Analysts predict that Disney's parks will remain money-printing machines, with attendance at Disneyland and Disney World expected to rebound after a slight dip last fiscal year.
In the midst of all this chaos, I was struck with a deep sense of appreciation for what I was doing. All my anxieties about being too old for the job and my writing business falling apart dissipated, and I kind of fell in love with everything the place was.
At restaurants in Italy, an average of 10 to 15 percent is appreciated. When it comes to drivers and tour guides, the average is 10 percent, but many leave more.
Christina Veira has earned prestigious recognition including the Roku Industry Icon award and Bartender of the Year honors. Rather than pursuing traditional expansion through multiple locations and pop-up tours, she operates Bar Mordecai in Toronto, featuring karaoke rooms, bingo nights, and innovative cocktails while prioritizing community engagement and advocacy.
Customer service skills define how effectively employees represent a brand and resolve customer needs. In every industry, these skills determine whether a business builds loyalty or loses trust. Customers today expect responsiveness, empathy, and accuracy across every touchpoint-from phone calls and chats to social media interactions.
It isn't a universal truth, but a vast number of goods and services have their own full-circle moments. While there are still plenty of travel agencies in the U.S., the overall number is still down considerably from a peak in the 1980s. For some industry forecasters, though, the future looks a lot like the recent past, except that instead of travelers trusting human agents with making their travel plans a reality, they'll use AI agents for the same purpose.
Rather than chasing diminishing returns through additional advertising, the agency advocated for an entertainment product: a film that could function as a vehicle for repositioning perception while operating as a single investment with long-tail value, capable of shaping how audiences feel about a place over time and across markets.
I'm being responsible for paying for this hotel, the hotel literally telling us that if I cannot afford the hotel to leave and go somewhere else. I don't feel safe to leave the hotel and go somewhere else. So I've been extending the days every day.
Artificial intelligence is no longer futuristic-it's functional. Hotels are already utilizing AI to integrate siloed systems, such as PMS, accounting, CRM, and forecasting platforms, to drive faster and smarter decisions. Tools like Placer.ai and PredictHQ help identify ideal customers through demographic, behavioral, and geolocation data. As automation expands, the next opportunity lies in strategic human oversight: consultants and managers will interpret AI outputs, guiding capital investments and operational priorities rather than being replaced by algorithms.
When I tell fellow tech executives that every employee at sunday, from our engineers to our finance team, must complete a restaurant shift before they can fully onboard, I usually get confused looks. "You mean like, shadow someone?" they ask. No. I mean they tie on an apron, take orders, run food, and yes, deal with the 15-minute wait for the check that our product was literally built to eliminate.
That is one of several conclusions you're likely to draw after reading an article by Sheila Yasmin Marikar recently published in Air Mail. Marikar takes the reader into the world of small boutique hotels, the sort of establishment that attracts travelers looking for properties with an independent streak and a unique approach to doing business. The challenge here, though, is figuring out where that line exists, as some iconoclastic companies have acquired massive corporate parents over the years.
As summer school breaks stretch longer and childcare becomes harder to secure, some families are turning to an unexpected solution: hotels offering full-day, structured kids' camps that allow parents to travel, work and keep routines intact.
There was usually a room of about 100 to 150 people, with two to three servers and two bartenders. One night, it was just the bartenders and me, so about 50 people per section. This usually wouldn't bother me, but three of my big tables were occupied by one large group. I went to help with the middle of the three tables, as a large portion of their group had just arrived.
Policy stances from the Trump administration on everything from immigration to tariffs, along with currency swings and stricter border controls, have seemingly proved a turnoff to travelers from other countries, especially Canadians - the single largest source of foreign tourists for the United States. Canadian travel to the U.S. fell by close to 30% in 2025. But it is not just visitors from Canada who are choosing to avoid the United States.
Happy hour used to be a reliable business driver for bars and restaurants. Ever since the COVID-10 pandemic, that reliability has faded. Remote work, altered schedules and changing social habits have disrupted the traditional post-work drinking rush, forcing establishments to adapt - and raising questions about whether happy hour is disappearing altogether or simply evolving. BARTENDERS REVEAL WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DRINK WHEN THEY'RE OFF DUTY: 'TRULY GREAT SHOT' Fox News Digital spoke with a bar owner and a behavioral health specialist to learn more.
Picture this: a couple walks into a restaurant on a Friday night. They glance around, choose their table, and settle into their seats. Before they've even opened their menus, their server already has a pretty good idea whether they'll leave 10% or 25%. It sounds like mind reading, but after talking with dozens of servers over the years, I've learned it's more like pattern recognition honed by thousands of interactions.
After getting laid off in 2023, marketing veteran Julie Levin worked part time as a bartender for about six months as she considered her next steps. Levin is now the head of brand partnerships at Two Things, a New York City consultancy specializing in business transformations. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. I moved across the country from LA to the New York area in 2022 for a really exciting job that I thought would mark the next phase of my career.
Years later, after countless nights in hotels from budget chains to five-star establishments, I've noticed something interesting. Those of us who grew up in lower-middle-class households carry certain behaviors with us into these spaces. They're not necessarily bad habits, but they're telling. They reveal a childhood where every pound mattered and waste was practically a sin. I've seen these patterns in myself, in friends from similar backgrounds, and in countless fellow travelers over the years.
On a recent two-week trip to Japan with my fiancé - six cities, six hotels - every stay was gorgeous and perfectly appointed. We wanted for nothing. Except, in most cases, a proper bathroom door. Instead, we spent the better part of two weeks making accidental eye contact through frosted glass and translucent panels while one of us was otherwise occupied. A design choice, apparently. A test of intimacy, definitely.