel reservations are made on bogus third-party sites every year, travellers and guests are on high alert about being scammed. These rogue websites trick people into thinking they’re reserving directly with their hotel of choice then go on to steal their information and money. However, travellers aren’t the only people in the industry who should be worried; your hotel business is just as much of a target as anyone else, and you need to be aware of what phishing is and how to stop it.

Online travel agency group Tripsta has suspended operations in the wake of a failed new business plan that is being blamed on "certain partners".

It’s no secret that Amazon is extremely well-positioned to disrupt digital advertising, with a massive global customer base, hundreds of millions of Prime subscribers, tremendous data assets and large-scale investments in ad tech infrastructure. With the latest news that it will be placing Echo devices in hotel rooms across the country, starting with Marriott hotels, there’s now potentially even a bigger implication for travel advertisers. Amazon is not thinking about launching into the travel industry - Amazon is in the travel industry.

The Club & Hotel Controllers Conference was my first HFTP event, and I can assure you, it will not be my last! Each person involved in it went above and beyond to make sure everything from registration onward ran smoothly. Staff members and volunteers were welcoming and helpful, and the venue was perfectly signaled so that there was no trouble finding the allocated rooms for the sessions — and believe me, given the size of the George R. Brown Convention Center, this is not an easy feat!

The ultimate goal of every hotel business is to produce more and consume less by optimising time and budget to achieve a greater level of efficiency. Here are five quick tips to help tackle productivity at your hotel:

Months after becoming the first Costa Rican property management system (PMS) provider to ensure hotel compliance with the mandatory use of an electronic billing system, Seven Suite has partnered with the global hotel industry’s leading cloud platform, SiteMinder, to further operational efficiencies for local hoteliers.

European travel group eDreams Odigeo has reached €500 million in annual revenue for the first time in its history, crediting growth in mobile as a significant factor.

Announced in May, the theme for our sister brand Phocuswright's flagship annual conference is the "Power Paradox". The brainiacs at Phocuswright (they are, without doubt, the smartest group of analysts looking at the digital travel economy anywhere in the industry) traditionally spend time each year trying to establish what are the key trends and developments taking place across the sector.

It was my first HITEC. I ensure it will not be the ONLY one. I am surprised by how much I learned and gained from attending this event. I am also impressed by how organized this event was, especially considering the size of the conference.

The Best Way to Spend your Money - KAYAK Please login to view the whole article - or subscribe here For a free two week trial to EyeforTravel OnDemand, please click here.

Panel Q&A: The Best Way to Spend your Money Please login to view the whole article - or subscribe here For a free two week trial to EyeforTravel OnDemand, please click here.

Not long ago, I asked 100 CEOs attending a conference how many of them were currently involved in a significant business transformation. Nearly all of them raised their hands, which was no surprise. According to a study by BCG, 85% of companies have undertaken a transformation during the past decade. The same research found that nearly 75% of those transformations fail to improve business performance, either short-term or long-term. So why is transformation so difficult to achieve?

Minor International (MINT) has announced its recent acquisition of a 25.2 percent stake in NH Hotel Group as part of a two-tranche transaction with HNA Group.