Hello, Round-Up readers!

Super exciting news! Thanks to your support we’ve hit 1,000 subscribers!!  How amazing is that?! Help us keep growing by sharing Round-Up with your colleagues and friends. Readers tell us it saves them time by serving up industry news they might have missed in a digestible, easy-to-read format. Please do me a favor this week and share Round-Up with one person...or three! Or your whole team! Your sharing REALLY makes a difference. Thank you!

Now, on to this week's news:

• A prediction we ❤️ by Blackstone: group meetings and convention gatherings return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year. #4 in "10 Surprises," a series Blackstone strategist Byron Wien has been publishing since 1986 outlining events that may shape the political, economic and financial landscape. For 2022 he and partner Joe Zidle actually made 14 predictions. Of the other 13, a few stood out: China controls the ingredients the world needs for lithium batteries (plus cobalt and nickel) used in many Green efforts and will keep for domestic use; JP Morgan will reverse its stance on cryptocurrency; Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 with its low taxes and nice weather (except for hurricanes) will become a "hot" retirement destination. 
• 10 Industry Predictions: HSMAI President & CEO Bob Gilbert, Knowland CEO Jeff Bzdawka, and Kalibri Labs CEO Cindy Estis Green offer up 10 ideas from robotics to sales. Definitely worth clicking on this!
• We all have COVID fatigue, when does it end? Fast Company offers a guess from some experts. Spoiler: peak Omicron could be mid-Jan-mid-Feb in the US. 
• The ‘Great Resignation’ rolls on as a record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November.  That's equivalent to 3% of the workforce. 
• Hiring strategy you want to steal: Omni Hotels' "One and Done." Candidates for hourly positions and supervisory roles come for a single round of interviews, those that do well immediately get an offer, and Omni closes the deal. 

On hertelier this week:

• Tipping in a cashless world––Maybe you've experienced this yourself, wanting to tip but only having your phone and no money? Fact is, less than 18% of people carry cash today. Maybe your front-line employees have complained about shrinking tips? Read about a solution with TipBrightly founder and CEO, Elle Rustique.
• Mexican Mixmaster: Jessica “Gin” Montserrat Reyes Jiménez Castro.  A bartender named Gin is one worth listening to! She's shaking up the Mexican mixology scene for women, read more here. 

WATCH THIS:  Marriott's President Stephanie Linnartz was on Yahoo Finance live from CES touting the new 10,000 square-foot Marriott Design Lab, a new "R&D lab for the hotel industry" that will be used to build, test, and explore new innovations in the hotel space with (mainly tech) partners. She also reveals business on Marriott's books––leisure and meetings are up with a question mark on when business travel will return. 

BOOK NOW: hertelier is proud to partner with the Hotel Leadership Conference, presented by Master Innholders.  Taking place at the Park Plaza London Riverbank on 17-18 January 2022, the conference offers a fantastic schedule of learning and networking! To champion the unrelenting passion and innovation shown over the last 18 months, the conference theme,  BOLDER. BRAVER. BETTER... will focus on how as professionals, businesses, and an industry we can operate more consciously, innovate more efficiently, and grow effectively. Not just aimed at general managers––whether you work in operations, F&B, spa, marketing, you will leave invigorated by new ideas and a fresh perspective with implementable actions to take back to your business. GRAB TICKETS HERE

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!

You're still here!  Thank you for reading. My goal in 2022 is to get to know more of our readers. I would love to hear from you. Where do you work?  What is your role?  Why do you read hertelier and what would you like to see covered? Is there someone you'd like to suggest for a profile?  Just reply to this email.  I'm a real person who would love to know what is of value to you 😃

Have a great week,

Emily