Our colleagues Susan Gross Sholinsky, Nancy Gunzenhauser Popper, and Amanda M. Gómez at Epstein Becker Green has a post on the Retail Labor and Employment Law blog that will be of interest to our readers in the hospitality industry: “NYC Commission on Human Rights Issues Guidance on Employers’ Obligations Under the City’s Disability Discrimination Laws.”

Ten years on from the financial crisis, stock markets are regularly reaching new highs and volatility levels new lows. The financial industry has enthusiastically and profitably embraced big data and computational algorithms, emboldened by the many triumphs of machine learning. However, it is imperative we question the confidence placed in the new generation of quantitative models, innovations which could, as William Dudley warned, “lead to excess and put the [financial] system at risk.”

The New York City Commission on Human Rights (the “Commission”) recently proposed new rules (“Proposed Rules”), which, among other things, define various terms related to gender identity, re-enforce recent statutory changes to the definition of the term “gender,” and clarify the scope of protections afforded gender identity status under the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”). If the proposed rules are adopted, the Commission’s interpretation of the NYCHRL will establish broad protections for individuals covered by the law’s prohibition against discrimination based on gender identity.

Ever since the forced bankruptcy of the investment bank Lehman Brothers triggered the financial crisis 10 years ago, regulators, risk managers, and central bankers around the globe have focused on shoring up banks’ ability to withstand financial shocks.

Pending the results of a lawsuit challenging the medical requirements under the Hotel Employees Health and Safety Initiative (“I-124”), the City of Seattle has agreed to delay enforcement of Part 3 of that law. Part 3 requires hotels with 100 or more guest rooms to provide insurance at no greater than 5% of medical costs to certain low wage workers, as defined under I-124. If a low wage employee does not enroll in insurance or pays more than 5% of wages toward insurance costs, the hotel employer is required to provide a healthcare subsidy to the employee.

It may sound absurd to you if a hospitality student wants to work for banks such as UBS? However, it is feasible and indeed happened in the past.

Here's an unorthodox thought in business: TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer knows that the company's value proposition for its customers can remain strong even when the financials can face difficulties every once in a while. That's a truism that sometimes get lost when pundits focus merely on stock price variations.

The owner of a fraudulent reviews business has been sentenced to prison and fined in what TripAdvisor considers a milestone for the internet.

Use our online event budget calculator or event budget template to ensure you keep your event finances on track. From the basics of creating an event budget, right through to pro tips for stretching your event revenues further, we have you covered.

18 months ago Utah was a place I might have struggled to pick out on the map. Everyone in Utah seemed to like starting CX companies but that was as much as I knew about the place. Yet, the wheels of fortune were turning and leading us to our eventual home in Salt Lake City. This round of capital is the result of a journey we started more than 18 months ago when we got our first real round of institutional capital and dreamt of building a global company.

While many people in the United States have already heard about California legislation, which is similar to GPDR legislation, that has been taken into effect in June this year, a lot of them don’t know what it exactly refers to and how and whether it will affect them.

Any Revenue Manager should have a set of strategies that optimise revenue and profits for their hotel. These strategies include both dynamic pricing and non-pricing methods. Today, we will be focusing on some of the more popular non-pricing methods. These will help you to manage periods of high demand and cancellations, whilst increasing your profits.

Kimkim, Travello, and Travelstop together announced more than $8.5 million in funding this week. The leisure travel agency, the social travel model, and the business travel booking tool, respectively, are each seeing new twists.

When cases like these settle out of court, the public doesn't get to learn much.

Forecasting plays a key role in any hotel revenue management (RM) strategy, helping hoteliers make important pricing decisions that significantly impact profitability. It’s a sophisticated process that reduces uncertainties, better equipping managers to optimize financial results by anticipating future demand and business performance. Until recently, however, a key element has been missing from the forecasting process. And that’s forecasting for group business.

A select group of 28 talented club professionals assembled at the inaugural HFTP Club Forum late last month in Sarasota, Florida USA. This executive-level event was designed to explore pressing industry issues and, specifically, to collaborate on the eighth edition revision of the Uniform System of Financial Reporting for Clubs (USFRC) that is currently underway. The focus of their strategic discussion was a SWOT-driven review of the current manuscript with an eye to future needs.

It's been a long time since a travel social network has caught some attention - but Travello has done so with a $5 million fund-raise.

As the saying goes, it's not over until it's really over. Or in this case, until LaSalle makes up its mind.

Businesses understand the power of digital innovations to reshape industries and markets. Yet, time and again, they have struggled to innovate with new and disruptive technologies. Clayton Christensen and others argue that an incumbent's failure has little to do with the newness or complexity of the technology. Rather, it is often their acute focus on the needs of the most important customers that places stringent limits on what they can and cannot pursue.

The number of new travel startups has fallen dramatically in the last two years, coinciding with a significant increase in the amount of money flowing in to the market.

China-based mobile payment platform Alipay is making it easier for its users to get tax refunds for purchases they make when they travel. South Korea will be the first country where the facility is available.

This week’s Freebie: This budget season, you’ll need to prove how much hotel revenue you brought in or risk losing your funds.

Independent restaurateurs are driven by passion, an honorable motivator, but not the best when it comes to managing their assets and adapting their business to the digital age. How shall we train independent restaurateurs who do not see any challenges in their business whilst their own industry is collapsing under the pressure of government taxes, large corporations and change in their customers' mindset?

An online travel agency that arranges trips to Cuba got slapped with a proposed class action in Florida federal court on Thursday for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, with the lead plaintiff claiming he received an illegal telemarketing text message via an automatic telephone dialing system.

Travel startups are not strangers to the concept of the $100 million+ mega-round, especially in recent years as the market has matured and new investors have come on the scene.

Employers face so many challenges in understanding various leave laws. There are few day-to-day occurrences in the workplace that raise more legal, logistical, and financial questions than an employee’s request for leave. When such a request is made, the employer is faced with the loss of an employee and the accompanying effects on productivity, workflow, and morale. Compounding matters, the employer must navigate through a confusing—sometimes conflicting— maze of federal and state leave obligations in order to determine how to handle the leave request.