Dear Round-Up Readers,

Writing the Round-Up this week with a heavy heart.  The war unfolding in Ukraine is upsetting on so many levels, in the words of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, "We have never been here before." He explains why this conflict is unlike any in history, dubbing it "World War Wired" as we are all able to follow in real-time, and outlines some possible outcomes.  A few more items that I have found helpful in trying to understand the Ukraine conflict:

• Our thoughts are with our hotel colleagues, Galina Petrenko, commercial director of the Hilton Kyiv wrote an incredibly moving post on the first day of the invasion and showed more devastation yesterday, she is incredibly brave.  Here is a round-up of the hotel companies with the most exposure to Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe.
• Wondering how you can help?  Try any of these lists: Fast Company, NPR, and CNet (which also notes actor Sean Penn has arrived in Ukraine to film an anti-war documentary and the most reliable Twitter accounts to follow). 
• For easy to understand daily explainers on the war, listen to the BBC Ukrainecast.

In other hotel news:

• Marriott CEO Tony Capuano on Bloomberg––as we crest the pandemic, how is the current geopolitical landscape going to impact travel and consumer spending? He also talks about the company's exposure in Russia and Ukraine. 

• Mental health help for guests and employees.  Love this innovative partnership between Kimpton Hotels and Talkspace offering 1,000 hours of free counseling to guests and a year-long subscription to employees, plus other promotions. 

• Extended stay hotels play the long game. NBC offers an interesting read on the trend of longer stays to accommodate for "bleisure" travel and what innovations we may see in extended-stay properties from pets to luxury amenities. 

• More 2022 trends. Low and no alcohol spirits, second cities, unique boutique hotels, and intentional travel are some of the trends outlined in the new travel TrendHawk report.  One that stood out about social media: online videos will make up over 82% of consumer internet traffic. 

   

Do you love Round-Up? Help us keep growing––just forward this email, anyone can sign up by clicking here!  

BIG week on hertelier:

• Unprecedented Times: Hotel HR Directors Tell All. Raw and emotional, this is one of our most moving stories to date. Researched over several weeks, through many honest conversations with hotel human resource directors and corporate executives, we explore the difficulties faced by HR and offer solutions.

• 5 Lessons Learned from Starting a Podcast. We chatted with Robin Moncreiffe of the popular podcast "Don't Look Under the Bed," which has just celebrated its one-year anniversary. Robin shares the best lessons she and co-host Niki Wade have learned after speaking with over 50 hotel industry experts! I am a BIG fan of the show.

• Demystifying 2022 Travel Trends with Virtuoso's Misty Belles: Virtuoso travel agents are responsible for about $30 billion in annual travel sales, we chat with Misty about trends they see coming down the pike and her 20+ year career with the company. 

• Running a Family Business: Julie Hastings, Marketing Director, Hastings Hotels. Her father was an industry legend in Northern Ireland, Julie shares the best lessons she learned from him, how she coped during the pandemic, and a bit about Jamie Dornan in the movie Belfast. 

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED FOR AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY STUDY! A new benchmarking study is being done by the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration and Women Leading Travel & Hospitality. Click here to participate anonymously!  Currently, it’s estimated that women make up more than 50% of the hospitality and travel workforce, yet hold only 12% of the leadership positions. This study hopes to uncover the current gender diversity landscape, opportunities for women’s advancement, and organizational best practices for supporting women. As they say, what gets measured, gets done! 

If you're a new subscriber, you may not know hertelier was featured by the Cornell University SC Johnson School of Business! Please CLICK HERE to read about the community YOU are helping to build for women in lodging! 

Are you still here? I'd love to hear from you. Why do you read hertelier and what would you like to see covered? Is there someone you'd like to suggest for a profile?  My goal in 2022 is to get to know more of our readers, just reply to this email. I am a real person 😃 

Have a great week,

Em