By Steve Cokkinias: A veteran of the hospitality industry, Steve has many entertaining stories up his sleeve. Each Wednesday he will share a story on ehotelier.

Old-fashioned room keys are exactly that nowadays—old fashioned.  It seems like the check-in desk may be heading the same way. Increasingly hotels around the world are moving to electronic and kiosk check-in systems, as the New York Times recently reported. Luddites and the nostalgic will no doubt complain, but for the business traveller it is excellent news.

By Ron Ashkenas: While most managers complain about being overloaded with responsibilities, very few are willing to give up any of them. It's one of the great contradictions of organizational life: People are great at starting new things — projects, meetings, initiatives, task forces — but have a much harder time stopping the ones that already exist.

By Victoria Bryan and Kwasi Kpodo: New hotels are springing up across Africa, despite the trials of bureaucratic delay and poor infrastructure, to take advantage of an increasing number of tourists and business travellers serving a growing middle class. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting economic growth of around 5.8 percent in sub-Saharan Africa this year, second only to developing Asia, and the hospitality industry is keen to tap that growth.

By Barbara DeLollis:  If you're planning a trip to Brazil to stroll the white sandy beaches, conduct business meetings or attend next year's World Cup matches, chances are you'll be able to stay in a new hotel. And you won't have to spend a fortune.

TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site*, today announced the winners of its inaugural Travellers’ Choice Islands awards. Based on millions of valuable traveller reviews and opinions on the site, the awards recognise 120 islands across the globe, including dedicated lists for Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, South America, the South Pacific, and the U.S.

By Max Fisher: The WEF gathered the data from late 2011 through late 2012 by asking respondents, "How welcome are foreign visitors in your country?" The WEF explains that the survey results are meant to help "measure the extent to which a country and society are open to tourism and foreign visitors." Here are the results.

By Samantha Shankman: The entire travel and tourism industry is paying close attention to the more than 100 million Chinese travelers expected to cross borders by 2020; however, many global hotel brands with Western roots are struggling to cater to the distinct cultural tastes of their new guests.

We're all about a funky hotel or two, but some of the coziest spots are those with shabby-chic decor – just homey enough to be comforting, while still packing in a lot of style.