Dear Round-Up Readers,

A massive THANK YOU to those of you who have filled out the short survey I sent this week. Your feedback is very important as I want to make hertelier an even more useful resource for you. If you didn't get the chance, please click here now––it takes less than five minutes! Thank you : )

This edition of the Round-Up is coming to you from New York City! I am here on my way to drop my daughter off at college this week! That was a fast 18 years (I'm not crying, you're crying!) After that, I will be taking a few weeks off but still aiming to post stories through August and send the Sunday Round-Up, by the way, did you try the audio version?

Now, on to the week's news!

Business, Women, and Social Media Trends: 

• Inflation flattens Some good news! Inflation cooled in July, experts say that even the rampant cost of food shopping, up 13.1% in a year and the biggest increase since 1979, could ease from here. Factors that helped reduce inflation: energy prices broadly declined 4.6% and gasoline fell 7.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Gender Pay Gap: Previously it had been thought that the gender pay gap started when women became mothers, turns out this is not the case. New data analyzed by the Wall Street Journal, which covered about 1.7 million graduates in 2016 and 2017, showed that median pay for men exceeded that for women three years after graduation in nearly 75% of roughly 11,300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs at some 2,000 universities. In almost half of the programs, male graduates’ median earnings topped women’s by 10% or more. In a LinkedIn post, a story has me thinking that undervaluing women starts in summer camp.

• Serena Williams Says Farewell to Tennis On Her Own Terms—And In Her Own Words ICYMI this VOGUE interview with the tennis legend about her choice to focus on being a mother is powerful, "I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family," she says.

• Online Trends for Teens. New research from Pew says about half of US teens aged 13–17 say they’re online “almost constantly,” up from 24% in 2015.

  • The most popular platform for teens isn’t TikTok but…YouTube, which 95% of teens use. In 2015, the No. 1 platform was Facebook.

  • Speaking of Facebook, 71% of teens used it in 2015. Now, 32%.

Travel & Hospitality news:

• Eco-Overload? A new survey reported in Globetrender, reveals that more than half of British travelers are unconcerned about their trips’ impact on climate change. In the survey of 2,000 adults (who had flown recently) by travel money specialists No 1 Currency, 57% of respondents said they are “not worried” about their trip’s impact on climate change, compared to just 43% who were.

• Americans Are Vacationing More, but Staying in Work Mode

  U.S. workers are going on much-delayed summer getaways. But the Wall Street Journal says workers aren’t necessarily signing off from office email, though. The Atlantic suggests the best way to switch off is vigorous exercise, what do you think?

• Employment Opportunities in Hotels: AHLA's Chip Rogers was on CNBC talking about the epic opportunities in the sector for employment.

• Silver-Haired and Shameless About Perks: Retirees Take Part-Time Work in the Travel Industry Speaking of employment, the NYT takes a look at seniors taking on part-time jobs to get the benefits of cheap travel. Seems to be a win-win!

• TikTok Virality Has Become a Key to Restaurant Success. It’s Not So Easy to Come By. Going viral on TikTok can bring restaurants financial wins—but success on the platform is hard to replicate says Bon Appetit

• Hooters Touts Professional Assets: Okay! Lots to unpack here, Hooters is doing a campaign to showcase the women who have gone from working in their restaurants to achieving success in the business world. According to the NY Post, they've sent a survey called “The Search for I AM a Hooters Girl Success Stories – Past & Present,” to many of the 400,000 waitresses and bartenders who have squeezed themselves into the cleavage-baring tank tops and orange-colored bun-huggers since 1983 with the intent to profile many of the women. Email me your thoughts on this!!

• For Sale: The ‘Sexiest’ Hourly Rate Hotel in Manhattan An interesting read, one of New York's "short stay" hotels is being sold for the real estate, the owner of the Liberty Inn on Manhattan's West Side says, “a hotel like this doesn’t make sense."

On hertelier this week:

Big welcome to our new subscribers! The story in Forbes, How Women Are Changing The Hotel Industry, keeps bringing new readers! Super excited to have you here. Lots of stories to share! 

• New Research Reveals the Truth About Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Hotel Management This article is a MUST READ, by new contributors Professors Dr. Michelle Russen and Dr. Miranda Kitterlin-Lynch. They share the results of research which discovered remuneration, career advancement, and precarious positions are the three top areas of gender disparity in the hospitality industry. They also share lots of great advice.

• AAHOA Launches ElevateHER to Highlight and Support Women Hoteliers

  The new ElevateHER program will offer networking and educational opportunities for women hoteliers, we get the scoop.

• Red Flag Redux Lots of interest in "red flags" so columnist Nancy Mendelson unpacks again with the help of readers like you!

• Summer Reading! New Book on Leadership by Dr. Lalia Rach

  How do you manage what others think of you as a leader? Dr. Lalia Rach has written the book to help YOU write the book on YOU!

Mark your calendar!! Two free events coming up on August 25th and 26th.

• Women Leading Travel & Hospitality is hosting a free live stream event on August 25th Speakers include (all times ET):

  • 12:00 p.m.: June Ryan, Motivational Speaker and Trainer, Values-Based Leadership Expert, Best Selling Author

  • 12:40 p.m.: Caroline Beteta, President & CEO, Visit California

  • 1:20 p.m.: 

    • Sarah Dandashy, Travel Expert + Creator, Ask A Concierge

    • Deborah Gardner, Founder and Host, Hospitality Today Live

    • Daphne Spencer, CEO, Hospitality Amplified LLC, Co-founder and President, African Association of Women in Tourism and Hospitality

• August 26th is Women's Equality Day, Women in Travel Thrive is hosting a one-hour zoom on equality topics with Malaika Myers, Chief Human Resources Officer, Hyatt Hotels, Maria Henson, Director of Market Research & Analytics, Visit Orlando,

Listen UP: Latest podcast binges

• "Unpaused", a show about how to shift or come back into your career, hosted by an Australian Judy Stewart, a barrister (lawyer) who, after taking time off to raise four sons, discovered professional fulfillment at the helm of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Foundation. She interviews men and women who have successfully restarted or changed careers, I found it by listening to her interview of the brilliant journalist Juliet Kinsman, the Conde Nast Traveller sustainability expert.

• The Thing About Pam: Okay, I'm a little late to this one, but OMG. This is a Dateline NBC series about a woman who is accused of killing her friend, her mother and is actually now in jail for killing another man. Her story has just been made into a TV series with Reneé Zellweger.

Please don't forget to do the survey! Have a great week!  

Em