Gael Montouchet's List: Hospitality 2.0

• some companies now allow employees to stay at hotels of their choice for a per diem rate, Hansen said. "The traditional way was to have contracts with hotels or hotel companies, but more and more companies are putting aside those traditional arrangements," he explained. "Instead, the travel management department is allowing people to make their own choices by setting up a per diem.
• When making choices, younger business travelers want brands that pamper, fit their lifestyles and offer a unique hotel experience--rather than seeking comfort in traditionally familiar brands. Therefore, hotel companies are creating new brands that offer guest amenities uncommon in most big-named brands, including sleek flat-screen desktop computers located at the bar
• Earlier this year, Marriott International and boutique hotel guru Ian Schrager partnered to launch a new luxury brand named Edition. The boutique brand will debut in 2010 with properties in Arizona, Chicago, Costa Rica, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Paris and Washington, D.C. The partners expect as many as 30 development deals by year-end
• Traditionally, hotel companies relied on brand awareness to drive bookings, but with the help of the Internet, new brands can be marketed online with pictures and reviews. In that way, hotel companies can take risks and introduce individualized boutique brands. 

    "The Internet has made it very easy to conduct research and discover new brands," said PwC's Hansen. "Google, online virtual tours of the hotels and visitors' comments on Trip Advisor make it much easier and less expensive to launch brands. We are in a period of accelerating construction despite the reports that there is no money in the hotel industry. There are greater numbers than there were two years ago."
• The new generation of traveler is concerned not only with staying at a hip, new location, but also with what effect their stay may have on the environment. Reducing a business traveler's carbon footprint has been a major concern, and travel managers have responded to that by including environmental questions in the requests for proposals they send to lodging companies.  

    Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide in 2006 introduced Element, which the company this year said would be the first brand built exclusively with properties certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program

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