Blogs

It will come as no surprise to anyone thatin the world of hospitality, chain dominate as they have done for quite some time. And here I take a look at the world´s top brands and sub-brands, ranked in order of size and influence - and while most are familiar, there are a couple which might not be (thanks, China!). 

Marriott International

Consistently a size and influence leader across the world hospitality industry, this Maryland-based global chain founded in 1957 by prominent Mormon J. Willard M

How do action-less, people-less, laughter-less, romance-less, love-less  videos emotionally engage and move us? Move us to book or buy? 

 VFLeonardo is an acknowledged leader in the art of visual storytelling, promoting their services to the travel industry and beyond.

Their recent webinar was called “Lets Get Visual: The Power of Telling Your (Hotel’s) Story Through Video.” 

 The webinar made some solid points, among which were:

• Video drives a 150% increase in organic search traffic

• We are a v

Hotels live and die by the number and kinds of reviews they get. Especially on TripAdvisor, because the quantity, quality and frequency of reviews a hotel receives there, determine a hotels  all-important ranking.
Very little is said about the authenticity of a review, but regardless, even a small change in TripAdvisor's rankings can send shock waves, and deeply impact a hotel's website and revenue.

Hotelmarketing.com points out that TripAdvisor's rankings are based on a propriety algorithm cal

From NMT Images

So far no international classification for hotels exists,but that hasn’t stopped ambitious hotel marketers from slapping any number of stars, diamonds, cacti on their properties and touting them as 5 or 6 or even 7 star properties,whatever that may mean in real service and amenities.

I think the ratings inflation trend began with the Xanadu-  frenzy in Dubai, especially with the luxury hotel, Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs), built on an artificial island and billed as a 7-Star s