By Vicky Karantzavelou: German travellers make up the largest proportion of Europeans in 9 of the 12 destinations on the list. According to The World Bank, Germany is the European country with the most international departures, followed by the UK. It is therefore of little surprise that the top destinations in the US are most heavily represented by German and British vacation-goers.

As the summer sun continues to beat down on Europe, it's been hard not to think about upcoming beach holidays. As such, here is a list of the 10 most beautiful hotels if you’re dreaming of idyllic getaways.

By feature writer Alan Campbell: Since I deal with the smaller properties of the hotel business, I shall concentrate on the loneliest person in our business that being the night auditor. I always make it a practice to come down from the room to talk to the auditor. You would be surprised at the wealth of information you can acquire just by talking to him/ her.

By Anuj Jenveja: Hotels do not receive bookings on a 9 to 5 basis. Reservations are made all times of day and night, shifting rate structures and demand patterns at hotels, even while hotel management sleeps. Yet we've all seen properties, where a revenue manager only monitors the property during regular business hours five days a week. Once 5 p.m. hits, they clock out and either hand over the keys to overworked front desk staff, or they don't do anything at all.

By Rieva Lesonsky: Take a good look at your employees. Did you know 80 percent of them are ready to bail? According to a sobering new Monster.com survey, nearly half (42 percent) of workers are unhappy with their current jobs, and a whopping 81 percent plan to job hunt this year. Here are 6 things you can do to get them to stay.

No longer are visitors only looking for leisure facilities and satisfied with standard hotel rooms. Serviced apartments are on the rise and bring with them their own challenges and opportunities.

True tales from travel agents to the ultra-wealthy.

By Suzanne Gerber: How much do baby boomers love to travel? According to industry research, we spend $157 billion on trips every year and many polls rank travel as our No. 1 leisure activity. To give you some inspiration for the 3.7 statistical trips you’ll take in the next year, here are seven of the hottest trends among boomer peers.

By Anne Edwards, Editor in Chief, ehotelier: What makes a hotel sexy? Ehotelier spoke to Mr & Mrs Smith to find out how to increase a hotel’s libido.

By Barry Moltz: The common refrain in the business world today is that customers buy from those they “know, like and trust.” The difficult part for many businesses is figuring out how to go about gaining that long-term trust. Here are seven reasons your customers don’t trust you and what to do about it.