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.

By Heather Thomas:  Last year, hotels took baby steps to get into the tech scene, and the first, and maybe most obvious, place to start for many was social media engagement, and integrating online interactions with real-life hotel operations. For example, this year, the Ritz-Carlton Resorts of Naples asked Facebook fans how they take their coffee, and those who answered and then booked a reservation, received their morning coffee exactly to their liking without even ordering first – now that’s true customer service.

By Mike Oppenheim, M.D. I was awake at 7 a.m. writing this column when a woman from an airport hotel called with symptoms of a urine infection.

By Madeleine Ito: This year, a concept dubbed the ‘unhotel’ has changed the landscape of city travel for good. Pairing top private homes with hotel services while the owners are out of town, this hybrid new category of accommodation offers travellers the chance to live like a local without compromising on the luxuries of an upscale hotel. The verdict: the unhotel just might be the best of both worlds.

By Gene Sloan: As the fast-growing cruise industry expands into new areas, major lines are rapidly growing their presence in Australia and New Zealand, which appear well on their way to becoming cruising hot spots.

By Frances Cha: This is one hotel key you don’t want to lose. A new business hotel in Seoul has started using smartphones for hotel keys that also allow guests to surf the Internet and control room lights, television and temperature.