Habitas plans to use 3D printing to build its latest, 80-room luxury hotel project in just four months on 24 acres of coastal property in Todos Santos, Mexico. The sustainable components will be assembled on-site without making permanent environmental changes, similar to its existing projects in Namibia and Tulum, Mexico.

To quickly rebuild business lost during the pandemic, hotels should look to online travel agencies and not strive only for direct bookings, asserts Carlisle Connally of advertising technology firm Koddi. In the long term, developing a data-focused partnership with OTAs can enhance bookings and embrace the fact that many travelers use such platforms, she says.

Hotel executives and their travel industry counterparts agree that the massive corporate share of their business lost to the pandemic won't be fully recouped, and a 15% permanent loss is considered optimistic by some. Corporate bookings are not part of the current modest recovery in travel, and analysts cite the embrace of remote meeting technology by major companies as a dire omen for the future.

When your company or product gets a bad review on social media, send a personalized, empathetic response that apologizes for the inconvenience and offers solutions, writes Leslie O'Flahavan. "While even our most gracious responses may fail to win over the most disappointed customers, we can demonstrate that we are listening, we are accountable, and we care," she writes.

Travel company Virtuoso mined its database and found that a willingness to travel right now decreases with each age group, with 84.2% of 18- to 25-year-olds saying yes down to 27.2% of the 77-and-older cohort. Seventy percent of the company's bookings are no more than 1,500 miles from a client's home, and wellness, local immersion and seclusion are among the main factors in selecting a hotel and destination.

Hotel construction in the San Diego area is on the upswing, columnist Tom York points out, with three new properties having won municipal planners' approval recently. That collection of nearly 400 rooms joins a roster of hotels under construction in North County, including the 387-room Oceanside Beach Resort, featuring the beach house from the film "Top Gun."

The 12 Paris palaces with a better-than-5-star status are struggling to survive the pandemic just like all the city's other lodgings. The 40-room La Reserve -- the smallest of the group -- is the only one that's been open since May, but even it is expecting a significantly worse season.

The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts, based in Hong Kong, will open its first Philippine hotel in early 2022 on Palawan Island. The El Nido Beach & Spa Resort will feature 96 plunge-pool villas with ocean views, a spa, restaurants and curated tour itineraries.

Bend, Ore., is home to the universe's last remaining Blockbuster video store, which for three nights in September will be offered as an Airbnb with an unlimited movie package. The price for the night's stay is just a penny more than the regular $3.99 rental rate for a single video.

As members of the Event Safety Alliance, we are partnered with over 300 event professionals to build a safe plan to assist the event industry with the return of business. Read more.

SLH has always been a champion of elite independent hotels with the utmost standards, and as nearly 330 member hotels have now reopened and many prepare to open in the coming weeks, the program provides peace of mind for guests as they prepare to travel the world once again. Read more here.