Dear Round-Up Readers,

Been a busy week, which I am sure you can relate to, as most hotels and companies are in the midst of budget season! Difficult to plan with so much uncertainty that shrouds the world at the moment––inflation, the pending recession, and the unrest in Ukraine and Iran––yet hotels are full and people are traveling! Hard to process everything all at once, all the time. Sigh. This is why any opportunity to meet up with a "hertelier" IRL is so cathartic and also energizing. I was grateful to enjoy a delicious lunch in the beautiful atrium of The Nomad Hotel in London with GM Michelle Walder. We chatted about challenges with labor, trends she's seeing in guest requests, and all the Americans coming to London! Yes, the UK is still a relative bargain with our chaotic government.

Half-term is here and my son is off school for the next two weeks. We are headed on an e-bike trip through Flanders! I've never been to Belgium or ridden an e-bike, so this is going to be exciting! Email me if you have any tips on Flanders!! Curious? feel free to follow our trip on Instagram.

Now, on to news from the week... 

Business, Women, and Random Trends: 

• Is This the Moment When Working Moms Finally ‘Have It All’? Not Exactly Gender equality campaigner Reshma Saujani writes in Vogue about the state of women at work post-pandemic, the picture isn't so pretty.

• Non-linear workdays changing the shape of productivity we've shared about 'asynchronous' work before and it is becoming more commonplace. I fear there are downsides to this, but the upside is potentially more efficiency and flexibility. Learn more in this BBC article.

• Women workers ‘twice as likely as men to be asked to make the tea’ A new survey by Samsung of 2,000 UK workers found gender-biased language and use of stereotypes is widespread within workplaces, with 42% of women saying they will be asked to make tea compared to just 16% of men. It's England, so of course, they asked about tea! Women were also more likely (50% against 21%) to be asked about the wellbeing of their children and to do menial or admin tasks (37 % against 19 %).

• The diversity backlash is underway Another essential read is from the World Economic Forum on how to handle resistance to diversity.

• How NOT to Communicate in a Crisis Using British PM Liz Truss as an example, this article from Inc is a MUST READ. With just four steps, you can handle any gaffe.

• How to train your brain to deal with regret more effectively If you’re feeling sad about something you did (or didn’t do), Fast Company offers three tips on the best way to address regret. We've all been there!

• Meet the Army of Robots Coming to Fill In for Scarce Workers WSJ breaks down where robots are helping...and where they are not.

Travel & Hospitality news:

• The Rise of Sleep Tourism does your hotel offer a "sleep package"? Or did you think every room night is a sleep package? Data shows that people are sleeping worse post-pandemic (we're currently working on a story about this for hertelier) and hotels are here to help. CNN rounds up different packages from meditation to actually partnering with a medical sleeping clinic.

• Hotel Bars Serve Autumn In a Glass, and the Flavors Aren't All Pumpkin Spice

  A fun round-up in Costar on popular fall drinks in hotel bars (think: 'Maple Sour,' and 'An Apple a Day,'

• Hotels Still Face Wide Gap Between Job Growth and Openings 91% percent of hotels are still unable to fill open positions. Read more in Skift.

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. It's been "tech week," so let's beam ourselves in!

• Tech Trends to Watch with Sue Graves, CEO of Experience Alive Robots, Blockchain, NFTs––expert Sue Graves breaks down some of the tech that is changing the hotel business for good.

• TikTok vs Instagram: What You Need to Know for Your Hotel

  Christalena Vraila puts TikTok against Insta in a social media showdown. She offers actionable tips for your hotel's social media plans!

   

Listen UP: podcasts I loved this week!

• "Don't Sh*t Where You Eat" Time Out: A Fairplay Podcast. To say I am obsessed with Eve Rodsky, author and expert on #genderequality, is an understatement. I've just learned of her work, downloaded her book, Fair Play, and have been bingeing her podcast all week. So much great info, but if you have to pick just one episode, this one on setting boundaries and demystifying the idea of multi-tasking is a MUST LISTEN.

• Kwame Christian on Hello Monday: How to Have Difficult Conversations. Kwame is the founder and Managing Director of the American Negotiation Institute, and has a new book, "How to Have Difficult Conversations About Race." He shared a Compassionate Curiosity framework to make sensitive conversations more meaningful and productive, which can be useful for so many topics. Have a listen and let me know what you think!

   

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Have a great week!  

Em