#hospitality-trends

#hospitality-trends

Luxury hotels are supposed to provide exceptional hospitality, yet many seem to prioritize profit over guest satisfaction, leading to feelings of exploitation during stays.

The Times Square branch, at 7 Times Square, closed in early March after opening in 2023, according to Crain's New York Business. Delivery and reservation platforms now mark the Times Square location as permanently closed.

Rivaaz Hospitality Group is taking a bold step forward with the launch of its nationwide luxury catering division, aiming to bring the artistry of Indian and Mediterranean cuisine to events across the country.

At Shoptalk 2023, companies unveiled innovative tools that place AI at the forefront of commerce, reflecting a significant shift in retail dynamics.

The convenience of sourcing online is fraught with more pitfalls than most of us want to admit. Try finding adequate photos of a vintage piece's condition-close-ups of the fabric, video of damaged areas, any images of a piece's rear or underside!

"Our study confirmed that in an environment of loud noise, our sense of taste is compromised. Interestingly, this was specific to sweet and umami tastes, with sweet taste inhibited and umami taste significantly enhanced," Robin Dando, one of the study's authors, told the Cornell Chronicle after the study came out.

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.

The new tracker features a simplified progress bar that shows just four stages of pizza creation. The new design was rolled out to all platforms, and there's also new Lock Screen widgets for iOS that bring the pizza chain's most famous tech feature to the Liquid Glass age.

"There was so much beauty, so much more than enough for everyone, that it did appear to be a vain activity to try and make a corner in it." This quote captures the essence of Villa Beatrice, where beauty and luxury converge in a breathtaking setting.

CeCe's is pure old-school glamour, bedecked with copper panelling, green velvet banquettes, palms, orb lighting, table lamps, an impressive central bar, and mirrors absolutely everywhere.

The flight, operated by Singapore Airlines, is one I'll never forget, and I'd do it again just to eat kaya toast once more.

'Never ever use these three things in a hotel room,' she warned in a video. Her first tip was to avoid using the 'wall-mounted refillable containers with soap and shampoo' now commonly found in hotel bathrooms.

Protect yourself from the sun with headgear and lots of sunscreen. The sun can be very strong in some destinations, especially on Caribbean trips.

"Storytelling has always been at the heart of the American West, and sharing a classic cowboy poem at turndown brings that heritage into the guest experience in a more personal way."

Restaurant owners like Panjwani are caught in the middle of a growing battle of new and established reservation platforms vying for their business. The two dominant players for more than a decade, OpenTable and Resy, are now facing a wave of fresh competition from high-end services and even delivery apps all trying to win lucrative bookings at exclusive establishments.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.