Roomkey.com, a new hotel metasearch site created by six of the largest hotel chains launched this morning.With industry vet John Davis at the helm and backing from Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott and Wyndham, it somewhat resembles the industry's efforts to drive down costs and create consumer choice several years ago when a similar group created Travelweb.com - same CEO, slightly different group of hotel brands (noticeably absent from the group this time around is Starwood Hotels and Resort Read More »

The current fight between American Airlines and Orbitz Worldwide and Travelport by default has been well publicized. In a nutshell, after winning a hearing in court yesterday, AA canceled Orbitz' ability to sell tickets on the Orbitz family of websites including Orbitz.com, Cheaptickets.com and ebookers.com. The dispute revolves around how AA distributes inventory to Orbitz, both financially and technically. Read More »

Bloomberg reported today that Citigroup CMO Michelle Peluso (and former Travelocity CEO) has hired former Site59 and Travelocity co-conspirator Tracey Weber away from Barnes and Noble. Tracey joined BN.com only in April after leaving Travelocity where she was COO.The Gnome never sleeps......

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This morning Virgin Group launched a new website, virginhotels.com which gives a small peak into Sir Richard's long rumored plans to shake up the lodging space. Don't look to book a room just yet - Virgin is still looking for hotels to convert into the Virgin Hotels concept. Read More »

Glassdoor.com, a cool website where "anyone can find and anonymously share an inside look at jobs and companies" has provided an interesting peek at job satisfaction inside the travel industry. Read More »

It appears that a new front is opening in the ever tumultuous relationships between the large hotel chains and the online travel agencies (OTAs). The major OTAs are currently pressing for legislative relief for future occupancy tax claims by states, counties and municipalities through a proposed bill known as the "Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act" or ITTFA. For those of you interested in a reprise of the old Schoolhouse Rock Saturday morning "how does a bill become law" cartoon, the initial dr Read More »

The current budget under debate in Albany includes an interesting twist in the ongoing OTA lodging tax fight. The proposed budget contains language that attempts to compute the occupancy tax on the retail rate by simply multiplying the net rate by 120% and applying the tax rate on this amount.Yes, you read that right. This simpleton proposal assumes that all OTA deals are created equal and that the mark-up is always 20%. If passed, this will certainly will make future hotel/OTA negotiations ea Read More »

Expedia Media Solutions (the media arm of Expedia Inc.) yesterday announced that the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau had named Expedia.com "Partner of the Year." According to the press release, the San Diego CVB was recognized as "a top advertising partner and major sales channel for San Diego hotels." Read More »

Today, at Google's Campfire One "mega-do," TripIt's new Groups App was the only travel app included in the new Google Apps Marketplace. TripIt Groups brings transparency to business travel, allowing registered users (who choose to share their plans) to collaborate on their travel plans. The product provides business travelers within a company, division etc an easy way to see when, where and how fellow employees are traveling. In keeping with Google's mission to organize the world's information, Read More »

For a long time, the hospitality industry has managed to convince business travelers that they should pay extra for high speed internet access (or HSIA in industry parlance) in four and five star hotels even though the same companies offer it for free in their lower tier brands. Read More »