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.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts airline employment Glassdoor labor lodging

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 draft of the bill is posted here.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts hotel hotel tax lodging merchant model online travel agency The American Hotel & Lodging Association

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 easy! Doubt it.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts hotel tax merchant model New York online travel agency

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."

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts hotel hotel tax lodging merchant merchant model online travel agency taxes tax

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, TripIt is Google's choice for organizing travel.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts Google itinerary TripIt

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.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts high speed internet access HSIA Internet access internet connectivity lodging

The Associated Press is reporting that federal prosecutors have filed a motion in the ongoing Hilton/Starwood Hotels saga saying that the current civil litigation could harm a criminal investigation.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts Hilton Hotels Corp. lawsuit Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc.

Orbitz has launched a new platform for traditional travel agents which enables them to book stand-alone hotel rooms as well as vacation packages. This matches (for hotel only anyway) agentaccess, a program which hotels.com has offered to the agency community for some time.

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts affiliate program agent commissions GDS global distribution system Orbitz Worldwide travel agent

We've been watching this lawsuit go forward with interest for some time now. As you'll recall, Starwood sued Hilton over two senior executives (Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani) who departed and managed to show up at Hilton with seemingly truckloads of confidential documents relating to Starwood's luxury brands. Hilton fired Ross and Amar and sent the documents back to Starwood but claimed they didn't really appear to be confidential documents. Denizen, Hilton's new luxury brand, bit the dust soon after the first lawsuit was filed. The suit even contains a quote from this blog describing the similarity of Denizen to W at the brand launch - what foresight!

	Posted by: Tom Botts More by Tom Botts Hilton Hotels Corp. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc.

A somber moment from our usual glib. The pictures and news reports coming from Haiti are shocking to say the least. North America's poorest country (indeed, one of the world's poorest countries) has been rocked by a brutal earthquake of epic proportions. I encourage all of our readers to take a brief moment to assess their position in life and consider donating to the Red Cross in order to help the relief efforts in Haiti. American Airlines has announced a mileage bonus for all donations to the Red Cross at aa.com. If that makes the difference, go for it. I hope that all of us in the travel industry will take a moment to help. Haiti is hardly a glamorous destination of five-star hotels and private jets--far from it. But the people of Haiti are in their darkest hour and now is our time to shine.

	Posted by: Tom Botts Comments: (1) Last Comment: Lauren More by Tom Botts earthquake Haiti RedCross