Greetings from St. Tropez, Round-Up Readers! Keeping it short because technically, I'm on vacation here in the South of France where we are visiting friends. Would welcome any Summer reading suggestions, so email me! It seems we missed the worst part of the heatwave, because it is beautiful here and in the low 80s. However, this July has been the warmest on record putting tourism in the hot seat (see below). Hope you’re keeping cool wherever you are! Let’s get on to the news… |
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Business, Women, and Random Trends:
Ante UP! A Female Billionaire Thinks the Secret to Women's Wealth Is Poker Time reports Peak6 CEO Jenny Just, 55, believes it’s no accident that the gender breakdown among competitive poker players and options traders is pretty similar: less than 10% women. She thinks poker is the answer to get more women comfortable with taking risks. She started Poker Power to fix this, already the app and events, have introduced about 32,000 women and girls to poker across 40 countries from Monaco to Kenya.
Women's World Cup Soccer is ON in Australia and making headlines 2022 was a standout year for women's soccer – after the Euros, viewing figures hit an all-time high, with attendance spiking. Big cheers for U.S. Soccer, as the team now provides six months of paid parental leave and fully-funded childcare during training and competition. Meanwhile, in the UK Grazia asks, "Why Are Female Footballers Being Asked About Their Sexuality?" based on a BBC interview.
The pandemic changed nearly everything about work. Why are we still stuck with performative long hours? I remember when this was called "face time," sticking around to make sure the boss saw you working. BBC interviews experts who say this habit needs to change.
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Travel & Hospitality:
Hot Summer of 2023 This month is the planet’s hottest July on record by far – and hottest in around 120,000 years, reports CNN. Yet, "Forget wildfires in Greece and Italy. Enjoy your holiday, say tourism chiefs" reports Politico. "Italy may be frying, but the country’s tourism board says visitors ‘will find a climate suitable for the summer season." And Bloomberg (paywall) reports Extreme Heat Threatens Europe's $2 Trillion Travel Industry, and the WSJ (paywall) reports "Sweltering Planes. Baking Runways. How This Heat Is Testing Summer Travel."
Stop trying to have the perfect vacation. You’re ruining everyone else’s. Entitlement and endless optimization have turned travel into an unfun bloodsport complains journalist Rebecca Jennings in Vox. A must read! She interviews Jacqui Gifford from T+L and legendary travel reporter Rick Steves, who both acknowledge that post-pandemic demand is changing the European travel experience...for the worse. What do you think?
Tourists are back. Is it time to tell them to stay away? Related to the post above, complaints about overcrowding and cultural insensitivity are getting louder. Now some destinations have decided to act reports the FT (paywall).
Hotel Company Earnings Season Starts Strong Based on all the complaints of crowding and overtourism, it comes as no surprise that hotel earnings results were good for Hilton, Accor, and Wyndham. Read more in Skift.
What happened to the Chinese travel boom everyone was waiting for? It stayed in China reports CNBC.
Accor's new 'Dis-loyalty' program can save you money on stays, food and coffee at lifestyle hotels The Points Guy reports Ennismore group (part of Accor)–– lifestyle hotel brands 21c Museum Hotels, The Hoxton, Mondrian, SLS, SO/ and Delano — is embracing the idea of disloyalty by launching an all-new paid membership program, cheekily called Dis-loyalty, that gives discounts to people who sign up and stay and eat at 10 of the 14 brands in the collection. Genius or stupid––what's your take?
Trend Watchers Say Business Travel and Events a Must for Companies Meetings planners forced to balance short- and long-term bookings, and overall business travel and groups are showing renewed strength reports CoStar based on a talk by ALHI's Mike Dominguez at HSMAI’s 2023 Revenue Optimization Conference Americas.
Short-Staffed Hotels Offer Career Growth to Hire Workers Advancement opportunities appeal to housekeepers, front-desk workers. Somehow I missed this article from March in the Wall Street Journal (paywall) which details some innovative and spendy programs to attract and retain hotel staffers.
What people (really) think about working in hotels today Hospitality Daily's Josiah Mackenzie interviewed 2,000 Americans about what draws them––and keeps them away––from hotel careers. Personal referrals are the top way people find hotel jobs and money is what attracts them...you can download the full report for free.
9 hotel room hacks you didn’t know you needed Washington Post (paywall) interviews Samantha Brown for travel tips, including how clothes hangers and duct tape can help you create a cleaner, safer room.
The 21st-Century Shakedown of Restaurants A fascinating and extremely well-written opinion piece by Karen Stabiner in the New York Times (paywall) about the issue with influencers, free meals and restaurateurs.
Save the Planet, Put Down that Hamburger Researchers in the UK examined the diets of 55,500 people and found that vegans are responsible for 75 percent less in greenhouse gases than meat-eaters. Read more in The Guardian.
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