Happy New Year Round-Up Readers!

Hope you had a joyful and restful holiday break, or if you worked during the holidays that you have a good break now.  My family braved the new COVID testing protocols to travel to Italy for a week of skiing in the Dolomites.  I'm glad we did!  The slopes were gorgeous and Italy has a new Super Green Pass that made skiing and dining easy.  Mask wearing was the norm on and off the piste, which allowed us to feel safer moving about.  It seems "learning to live with COVID" is the way forward, so thrilled to start 2022 reporting a positive travel experience!

Here's the top news as we start the new year:

• Will 2022 be a better, healthier year?  Let's go with YES! The Washington Post makes a good argument: we're more resilient, we've learned how to live with COVID, more vaccines and boosters are available, people are regaining trust in science, progress has been made against cancer and HIV, employers are offering more health benefits, the trends of getting outdoors and joining online communities are good for us! 
• Hot food and hotel trends: For F&B––retro cocktails, edible tableware, terms like "swalty" and "swicy" and a focus on BIPOC and women-owned businesses. Check out foodie round-ups from the New York Times and Forbes.  If you missed our interview with F&B Professor Lilly Jan from the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration, it's spicy! Hospitality marketing firms AF&Co and Carbonate put out "Through the Looking Glass" which dishes up cuisines of the year (Caribbean), rising star (Indian food), and others like empanadas and Chivito from South America, the emergence of Afternoon Tea and local gins.  For hotels––expect the end of Turn Down, "Workcations," retro motels made modern, and the outsourcing of room service. Speaking of hotel trends, did you see our article Love ‘em or hate ‘em—5 new Travel Buzzwords you won’t be able to get out of your head?
• What makes a hotel brand? Inc. offers an enlightening interview with Marriott's Global Brand & Marketing Officer Tina Edmundson in their "Behind the Brand" series, where she says "with my team, I say if you walk in, and you didn't look at the logo, could you tell from your sensory elements what brand you're in? That really tells you whether you have a strong brand or not." 
• What happened to civility? Consumer outrage and its impact on the service sector continues to make headlines.  Read the New York Times "A Nation on Hold Wants to Speak With a Manager," about the current challenges of customer-facing businesses. 

On hertelier this week:

• STOP! It's natural to think about personal development this time of year, but if you're making resolutions, best-selling author Leeanne Gardner tells you why you shouldn't and three things to do instead.
• How strong is your hotel's social media game? In 2020, over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025 says Statista, and a major focus is travel, especially as we've all been cooped up!  We get top insights on what tactics hotels should be thinking about from Christalena Vraila, director of award-winning digital agency, Mr.Highline.

WATCH THIS:  STR President Amanda Hite on CNBC explaining the impact of flight cancellations and predicting what's next for hotels. Also, in case you missed it, we interviewed Amanda about her career path to becoming the head of STR, the world's largest hotel data company.

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Have a great week,

Emily