Hei from Norway Round-Up Readers!

Visiting Oslo for the first time! Here with Preferred Hotels checking out the 231-room Sommerro, a conversion of the city's former electric company headquarters and original public bathing house both with stunning original Art Deco detail, and Villa Inkognito, a brand new 11-room villa accommodation, which was originally a private residence built in 1870 by architect Thøger Binneballe. Both properties have been reimagined by GrecoDeco, a London/New York-based interior design firm known for doing The Ned properties. Besides the stunning design with a Mad Men-era vibe, the place is FUN, there are four restaurants, three bars, and a rooftop terrace-plus lots of live music and every place is packed with tall, good-looking Nordic-types.

Three things I've loved:

1. The newly reopened (June of 2022) National Museum, home to many Edvard Munch paintings and Norwary's largest collection of art + design

2. A Wim Hof-style cold water bath and breathwork lesson at the hotel's spa

3. A visit outside the city to the Kistefos modern art museum/ sculpture park, home to The Twist, a 15,000-square-foot structure spanning a river in the middle of the park

   
   Tomorrow we try an urban outdoor swim/sauna in a fjord! Look on my Instagram over the next few days to see what I'm talking about!

Now, on to the news!

Business, Women, and Random Trends:
 

• The Motherhood Penalty: Caregiving Moms Lose Nearly $300,000 In Earnings Over A Lifetime, according to a new report by the Urban Institute and released by the US Department of Labor. The report finds the amount of time women spend providing essential care to children and adults has a substantial personal economic cost that continues long after the caregiving ends, read more in Forbes.
   

• A CEO posted a picture of herself breastfeeding during a video meeting and went viral. Fortune (paywall) shares the responses she got–and what they tell us about remote work and misogyny
   

• What the “Stealth Wealth” Obsession Reveals During the pandemic, the income gap between the highest and lowest U.S. earners widened for the first time in a decade. While social media fashion detectives aim to crack the code of superrich style, they underscore the chasm between one-percenters and everyone else, The Atlantic reports (paywall).

   

• 3 Strategies for Leaders to Become Better Public Speakers People need to get over their fear of public speaking. Inc. shares how to do it.
   

• Why Denise, Heaven’s Receptionist, is the best thing on TikTok. If you've not seen Denise, created by Taryn Delanie Smith, the current Miss New York, media personality and former receptionist, click this article in the WaPo! Hilarious with some truth bombs.

Travel & Hospitality news:

• IHIF in Berlin: the big hotel investment conference happened and we will be running a recap this coming week. Our woman on the scene, Judith Cartwright, CEO of Black Coral Consulting, reports that the mood was upbeat with lots of focus on GOPAR versus RevPAR, other big takeaways:

  • Labor is still a challenge (a topic being talked about and not much is happening)

  • Distressed assets not yet appearing on the market

  • Many hotel companies are having a record year

  • Growth and expansion a key focus

  • An interesting presentation on the future of travel by Jenny Southan of Globetrender says to expect "new air routes and rebel spending for now, flying taxis and AI for tomorrow."
     

• Three Executives Are Paving the Way for Women in Leadership at Resorts World Las Vegas Yahoo! spotlights Shannon McCallum, VP of hotel operations, Tonya Henderson, VP of compliance, and Cinthia Pedroza, executive director of food and beverage, leading this 3,500-room property which also boasts a 117,000-square-foot casino with a live entertainment area, a world-class spa, an infinity pool, casual and fine dining options, and much more.
   

• The state of hotel housekeeping NPR does an interesting status on issues around housekeepers, labor unions, and cleaning services since the pandemic.
   

• Exceptional service may be driving a rise in traveler entitlement Ironically, excellent service may have worsened a growing sense of traveler entitlement. The result can be cyclical: The more travelers are given, the more they want, CNBC’s Monica Pitrelli reports.
   

• Americans are setting vacation records and splurging at bars, restaurants and hotels reports CNN. Expectations are set for a busy summer.
   

• US luxury resort rates dropped for the first time in 2 years — but as noted in the previous story, it’s still expensive reports The Points Guy, based on CoStar data.
   

• Why are hotel showers so ridiculously complicated? All you want to do after a long travel day is take a shower. Good luck with that, says WaPo with an interesting look at trends in hotel showers (paywall).
   

• Disney to close $5,000 Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel The Walt Disney World hotel and experience will take its “final voyage” in September.
   

• F &B: How TikTok Took Over the Menu Grub Street shows the impact of social media on restaurant popularity and menu trends.

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. 
 

• How I Got the Promotion: from General Manager to Corporate VP with Manny Rappenecker, Marriott Her dream was to be a GM, but after leading hotels for three different Marriott brands, Manny wanted something bigger. Here's how she did it.
   

• Martha Stewart–the Queen of Reinvention–Inspires as Sports Illustrated Cover Model Columnist Nancy Mendelson reflects on Martha Stewart's latest turn as a Sports Illustrated cover model and what we can all learn from her.
   

• Loving the Climb: Lina Patel, Director, Strategic Franchise Initiatives at Red Roof Taking on a new role with Red Roof leading franchise initiatives, Lina Patel shares her goals for increasing diversity in hotel ownership.

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Thank you for reading! Have a great week!

Em