EZYield.com, the originator of automated online channel management solutions for the worldwide hospitality industry, and SynXis®, the Sabre Holdings business that provides hotel distribution and Internet marketing services globally, are proud to announce a mutually beneficial Technology Partnership Program that focuses on customer engagement, implementation and support, development, standardization, and communication.

Federal authorities in New York are investigating allegations that Hilton Hotels Corp. used information taken from rival Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. to create a new luxury-hotel brand. Hilton said Tuesday it is temporarily suspending development of its Denizen Hotels, the brand at the center of the controversy, as a precautionary move. The Beverly Hills, Calif., company said it received a federal grand-jury subpoena Monday from the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York asking for documents relating to Hilton's employment of former Starwood employees.

I had the pleasure of listening to Dr Rachel Dodds of Ryerson University, Canada give a presentation on the Future of Sustainable Tourism as part of Victoria University’s Tourism Future Makers or Future Takers series. Rachel is one of the leading experts on the subject and provided an insight of what is happening now and what is to come.

As one who has seen the tides of Hawaii tourism rise and fall through more than 60 years in the hotel business, André S. Tatibouet believes the hospitality industry needs to go back to basics to fill rooms and survive this latest recession. The founder and former owner of the Aston Hotels & Resorts chain has a unique perspective on Hawaii’s visitor industry, as someone who has seen his own fortunes ebb and flow. And in a business where the names are constantly changing, Andre Tatibouet is one of the few hotel executives who has history and knowledge beyond the last quarter.

The tourism, hospitality and leisure industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Our latest report highlights ways in which companies can help reposition their business to face the downturn and be in the best possible shape to take advantage of any potential upturn, and also looks at the longer term outlook for the Middle East, and at the role of Sovereign Wealth Funds. The Middle East – strong foundations in difficult times – tourism is both a driver and a beneficiary of economic growth in the Middle East. What now? | Aviation – hitting stormy weather – how is the airline industry faring in the current climate | | Economic woes threaten hotel performance – a global review of hotel performance in 2008 | Uncertain times call for a sharper focus – few people were able to predict the speed and scale of the economic fallout that has followed the credit crunch. We flag up the best ways to drive down costs while pushing up efficiency | Exploring sovereign territory – Sovereign wealth funds have become a major force over the past three years but will this continue?

The hotel industry expects another difficult year as loans come due and occupancy rates drop, but the Washington area is expected to bear up somewhat better than other parts of the country. At a meeting of hotel investors in Washington yesterday, industry researchers said they expect to see more hotels here and across the country defaulting on loans, going into foreclosure and seeking to restructure their debt. A newly released industry report did not name Washington-area hotels or any others potentially in distress. However, hotels that are about to open are considered vulnerable because they may have taken on more debt than they can support now with lower room receipts.

Few businesses know the yearlong rollercoaster ride better than the hotel industry in Central Florida. It’s a seasonal phenomenon that leaves many hotel and motel operators fluctuating between nail-biting slow periods and fast-paced weeks with rooms booked to capacity.Kyle Tyler, assistant general manager for Quality Inn Ocala Hotel & Conference Center, said it depends on what time of year you’re talking about. “When the racing was going on and HITS horse show, we were completely filled up. A couple times, we were at 100 percent,” said Tyler. “The summer is the slow time. Once the Gator games start up, it’s pretty good. One of the teams that played against the Gators, last year, came here. We just finished the busy time of the year.”

Marriott International Inc. (MAR) swung to a first-quarter loss on restructuring charges as revenue per room tumbled, a situation the hotel giant now expects to be worse than anticipated for the year. The hotel industry has been cutting costs after being hammered last year, and the outlook for this year is just as dire. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services predicts revenue per available room - an industry performance measure - may decline as much as 16% in the U.S. Revenue per available room, an industry measure of profitability, tumbled 20% globally in the first quarter and 16% domestically at Marriott. Chairman and Chief Executive J.W. Marriott said he was nevertheless encouraged that despite the drop, gross margin fell a less-than-expected 3.4 percentage points.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. plans to announce Wednesday that it will reduce the service fee it charges travelers to book hotel rooms on its Web site through July 15, upping the ante after recent online travel-agency moves to cut the fee on airline-ticket bookings. Booking a hotel room on Orbitz.com will be cheaper than it will be on competitor sites like Travelocity.com and Expedia Inc.'s Expedia.com about 80% of the time, says Barney Harford, president and chief executive of Orbitz. When Orbitz is cheaper, the average savings will be $7 a night, says spokesman Brian Hoyt. The company declined to say what the average hotel booking fee will be.

The organisers of Web In Travel (WIT) have announced that the WIT Start-Up Pitch will be conducted for the second time this year. The panel of investor judges will include two entrepreneurs/investors who’ve been through the school of hard knocks themselves.

Starting today, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is challenging hoteliers across the country to track and improve their green business operations by taking the AH&LA Green Guidelines Challenge. Participants completing the challenge will be able to identify themselves as eco-friendly establishments based on benchmarking their operation procedures against AH&LA’s 11 minimum green guidelines, released in November 2008 by the association’s Green Task Force. The winner of the six-month challenge will also receive a green prize package from an allied AH&LA member.

What can hotel developers learn from John Q. Hammons, a master of the industry who personally developed more than 200 hotel projects? What were the keys to his success and what changes in the project development structure could help other companies follow Hammons example? For decades John Q’s strategy has been to concentrate on emerging, second-tier locations that offer opportunities for the developer to carve out protected market niches. Showing courage and extraordinary vision he consistently opened new markets just at the right time and with just the right product. With impressive but not exaggerated medium-size properties, amply dimensioned to handle current and calculated future demand, he would dominate those markets for years leaving no viable opportunity for potential competitors who knew they would be dividing a limited market. These market niche projects offer the potential for higher than average returns, are somewhat protected in lean economic times and enjoy strong community support.

For the first time in nearly two years, there is evidence that the recession may be moderating. However, luxury goods marketers should not celebrate yet; the evidence also shows that affluent consumers are changing their patterns of consumption, and these changes may outlast any economic downturn.

A comparison of eleven technologies commonly used in restaurants found that restaurant customers find virtual menus with nutritional information to be the most valuable of new technologies, followed closely by online reservations, kiosks for ordering, and pagers for table management. The study, "Customer Preferences for Restaurant Technology Innovations," by Michael J. Dixon, Sheryl E. Kimes, and Rohit Verma, is available at no charge from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research at www.hotelschool.cornell.edu. Dixon is a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, where Kimes and Verma are faculty members.

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) has ranked number eleven on Computerworld magazine’s “Top 12 Green IT Companies” list and is only one of two companies to make the list again this year. Computerworld recognized Marriott for its innovative efforts to make its hi-tech operations even more energy efficient and less wasteful.

On a whirlwind three-day visit to several new hotels in the United Kingdom, J.W. Marriott, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) announced global expansion plans for the company including:

“The economic slowdown continued to strain the European hotel market and the industry RevPAR in first quarter 2009 as compared to the same period in 2008. Cost management and cash flow remain at the forefront of Rezidor’s (STO:REZT) activities. Our cost cutting programme is well underway and is still targeting annual savings of MEUR 30 with full effect as of the second half of 2009 and we continue to look for and analyse the need for further cost reductions”, says Kurt Ritter, President and CEO of The Rezidor Hotel Group.

Branding in the hotel industry is very very important. Without branding its very difficult for your brand to succeed, unless of course, you are a very small hotel company or a single hotel that isn’t exactly looking for worldwide or national exposure. For a company like Starwood Hotels - branding is one of the most important facets of their marketing campaigns. Branding establishes what each of their hotel brands stand for, differentiates them from the competition and encourages the customers to want a particular brand over another.

There's a growing conversation about the "rules of social media" and the consequences marketers face should they violate them. But there's only real rule of social media: don't be boring. So long as you do not bore your audience, you are free to try anything. That goes for individuals and brands alike. The idea that a certain set of rules governs social media is both limiting and silly, especially as social media is evolving on a daily basis. Just a few short years ago, social media started with Internet sites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook, then expanded into mobile with Twitter. The next evolution will be ubiquitous networking, what I call "social everywhere."

According to a new consumer survey on hotels released by leading global market research firm Synovate, one in ten people globally will only stay at a hotel if it has a green policy, more than half of all travelers like to try new hotels and Americans feel that the hotel toiletries are ‘part of the experience’. Sheri Lambert, Synovate's U.S. Senior Vice President for Travel & Leisure research, said the company undertook the survey to explore how people find and select the hotels they stay in, and how important certain hotel features are to them. “Ask any regular traveler and you can almost guarantee they will have a hotel-from-hell story and (hopefully) a hotel-from-heaven counterpart. Whether people are travelling for pleasure or business, the place where they park their head at night can make or break the experience.”