The Columns from our Hospitality Newsletter

The topic of the week has me grinding my teeth a little. It’s the sheer hypocrisy flowing from revenue leaders, that constant, breathless sermon about “Personalization! The customer craves unique…

We all saw this headline. Amazon versus Perplexity. It’s a classic tech brawl: the established giant protecting its turf versus the disruptive upstart wielding the shiny new weapon of Agentic…

The sound of Bill Hornbuckle admitting to the press that the pricing strategy was a mistake, that the $26 water and the $12 coffee were a “shame on us” moment,…

What happens when no one can travel anymore? Let’s talk about it. The global tourism economy is a juggernaut. It’s an undisputed growth story, expected to grow by 10% this…

I don’t see any future for e-commerce that isn’t conversational or agent-driven — and what OpenAI is building might finally push us into what I’ve been calling for years “the…

The state of dining service in the USA has become a fascinating, if infuriating, contradiction. Just the other night, I watched this whole dysfunction play out in real time. A…

During a client call, they show me a competitor’s website.“We want something like this,” they say.I click, I scroll… and there it is — the moment the Force trembles. (If…

The air in this town always feels different when the wind shifts. Not the dry desert wind that kicks up dust, but the subtle, corporate wind that changes the vibe…

Hilton’s got another five “brands” on the way; Radisson’s got an explainer for their own explainer. This desperate pursuit of another name for a building – another “bed block” –…

Today’s personal rant: let’s finally clear up my complicated relationship with WhatsApp voice notes.Here’s my theory — voice messages are like Schrödinger’s cat. Until you open them, the person on…