Junk Fees, Supply Chains and Climate Change

The Michelin Guide recently announced 19 new restaurant additions in South Florida, spread across Miami, Orlando and Tampa— now totaling 137 restaurants in the region.

The Super Bowl helped MGM Resorts post three of the top five days in revenue it has ever recorded at hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, executives said Tuesday.

More than 10,000 rooms will surround the lagoon powered by Crystal Lagoons® technology, recently inaugurated in the United States. It is located just steps from Disney World and Universal Studios in the heart of Orlando, the most visited destination in the US, with 75 million tourists annually. This city offers a wide range of entertainment options but lacks a beach, an issue remedied in this great development with a crystalline lagoon of the multinational innovation company founded by the scientist Fernando Fischmann. The lagoon forms part of the Evermore Orlando Resort, one of the largest tourism projects in Florida. The large 8-acre body of water with extensive beaches breaks the hotel paradigm by providing truly superior standards and consolidates the presence of Crystal Lagoons in the hospitality and entertainment industry.

When you're from Kansas City, people usually ask about barbecue — it's part of the city's identity.

Volcanic activity in Iceland has been rumbling on for months, centred around the Reykjanes Peninsula near Reykjavík, in the southwest of the country. After multiple earthquakes, the most recent series of eruptions kicked off at the end of 2023, when an explosion along a 2.5-mile fissure sent lava into the air a couple of miles northeast of the fishing village of Grindavík; another followed shortly afterwards.

It's a great time to be a Disney fan. Last September, during an investor summit in Orlando, Disney announced plans to "accelerate and expand investment" in its theme parks, cruise line and other vacation experiences — to the tune of $60 billion over the next decade.

United Airlines is back with a new ad for this year’s Super Bowl. 

The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) has submitted comments to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which would prohibit unfair or deceptive practices relating to fees for goods or services.Focusing specifically on junk fees often charged by hotels and other short-term lodging services that result in a misleading total cost, ASTA expressed support for transparency."As an advocate for not only travel agencies and individual advisors but also the millions of consumers who rely on our members’ services, ASTA believes that the rule as proposed would greatly benefit consumers of hotel and other short-term lodging services, and it is in that context that ASTA has the greatest interest in the proposed rulemaking," the organization said in a letter signed by Peter N. Lobasso, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, ASTA."While charging mandatory resort fees has come under greater scrutiny in recent years, up until now predominantly by regulators and enforcement agencies at the state level, the practice remains common in the industry.""Moreover, the manner in which resort fees, also alternatively referred to by hoteliers as 'amenity fees' or 'destination fees,' among other terms commonly used, are disclosed to consumers is highly inconsistent," ASTA added. "And, as many hotel properties are independently owned and operated franchises, there is little uniformity in this regard even among hotels doing business under the same brand name."The organization is calling for uniform application of the full disclosure obligation."ASTA strongly believes that all consumers, regardless of where or how they choose to book their travel, have a right to expect that hotels, as well as OTAs, short-term rental intermediaries and other distributors of lodging services, provide complete pricing information, exclusive of any Government Charges, upfront in a transparent manner to permit meaningful comparison shopping. Moreover, we are of the opinion that the full disclosure obligation should apply uniformly irrespective of the distribution channel or medium used by the consumer when booking a hotel room."ASTA also asked for clarity regarding proposed penalty provisions in the context of intermediated transactions."As a matter of fairness, we believe intermediaries that reasonably rely on erroneous information provided by the entity charging the fee should be relieved of liability for the error. To that end, ASTA respectfully requests that the Final Rule include either an outright exemption or a 'safe harbor' mechanism to protect an innocent third-party seller from enforcement action in this scenario."

Iceland’s volcanic eruptions have deterred some tourists, according to an analysis of booking patterns released Thursday.

Hilton is continuing a more than three-decade tradition of running TV ads during the Grammy Awards: On Sunday, it released spots touting why music lovers and concert-goers should pick its brands when booking hotels.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., the parent company of theme park brands SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, is changing its name to United Parks & Resorts Inc.

There’s a lot of attractions competing for the attention of little ones in Orlando—from Walt Disney World to Universal Orlando—but Villatel Orlando Resort has created something that will make kids and adults alike want to spend all their time in the hotel room.