As hotels spend billions on 21st-century upgrades, younger generations of travelers will grow up sleeping in a new breed of hotel. The money is going for things such as better beds, splashier showers, trendier bars and flat-screen TVs. A recent survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Association suggests the transformation is well underway in an industry that this year is spending $5 billion on upgrades. By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY

The Ministry of Sports and Tourism has revised up its tourist arrival target for 2005 to 14 million with a revenue of about 400 billion baht by launching a new marketing campaign to promote Thailand’s tourism industry worldwide.

The infamous “Hanoi Hilton,” where Senator John McCain spent five and a half years during the Vietnam War, has been largely demolished. Only a small museum remains of the Hoa Lo prison, involuntary housing for 300 American pilots captured in the conflict. The Hilton Hanoi Opera, open since 1999, takes pains to not celebrate a connection to Hoa Lo, even if the hotel’s Web site is  hanoi.hilton.com.  Tourists still drop in to ask if the prison was located there, or at least nearby — but none of the guests, the concierge assured during a recent stay, confuse the hotel with a prison.

Pata Travel Mart 2004 (PTM 04) opened in Bangkok, Thailand today with a total of 345 global buyers, representing 309 organisations from 45 countries on hand  to meet 720 seller delegates representing 342 Asia Pacific travel and tourism organization from 37 countries. The numbers represent a 70% larger turnout of total delegates than at PATA Travel Mart 2003 in Singapore, which attracted 190 buyer delegates from 46 countries, and 213 seller organizations from 33 Asia Pacific countries.

Chosen from over 600 hotels across Europe, Middle East & Africa, InterContinental Dubai has been awarded as an outstanding performer, winning an award for best “Market Performance Achievement”, reflecting the excellent market leading results for the year 2004. The hotel had an increase in occupancy level of 5% in 2004 compared to the previous year, over 45% increase in average rate and 52% raise in RevPar.  

With as many as 45 new 5- and 4-star hotels opening across the Arabian Gulf region in the next three years, suppliers to the hospitality industry are  looking forward to a bumper sales year.

By Dr. Peter E. Tarlow: Travel and tourism professionals can never forget that their profession is not only one that evokes high levels of emotions, but is often open to all sorts of liability cases that range from the frivolous to the extremely serious.  To add to the confusion, what may be legal in one place may be illegal or liable in another location and often visitors may not only sue in the location in which an incident occurred but also once they have returned home.

Following the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the results of a new travel study finds that more newlywed couples have chosen Cyprus as their honeymoon destination this year, which could lead to more bookings to the 'island of love', say ulookubook.com.

By Yoland Perras: Sampling from a guest perspective prior to buying is a critical step for all items on your Hotel Operating Equipment (HOE) list.

By Stacy Collett: One of Hyatt's most successful ideas emerged from the business side and was put to the test in a lab hotel. Hyatt International's president announced that the company needed to change the way guests check in. The lab trial was so successful that the company decided to expand the mobile solution even further.