New research has revealed that the hospitality industry has been placed in the high risk category, with a quarter of all jobs in the sector being paid National Minimum Wage. The results emerged from a study from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and revealed that hospitality businesses who pay their staff less than the NMW could risk damage to their company through loss of reputation, low staff productivity and high employee turnover.

By Feature Writer Sam Weston: Urgency is a widely employed conversion tactic in eCommerce and yet, on the whole, seemingly underutilised in hospitality. The potential to create urgency and thus reduce time-to-book, increase booking lead times and reduce the propensity for guests to shop around, should catch the eye of any astute hotelier.

By Osvaldo Torres Cruz: The Hotel Guest Sleep Experience goes far beyond the type of mattress, bedding fabric quality and types of pillows offered, by the way, generic products and services that currently have lost its distinctive character. This is about providing our customers Sleep Stimulating Atmospheres, to help them renew and maintain their physical and emotional well-being. I want to share with you some ideas that we could use to help our guests to reach more easily the realm of mythological God Morpheus.

By Jayne Clark: Lonely Planet today issued its Best in Travel 2014 list, available on its website and in book form. The year's hottest destinations are chosen annually by Lonely Planet editors and contributors.

By feature writer Steve DiGioia: You have hired a few new employees; whether they were a waiter, bartender, front desk agent, cook, etc., so what is next?  You put them through your usual training program and now they are "on the floor" working on their own.  A few weeks go by and your new recruit has been doing a decent job and you know that their speed & efficiency will only get better.  You think "great, that position is filled and I can now move on to the next challenge".

By Michelle Guelbart: The US hospitality liaison from ECPAT, an international organization focused on ending child sex trafficking, brings us some insight on the issue and how we, as hoteliers, can take a proactive role to address it in our industry.

By Will Coldwell: A customer survey by Which? has found a huge difference in standards across UK hotel brands. But which chain hotels do you rate? And which would you avoid at all costs?

TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site*, has announced the winners of its 2013 Travellers’ Choice™Restaurants awards. The awards honour travellers' favourite fine dining establishments worldwide, based on millions of valuable reviews and opinions on TripAdvisor.