By Vicky Karantzavelou: How do you choose a hotel? By the quality of service? The view? What your friends might think? How about the water pressure in the shower? Don't laugh. Brodeur Partners looked into the heart of what really matters when it comes to online conversation about hotel choice and has come up with intriguing answers.

By Cara Aley: Efficiency is everything in business management, because time is money. If your operating costs are higher than they should be due to inefficiencies, your margins will be significantly lower than they could be. A good business manager should always be considering how to make things run more smoothly, consistently, and efficiently. We'll provide some tips specifically for hotel managers on managing a hotel as efficiently as possible for the best possible margins and the happiest customers and employees.

By Market Metrix: Many of our clients are adopting the Net Promoter Score (NPS) as their key measure of satisfaction and loyalty. They are changing their rating scales to allow for an 11-point advocacy question because they believe it will give them better data. There is a lot to like about NPS – it is a very dynamic measure that some research indicates is a reliable gauge of business growth. However, there are contradictory studies that conclude NPS is no better than other loyalty metrics based on continuous rather than ‘net' scores.

Hotels often know the overall profile of their guests: business travelers, families, tourists on a city break, couples looking for a romantic escape etc – but many hotels assume that knowing the purpose of a guest's trip tells them all they need to know about the experience that guest is looking for. But does it really?

By Sam Laird: Here's something you probably haven't realized for the past 13 days: It's Time Management Month! That's right, February has been officially designated by some as the time of year we should all pause, look inward and reflect on how best to manage our time. But as anyone who works in an Internet-connected office knows, managing your time at work can be a major challenge. There's Twitter over here. Facebook over there. That hilarious new viral video on YouTube. Not to mention the Reddit rabbit hole. Then email, text messaging … the list goes on and on. So what are the worst office productivity killers?

By Dennis Schaal: TripAdvisor just shook up its business in a way that it hasn't done for years. After introducing hotel metasearch on smartphones during the fourth quarter, the company said today it will introduce hotel metasearch across tablets and desktops, and complete the project within six months.

By Tom Stieghorst: Carnival Cruise Lines has lined up hotels, buses and charter flights for the 3,143 guests aboard the Carnival Triumph, which is being towed to Mobile, Alaska, after an engine fire.

By Anne Majumdar: Accor properties accredited under its Optimum Service Standards for Chinese visitation scheme have reported record bookings over the Chinese New Year period.

By Scott Goodson: Some of the most memorable advertising campaigns have been for travel destinations.

By Barbara De Lollis: If you're a wealthy, globe-trotting business traveler, which hotel would be your No. 1 pick when mixing business with pleasure? Would you pick one in indulgent Las Vegas, shopping mecca New York or romantic Paris?