It's a social media world, one where consumers rely more heavily on their peers' online opinions than ever before. A company called Olery acts as an aggregator for all reviews posted about a particular hotel online. This gives the hotel the ability to respond to reviews in a more timely fashion. Whether a patron posts to Twitter, TripAdvisor, or Facebook, the service lets hotels see such activity in real-time and respond accordingly. Olery's data, summarized in visual form below, shows that most people consult reviews before deciding where to stay. Roughly half of all travelers post reviews – and wouldn't book a hotel without any reviews.

By Amy Bair: How to increase TripAdvisor scores is the search engine term of the day. In January 2012, I wrote an article offering tips and tricks for increasing a hotel’s score — not realizing it would be my most popular one. Since new statistics have come out proving that raising scores does affect the bottom line, I thought it was time for an update.

newBrandAnalytics predicts key ways businesses will use online feedback to enhance customer experience.

By Alan Campbell: Over the past months I have talked about customer service, training, blue collar versus white collar issues, as well as a host of other issues that beset the hospitality/hotel industry, and it got me to thinking about leaders and managers.

By Michelle Doucette: Now that you’re halfway through your holiday hangover, it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. And if yours involve slowing down or shaping up (and really, whose don’t?), yoga might be just the ticket to making good on your annual pledge. Here are six hotels and resorts that are ideal yoga-centered getaways.

By Saloni: The last month has seen all London's boutique hotels getting well and truly into the Christmas spirit and indulging in a spot of good-natured one-upmanship (especially when it comes to decorations!), much to guests' delight.  Looking ahead to 2013 there's yet more to look forward to, so join us in a look back at the festive period and a sneak peek at the year ahead.

By Natalie Bochenski: These are some of the strangest requests of five-star hotels in a list compiled by Gold Coast Tourism.

By Jim Hartigan: For my fellow hoteliers, I offer these three simple resolutions to help make 2013 a year of improved RevPAR, Customer Service, and overall manager well-being.

Local Sourcing and Healthful Kids’ Meals Top National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot in 2013” Culinary Forecast.