Miscellaneous

🏈 Heated Rivalry, a Canadian TV show, filmed in Muskoka, Canada, attracted international success in 2026. Directed by Jacob Tierney, it tells the love story between two closeted NHL players over eight years. The pivotal cottage location, Barlochan Cottage by Trevor McIvor Architect, was secured just two weeks before filming. With a budget of CAD $30 million, the show creatively used lighting and set design, impacting fans and even fashion designer Donatella Versace.

🏖️ Coastal towns face a trust issue, not recorded in campaign metrics, impacting repeat visits. Visitors, arriving disoriented, struggle due to outdated info, leading to fewer return trips and increased staff burnout. In 1994, Werfenweng, an Alpine village, increased visitor numbers by 35% by aligning visitor expectations through a "soft mobility" model, offering car-free holidays. The focus is on reducing gaps between marketing promises and actual experience, ensuring destinations are truly ready for visitors.

✈️ Airlines face a dilemma between GDS and OTA. GDS offers access to premium passengers but incurs high distribution costs. OTAs provide volume and speed but compromise airline identity and customer loyalty. Airlines must choose between controlling distribution or negotiating dependency. The key to success is knowing when to use intermediaries and when to walk away, with the future hinging on shifting from selling seats to owning customers. Margin, not channel, often suffers in these compromises.

📱 Stuart Greif, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Forbes Travel Guide, discusses his approach to industry conferences like ALIS. He emphasizes balancing business objectives with human connections, avoiding over-scheduling, and leaving room for spontaneous interactions. These practices enhance relationship building and idea generation. Greif also highlights the importance of varying event attendance to engage with new communities and maintaining energy while traveling.

📚 Chapters break down essential topics on leadership and personal development: 00:00 - Intro, 01:58 - Book origins, 03:37 - Responsibility, and 04:17 - Presence. Key insights include 05:53 - Authenticity, 07:34 - Trust, 09:24 - Perfectionism, 11:51 - AI leadership, 13:00 - Communication, and 15:26 - Clear asks. Learn about 16:56 - Adapting, 18:29 - Stakeholder management, 20:03 - Personal branding, 21:49 - Visibility, 23:41 - Women's leadership, 27:09 - Feedback, 29:20 - Effective training, 31:16 - Additional resources.

Global guest satisfaction hits 86.7% as 40M reviews across 12,000 hotels reveal rising expectations and widening regional and segment gaps Barcelona, Spain, January 22, 2026 – Shiji, the global hospitality…

🏨 In 2026, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is noted for being quieter than expected in the luxury sector, having lost its emotional connection with guests through rationalized loyalty and standardization. Instead of "world-building," the focus shifted to efficiency, causing mandatory fees and reduced flexibility. To regain relevance, Fairmont must prioritize guest experience, remove frictions, and empower teams to act as allies rather than gatekeepers.

📄 Ravi Patel, former AAHOA Chairman (1992-1993) and SREE Hotels co-founder, passed away. A native of Nadi, Fiji, Ravi moved from chemical engineering to hospitality in 1980, acquiring a motel in Florence, SC, and creating SREE Hotels. AAHOA's 20,000 members own 60% of U.S. hotels, employing over 1 million people with $51.3 billion in earnings. SREE partners include Marriott and Hilton. Ravi's contributions to AAHOA and hospitality inspire many.

📈 Leaders must focus on commercial agility amidst volatile markets. Traditional planning methods using fixed budgets, static targets, and annual strategies are now liabilities. Effective agility requires sensing market changes, interpreting key signals, and reallocating resources efficiently. Agile organizations feature shorter decision loops and cross-functional alignment. Leaders should shift to living strategies, emphasize forward signals, and prioritize value thinking. Regularly reassess market changes and assumptions to maintain adaptability. Inflexibility leads to missed opportunities and increased risks.

💳 Alma, a French installment payment company founded in 2018, has over 23,000 partner merchants, processing billions of transactions annually. Tourism contributes over 10% of their business. They partner with major companies like SNCF and KLM. Alma recently announced a partnership with Namastay to improve hotel payment systems. Installment payment options are increasingly popular, allowing flexibility for purchases of several hundred or thousand euros. This trend impacts conversion rates and basket values positively, appealing to a wide consumer base.