No Show (Jeff Borman and Matt Brown)

This week our crystal ball is crystal clear. The unholy union of Frontier and Spirit Airlines got us thinking: what if a wisecracking genie appeared and gave us three wishes to change the airline industry? Fees, genuine competition (that's where the archaic yet lyric-friendly "cabotage" comes in), passenger comfort ... it would be a whole new world!

What's it like to work in the orbit of the most famous theme park in the world? We're in the midst of Disney World's 50th Anniversary, and it got us thinking about all the usual stuff: utopia-building, timeshare economics, land use in central Florida, job reports, tourism dollars, Westworld,  civic ecosystems, the Orlando airport. Just your typical winter vacation daydreams.

Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting issues a quarterly U.S. Lodging Industry Outlook that's essential reading in the hotel business, and Ryan stops by to talk about LARC's Q1 report, coming trends in 2022, markets to watch, the pandemic's impact on commercial real estate, Airbnb regulation, and the Tuscan sun.

See what else LARC is up to at https://www.larcanalytics.com

Online Travel Agencies - a euphemistic way to describe the robots that (maybe) help us find deals on hotels, plane tickets, and a growing number of other travel-related services. How did the Expedias of the world get so dominant? What do hotels actually think of them? How does everybody (except you) make money off them?

They're big and they buy things. Why aren't the tech giants taking over online travel? Or maybe ... they already have!?

We also talk about the illusion of choice when it comes to booking online. Major players like Expedia gobbled up other travel sites, so when you're shopping around, often you're just browsing different floors of the same department store. 

Plus, it's only a matter of time before Airbnb starts listing hotel rooms. What's stopped them so far?

We just inherited a boatload of cash with one deeply eccentric stipulation: we have to build a hotel with it. But where? And why? And in which places does Jeff tell Matt we definitely CANNOT build one? And wait, somebody's building a hotel in Antarctica? 

Jeff talks with Eric about Greenview's role as the world’s leading provider of sustainability programs and data management for the hospitality and tourism sector. What's the current narrative around sustainability in tourism, and where can you make a difference as a hotel owner and a responsible traveler?

Executive Vice President at Airports Council International-North America Matt Cornelius tells us where the buck stops at airports, and explains how they really run. Also, what's the best-run airport in America?

Part 2 of our interview with Matt Cornelius, EVP at Airports Council International - North America gets into the real nitty-gritty: how exactly do airports make money? How do dominant carriers affect the cities they're based in? And, most important, what's the best way to board an airplane?

What do movies and TV shows get universally wrong about hotels? What do they (occasionally) get right? What movie hotel would we want to visit? Wait, Stanley Kubrick never filmed a movie outside of the UK?

Links:
The design team that worked on interiors at the Park Hyatt Tokyo: https://superpotato.jp/en/
The inspiration for The Shining's Overlook Hotel: https://www.stanleyhotel.com
The Andaz West Hollywood: https://lucire.com/2021/1013vo0.shtml

Vegas literally defines itself as an experience, but is it selling something people want? As implosion comes for the casino icons of the 80s and 90s, our collective sense of what makes a satisfying user experience is changing. Is Vegas capturing the right “UX” of the moment, or just going through the motions? Is the architectural and experiential design of the town still, what’s the word … fun?

Hopper's Nima Vaez and Tucker Holland drop in to tell us what's happening with "the world's fastest-growing mobile-first travel marketplace." Splashy new partnerships, machine learning, and fintech solutions are part of it, but what's the secret sauce?

What's our favorite travel statistic of the year? Our favorite travel tool? The most gratifying travel news? The most interesting corporate acquisition? The dumbest buzzword? Season 2 kicks off with a snappy roundup of the year that was.

Boutique and lifestyle hotels are everywhere now. Why? And how do you define "boutique," exactly? And are we headed towards a world where every hotel is a lifestyle brand? What are lifestyle hotel brands you should check out? We'll answer these questions!

Links:
https://www.graduatehotels.com/
https://www.piaule.com/
https://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/
https://www.sbe.com/hotels/mondrian/park-avenue

We got going on hacks and could not stop. TSA lines, travel pants, airport lounges, bandanas, detergent pods ... there are so many ways to make your trip easier, cheaper, and much more pleasant.

Stuff we mentioned:
https://sudshare.com
https://www.hydroflask.com/32-oz-wide-mouth
https://www.mollyjogger.com/products/ccc-legacy-bandana
https://seatosummit.com/collections/dry-bags
https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-cards/education/rewards-benefits/a-guide-to-chase-sapphire-reserve-benefits

Ok, no more messing around. Travel expert Samir Bhatnagar tells us about getting compensated for delayed European flights, skipping ATM fees around the world, the best airline pajamas, the future of airport lounges, taxi tips when abroad, and the most useful travel apps.

Stuff we mentioned:
https://www.aerolopa.com
https://www.rome2rio.com
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/travel-rewards/eu-261/
https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/american-express-platinum/

Ned is a hotel industry veteran and principal of Grill Ventures International, and he talks with us about the past, present, and future of breakfast buffets. Also, what's wrong with coffee stations? And is the "grab and go" the future of hotel food?

Ned also makes special mention of the Express Start project's initiator and "owner," Jenifer Zeigler; extraordinary leadership (and hard work) was demonstrated continuously by Julie Baldwin, Gary Swanson, Ed Sellers (Royal Cup), Lisa Lang, Core Concepts, America's Kitchen and more.

Sue Morgan made it "hot," adding omelets, breakfast meats, pancakes and more. Jennifer Gribble and David Neves developed the incredible upgrades that launched in 2018. And throughout it all, Patti Javer made sure (and still does) that everything worked as it should.

https://www.costar.com/article/1426810412/hotel-buffets-have-returned-and-evolved

Why do you only get one luggage rack in your hotel room? Why can't pools stay open longer? What's the best compact suitcase for overhead compartments? What outdoor brands should partner up with hotels? Burning questions, spicy answers! Plus one of our predictions about hotel partnerships actually came true.

Wait, the Intercontinental is related to Pan Am? Holiday Inn really came from a movie? Motel 6 was (briefly) $6 a night? Doubletree was just because the land surveyed had two trees on it? Jeff and Matt explore the naming origins of hotels big and small.

The more you know:
https://www.panam.org/about/606-across-the-pacific-film
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/holiday-inn-70th-anniversary/index.html

Once the ultimate hotel perk, the minibar was the symbol of a boozier, jet settier time - the ultimate ridiculous convenience for a ridiculous price. Today, minibars have become empty refrigerators. What happened? And are they truly dead? Could they be resurrected in an era of food delivery and streamlined costs?

Canna-tourism generated $17B+ last year, and a wave of state legalization means that number will only get higher.  Brooke is the owner of Green Bonnet Pharms in Oklahoma, a complete vertically integrated cannabis business from seed to smoke, and she takes us through the challenges and opportunities in a travel sector primed for growth (and green).

https://www.greenbonnetco.com/
https://www.instagram.com/greenbonnetpharms/
https://www.budandbreakfast.com/
https://www.instagram.com/campcana/

Endless Events founder Will Curran has been thinking a lot about how technology will change how and why we get together. The robots are coming, for sure, and they will reshape the process of event planning, the way we network with people, the vacation choices we make, the process of booking trips, and ... well ... pretty much everything else.

Endless Events
#EventProfs Community
#EventIcons
Event Brew
Event Tech Podcast
AISIS - The Lost Tapes

Endless Events founder Will Curran tells us about the next "Jarvis" leap forward for virtual assistants, how that's going to help travelers, and how events are going to have to evolve over the next 5 years if they want to stay relevant. Also, will humans still sit at the concierge desk? And what's the most underrated city to hold an event?

Endless Events
#EventProfs Community
Event Tech Podcast
Flighty app

This week's No Show is with the one and only Susan Barry, Hive Marketing Queen Bee and host of the superb hospitality pod Top Floor. Together we live, we laugh, we grow ... and we learn. About what? How there's oversupply and "underdemolishment" in certain markets, secret cash stashes in hotel rooms, marauding parrots. The usual.

https://www.topfloorpodcast.com
https://www.hive-marketing.com

Dan is Director of Operations for the Andaz West Hollywood, perhaps the most storied rock and roll hotel in history. We talk about the debaucherous past of what was formerly known as the "Riot Hyatt" on the Sunset Strip, the growing focus on wellness in hospitality, what to do when celebrities walk through the lobby, and mysterious campsites of the Old West.

https://www.hyatt.com/andaz/laxss-andaz-west-hollywood
https://www.newidea.com.au/andaz-west-hollywood-hotel-review
https://www.miravalresorts.com

Dave is an award-winning professor, author, and hospitality legend, and he's the recipient of the 2023 Revenue Optimization Educator of the Year award from The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). We talk about what NOT to do in a downturn, whether promotions actually work, the reality around loyalty programs, and advice he gives soon-to-be graduates.

Does Taylor Swift really affect hotel prices? Which airport has the longest security wait times? Are international travelers favoring the east coast more than the west coast? Should you buy trip insurance? Is there really a hotel designed specifically for pilots and flight crews? Are plane tickets radically more expensive this year? Let's find out.

Aaron is the Executive Director of must-see destination The Neon Museum Las Vegas, a space dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs.  We talk about pushing the boundaries of a traditional museum experience, preserving history in a town that embraces demolition, and the mysterious red button in Siegfried and Roy's mansion.

https://www.neonmuseum.org/
https://www.duckduckshed.com/
https://www.instagram.com/theneonmuseumlasvegas/

Hotel data people: prepare for enlightenment as we sit down with Jan Freitag, CoStar's National Director of Hospitality Analytics. How does 2024 look? Why is occupancy still still trailing 4% below pre-pandemic levels? What data sources does he use? What's his new podcast about? Is he actually a wizard who can predict the future? YES.

News you can use:
https://www.costar.com/
https://str.com/
https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/apisi-92-monitor
https://www.hatchshowprint.com/
https://www.lanemotormuseum.org/

How exactly to airline loyalty programs work, and is there any way to game the system? Credit cards play a huge factor, but do any of them give you the edge? We use American Airlines as our case study example of how plane perks and credit cards are so intertwined.

The more you know:
https://cwsi.net/aa.htm
https://viewfromthewing.com/trumps-team-discloses-they-violate-airline-rules-use-throwaway-ticketing-site-skiplagged-for-airfare/
RocketMiles.com
https://lpcalculator.com/#/landing

Summer may be winding down, but the road to adventure lives forever in our hearts. Or does it? People still take road trips, but where they go and why has changed drastically over the last 30 years, and the coming wave of EVs is going to alter our idea of a road trip even more.

So, do gas prices matter at all? Do sky-high airfares impact our willingness to sit in a car for 20 hours? Did roadside hotels see a post-pandemic dip or boost in summer occupancy? What's the worst state to drive to? And are people still driving cross-country, Griswold-style?

Amtrav CEO Jeff Klee sheds light on New Distribution Capability (NDC), a transformative schema that's changing the way we travel. NDC is reshaping the landscape of airfares, third-party technology, and personalization in unexpected ways. We also talk about Southwest's unique (and longstanding) stance on third-party sales, and how NDC elevates the importance of price assurance tools in hotel distribution.

https://www.amtrav.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/amtrav/

Are major hotel brands taking over the world? Does office attendance directly correlate to hotel occupancy? What's the worst day for occupancy at hotels? And how do you handle travel to places that have recently experienced a disaster?

https://www.highatlasfoundation.org/

The chance to speak with someone who has visited 191 countries was just too good, which is why academic, entrepreneur, advisor to world leaders, and world traveler David Goldberg joins us. What are tips for traveling in a fraught world? What's the hairiest travel situation he's been in? What's an underrated country you should visit? Did he know from an early age he'd become an international man of mystery?

Today Hilton is comprised of 17 brands, with more than 5,900 properties in 114 countries around the world. Marriott International controls over 7,000 properties in 131 countries, including the Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis luxury brands. But...were they really competing with each other over the last century, or competing with the world?

In this episode we're going extremely meta in a review of another podcast you should absolutely listen to. Also, we investigate the intriguingly named "bed wars" of the late 90s.

Lise is Chief Program Officer of the National Park Foundation, leading program and partnerships teams responsible for delivering more than $89 million in grants and other support to national parks. We talk about the NPS' overall economic impact on communities and regions, keeping a healthy symbiosis between public and private interests, combatting overtourism, and hidden gems in the park system.

National Park Foundation
Leave No Trace
Recreate Responsibly
NPF Instagram

Ever wonder how the experience at a hotel might transform your next hospital visit? Stowe Shoemaker is a legend in hospitality academia, and we discuss his new book Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!, co-written with Peter Yesawich. Hospitals are taking a closer look at how hotels approach care, service, and satisfaction, and a change in your hospital stay might come sooner than you think.

https://hospitablehealthcare.com/
https://www.unlv.edu/news/expert/stowe-shoemaker

The award-winning associate professor from Penn State's School of Hospitality Management talks about the possible (?) demise of those dreaded resort fees, how local economies depend on NCAA football weekends, and gives us the state of the union for the hotel industry heading into 2024.

https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/breffni-noone
https://www.investopedia.com/college-football-provides-an-economic-boost-7964994

The CEO and co-founder of Kalibri Labs on the (many) existential threats to the hospitality industry, Uber and Facebook as players in the travel business, the challenges and opportunities around loyalty programs, and the hotel revenue buzzword that needs to go away.

00:50 Existential Threats to the Hotel Industry
04:40 When Will Amazon Return To Travel?
10:40 Will Uber Be A Player Too?
17:00 Direct Bookings and Loyalty Programs Impact
25:30 Mystery Question

https://www.kalibrilabs.com/

The industry veteran and co-founder of Travel Again Advisory dives in to biggest question facing the travel industry. And can we please come up with an alternative to the term "revenge travel?" And what's going on with American Airlines, and the state of loyalty programs in general?

https://www.travelagainadvisory.com

How big of a factor is sustainability when U.S. travelers choose where to go? Who do they think should be responsible for addressing cultural and economic sustainability challenges? How much does a crowded versus uncrowded destination matter when tourists make decisions on where to go?  We will definitely, absolutely find out with Madeline List, a Senior Research Analyst with Phocuswright and the author of the report Beyond Climate Change: Cultural and Economic Sustainability in Travel.

https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Consumer-Trends/Beyond-Climate-Change-Cultural-and-Economic-Sustainability-in-Travel

What exactly is Sustainable Aviation Fuel? What needs to happen for us to start using it? And what's the government's role in propelling a new era of sky travel?  Our guest Meg Whitty is Vice President of Corporate Relations and Marketing at LanzaJet, a company whose aim is to decarbonize the aviation industry. She joins us in this episode to talk about jet fuel's brave new future, which is WAY closer than you think.

lanzajet.com
LanzaJet on LinkedIn

Atomic Ranch Editor Jickie Torres joins us to talk Palm Springs, modernism, and the 75th anniversary of the Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour, now the largest mid-century modern home event on the East Coast. Touring architecture has been around as long as the Coliseum, but we're in a new era of architecture as tourism, with an economic impact we're just starting to understand.

https://www.hollinhillsmodern.com
https://modernismweek.com
https://www.atomic-ranch.com
https://www.eichlerhometour.org

Have you ever pondered the fate of your hotel soap after check-out? Shawn Seipler did, big time, and it launched him on an extraordinary mission to improve global hygiene. The Clean the World founder joins us to talk about how its Global Hospitality Program works with over 8,000 participants to upcycle soap and tackle some of the deadliest problems on the planet.

https://cleantheworld.org
https://www.instagram.com/clean_the_world/

CoralTree Hospitality's Arlene Ramirez and HotStats' Tanya Venegas help us untangle and understand the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), an essential tool that guides financial management and reporting across hotels. How it started, why hotels use it, and how it's staying up-to-date.

https://usali.hftp.org/
https://www.hftp.org/
https://www.hotstats.com/
https://www.coraltreehospitality.com/

Every day David Eisen translates the avalanche of data and news about the hotel industry into something everyone, not just people in the business, but everyone, can understand. He joins Jeff and Matt to talk about the rise of partnerships among hotel management companies, the ever-multiplying number of hotel brands, and the impact of flashy stunts on loyalty programs.

https://hotelsmag.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-eisen/

The airline industry. Brian Sumers lives it, he breathes, he speaks truth about it unlike anybody else. He is the founder and editor of The Airline Observer, a newsletter covering the global airline business. He's also co-host of The Air Show in which he discusses the business of the sky.

Brian talks with Jeff and Matt about shenanigans at Southwest Airlines, whether inbound flight traffic from China is ever coming back, saving Boeing, Jetblue's pivot, and the future of loyalty programs.

Isaac Collazo is VP of Analytics at STR, Smith Travel Research, THE global leader in hospitality data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. What does that mean? It means when it comes to hotel numbers, nobody understands them like Isaac, but what he really understands, Moneyball style, is the story behind the data.

We get into STR reports, what metaphor Isaac would use to describe the first half of this year, the future of extended stay, how a new U.S. president would affect the hotel industry, the difference between office vacancy stats and hotel vacancy stats, and a GREAT mystery question.

https://str.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tell-me-more-a-hospitality-data-podcast/

Travel inspires us to imagine and the American Field Service is a special catalyst. President Tara Boyce-Hofmann shares with No Show the spark that AFS-USA unleashes through the unlimited power of young minds to dream. To become global citizens. To question the ethics of borders and practice diplomatic dialog.

https://www.afsusa.org/
https://www.instagram.com/afs_usa

This time of year is known as RFP season, the glorious time when corporate America sends their travel planners to conferences like GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) to negotiate prices and with hotels for next year. A time of wonder and mystery!

If it were a company, the federal government would be the largest travel buyer of hotel stays in America, possibly in the world. And not by a little bit, it dwarfs the next highest which is believed to be Deloitte, BY TEN TIMES!

How does all of this work, who benefits, where's it going, and what does the General Services Agency have to do with it? Spoiler: a whole lot.

Steve Rushmore can tell you everything, and I mean everything about your hotel. His "Rushmore Approach" for allocating a hotel’s total value is the stuff of lore, but how do you even begin to evaluate a hotel's worth? What are all the factors that go into it? What makes for a particularly difficult appraisal? Is the "income approach" really the best way to appraise a hotel? And is it true Steve can appraise a hotel in 60 seconds?

https://steverushmore.com/

Like a prophet emerging from the haze of the Arizona desert, our guest Holly Zoba leads hospitality brands to the promised land. She has decades of experience in hotel sales and marketing, and has founded, co-founded, or been essential to companies that are dedicated to educating generations of hotel professionals.

Her classes are THE gold standard of hospitality sales training, and we talk about how digital marketing is changing to meet new audiences, getting on board the AI train, new trends in customer loyalty, and the importance of carpool etiquette on snow days.

https://hotelbschool.com/
https://www.scoutsimply.com/
https://www.influencer-sales.com/
https://hsmaiacademy.org/team/holly-zoba-chdm/

Are "sensory inclusive" cities possible? Why do we take the basic UX of airports, hotels, and public spaces for granted? What's the report card on hotel and travel company marketing to LGBTQ+ audiences? What's the problem with carbon offsets? And why aren't more airports like PDX? Matt and Jeff solve mysteries and speak truths with JD Shadel, a London-based strategist, editor, and freelance journalist working at the intersection of tech and lifestyle, and you can read their recent work at:

https://www.cntraveler.com/contributor/jd-shadel
https://www.jdshadel.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jd-shadel/

When we fly, most of us have no idea what kind of plane we're on, we just get in and go. Travel and airline journalist Edward Russell tells us what kinds of planes dominate the U.S. market, why they dominate the market, how long planes stay in circulation, and the process for buying, selling, and regulating big ol' jet airliners. Plus: America's best small airport, one thing he'd change about the check-in process, and the biggest change facing the airline industry.

https://byerussell.substack.com/

Overtourism is one of those sprawling topics that everybody in the travel business has opinions on. Solutions are a bit more complicated, but let's dig in with tourism taxes, diversionary tactics, bans on cruise ships, the rise of "de-marketing," tax credits for better business practices, caps on hotel construction, and other tools that make our lives and our travel plans a bit less frantic.

If Greg Aretakis had a coaching tree, it would literally include every CEO and high-ranking executive in the airline industry. We talk with the Midwest Express Airlines president about the much-needed role of mid-sized airlines, how antitrust investigations get started, the future of private air travel and small airfields, whether completely electric planes will ever fly, and so so so much more!

CBRE's Rachel Rothman and Christine Bang understand hotel brand performance and equity analysis like very few others in this business. We talk about the overall health grade they'd give to hotel loyalty programs, what we mean when we talk about luxury, hospitality partnerships aiming to reach new audiences, how loyalty programs can grow, and way, way more.

https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/hotel-brand-performance-2024
https://www.cbre.com/insights/articles/hotel-loyalty-programs-betting-on-the-law-of-large-numbers
https://www.cbre.com/insights/viewpoints/maturation-of-the-hotel-industry-drives-convergence-with-other-sectors-to-facilitate-growth

Rejoice America, Jeff and Matt answer critical questions from fake listeners. If we could change one thing about the travel industry, what would it be? What are some of the best travel and travel business articles we've read this year? What's the next hot destination? What's the biggest trend coming for the industry in 2025? Whatever happened to Yakov Smirnoff?

Articles we mention:
The Branson Pilgrim

Airbnb's idea to hold gladiator battles in Rome's Colosseum isn't going down well with some local lawmakers

CBRE analysis of loyalty programs

Colorado’s I-70 Has America’s Most Notorious Ski Traffic. Is There a Solution?

LARC Quarterly Webinar

The hardest working man in hotel research talks with us about the state of hotel brand acquisitions, optimism among investors about urban markets and luxury assets, and how hotels can learn from Taylor Swift (can't we all?).

Plus: What's the most overrated statistic in hotel research? What's one piece of unvarnished advice he'd give to a new investment group? Why are partnerships on the rise in Vegas and Orlando?

https://www.us.jll.com/en/people/zachariah-demuth
https://www.hotelmanagement.net/transactions/review-2024-year-us-hospitality-deals

When people say that someone needs no introduction, we think they're talking about View From The Wing's Gary Leff. He is one of the world's foremost experts in miles, points, and frequent business travel. 

Gary talks with us about the math behind airline loyalty programs, how he comes across the strangest stories in travel, the differences between airlines and hotels when they start co-branding with partners, how airlines define their "best customers" and way, way more.

https://viewfromthewing.com/

Regenerative tourism focuses on leaving places better than you found them, supporting local economies, preserving culture, and protecting the environment. How does that translate to street-level tourism? Does the term "regenerative" suffer from the same thing that plagues "sustainability"—where rhetoric is strong and the action remains weak? Travelers regularly rate sustainability as a top five criteria in making travel decisions, but their buying behavior tells a very different story.

Then again, there are huge upsides in rethinking everything about the way we travel, especially now. We look at what's working, what's not, and what's ahead.

On a stunningly regular basis, Pulitzer Prize winner Carley Thornell delivers insightful stories about sustainability, design, adventure, health, and travel. We talk space tourism, secret hotels, how people think about luxury, what Trump 2.0 means for tourism, the tax on families when they travel, and lots, lots more.

https://muckrack.com/carley-d-thornell/articles 

Flying through a perfect storm of staff shortages, archaic technology, DOGE crosshairs, and mounting safety concerns, America's air traffic control system stands at a critical crossroads. So, how can we fix all this? Master of the Air Greg Aretakis returns to guide us to the runway, providing a 101 course on how air traffic control works.

Fear, money, and restrictions are a combustible mixture in any business sector, but in travel it can be a death knell for some businesses. The tariff situation is changing daily, and while the emphasis has been on physical goods, there is a growing shadow on tourism. Aran Ryan, Director of Industry Studies at Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company, talks about how trade wars negatively affect US travel, how tourism is already taking a hit, and what we can do to ride this out.

Every day there’s a flurry of articles about how the hotel and travel industry are trying to rebound and readjust to covid-era life.

When there’s talk about speeding up that rebound the topic invariably touches on vax passports and why they’re so hard for a decentralized system like the U.S. to do. One body that shows up consistently in these conversations is IATA, the International Air Transport Association. 

Ok, so, what is the IATA, what is its mandate, can it help the state of international business travel, and how do you pronounce the acronym exactly?

Expedia and ARC just released their annual 2022 travel hacks and it got us thinking about why hotel and flight deals happen when they happen, how work and leisure schedules are changing, and Anthony Bourdain's maxim on why restaurants push seafood on Mondays.

It happens every time, that feeling of resignation and frustration when you're checking in/checking out and there's this laundry list of fees below the price you had stuck in your head when you booked the hotel. What are resort and destination fees, are they really "deceptive," and are hotels and travelers stuck with them forever?

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday...welcome to the Advent Calendar of Capitalism! Everybody has ambitions to "own" a shopping day. Why not travel? And between Omicron and lingering pandemic wariness/weariness, what's going to happen to hotels 3 weeks from now? Also, Question of the Week: What’s the worst night during the holidays for a hotel manager?

What was the most overused word in hotel marketing in 2021? What will be a hot destination in 2022? What was the biggest ah-ha moment in tourism economics this year? What are good ways to keep up with the industry? What's a sneaky trend nobody's talking about (but should)? What's the best state fair? What luggage should I buy? And more!

Links mentioned in the episode:
The Points Guy https://thepointsguy.com
View From The Wing https://viewfromthewing.com
BTN Daily https://www.businesstravelnews.com
Hotel News Now https://www.costar.com/news/section/hospitality
Hospitalitynet https://www.hospitalitynet.org
World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org
Hotstats https://www.hotstats.com
LARC https://www.larcanalytics.com
PhocusWire https://www.phocuswire.com

Shortened schedules, pruned expectations,  and fewer exhibitors didn't stop one of the world's biggest trade shows from bringing in the new year. But in a world of stricter health precautions, new travel restrictions, and changing tastes, can CES change too? Does it even need to?

Which passports give you the most juice, and why? We get into passport rankings, how politics and economics affect those rankings, underrated and "golden" passports, and the ups and downs of traveling to China.