Carley Thornell travel tips

Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, November 7. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

“Après ski” in New England is commonplace. But in the heart of Boston? Not so much. 

Conventional hotel design doesn’t merely get left at the tent flap at Naviva, Four Seasons’ first luxury tented resort in the Americas. It gets tossed to the side with a metaphorical journey that begins by entering via a cocoon-inspired bamboo bridge spanning a deep forest ravine.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, December 20, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Bill Bensley strives to press all the right buttons when designing hotels and resorts. The New York-based architect, landscape architect, and interior designer is well known for being a “maximalist” — or “more is more” — aesthetic. The “Bensley look” for hotels sits in the sweet spot of what many guests say they crave today.

Twenty years ago, Telesa Via worked for a company that partnered with the National Urban League to build business relationships in the Black community and associations. Today, that has come full circle for the Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants‘ vice president of sales, who was instrumental in the boutique brand forging a partnership with the civil rights and urban advocacy group. 

Success in luxury hotel marketing was a little more black and white before the world became more woke. That’s the reality facing The Peninsula Hotels, which last week launched its Peninsula Perspectives campaign. A review of three ads from the campaign — set in Hong Kong, Istanbul, and London — reveals the high bar for success facing all luxury brands in marketing in an evolving media era.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, January 31. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Vianel Filpo, general manager at Turks and Caicos Collection, a group of luxury resorts, will never forget the day he found an employee suffering from depression so badly that she was considering taking her own life. 

Ria Montes has to do it the hard way. A chef for more than a decade, Montes said she has seen women make strides in hospitality but it has been a struggle that didn’t need to be.

The adage “If you build it, they will come” has multiple meanings for Cory Carlson, regional marketing director at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole. 

Interest in adventure travel shows no signs of abating – so why should hotels for those who love to ski, snowboard, or climb kick back in a run-of-the-mill space? 

Curating a great guest experience comes easily for Larry Crosby. The general manager of The Foundry Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, spent many years as a Les Clefs d’Or-recognized concierge, after all.

Motels won’t go the way of the dodo bird if Lark Hotels founder Rob Blood has anything to say about it. 

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, March 22. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

In order to start a conversation prior to our big hotel event in London this coming Wednesday, Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill took a very deep dive into how Gen Z habits are changing hotel marketing and design.

Gender diversity in hotel leadership was boosted this week when Wyndham said its year-old program “Women Own the Room” had signed more than 30 hotels, with 10 already open. But the effort is an exception, not the rule — and efforts have faltered in the past few years.

When leisure travel bounced back quicker than business travel, hoteliers were quick to adjust their marketing campaigns and, like Miami’s Surfcomber, make speedy updates to enhance the amount of poolside furniture. 

As a woman with a general contractor’s construction license, Karie Brittano is used to being the only woman in a room. For her, that’s been an edge when it comes to having conversations as co-CEO of the Brittano Group, Inc., which is now building The Rook, a boutique property in South Boston, Virginia.

When Silla Kaina and her new colleague Lokalia Poniliʻulā Farm make baskets, bracelets, and hats from native hala trees on or near Montage Kapalua Bay, they do more than weave. They also piece together a narrative.

Anyone still in touch with their inner child may be drawn to the whimsy, color, and movement in Shangri-La’s new brand video. But will the marketing campaign resonate and boost bookings among guests looking for a luxury hotel experience?