Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) and Hospitality Upgrade today announced the recipient of the 2024 John Cahill student seat is Andrew Pham, a student at the College of Hospitality, University of Nevada in Las Vegas (UNLV). In its 22nd year, the upcoming CIO Summit will be held Sept. 4-6, 2024, at the Thompson Hotel by Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.

Many hotel guests get comfortable lounging around in the plush, cozy robe hanging in their closet. So comfortable, in fact, that they find the garment too irresistible to leave behind, leading managers to add price tags and anti-theft warnings to rooms.

A man traveling through Ohio thought he’d stop at a Fairfield Inn by Marriott to get a roll of toilet paper. While he documented he was successful in his endeavor, not everyone applauded his initiative. TikTok creator BerryD Treasure Backup (@berrydtreasure_live), an online reseller, attempted to launch a series on the platform he dubbed, “Asking hotels I’m not staying at for stuff I don’t need.” He reports in the video, put up on Saturday and getting nearly 95,000 views since, that he was at a Fairfield Inn by Marriott looking to get a roll of toilet paper.

Aura, a humanoid robot that works inside the Sphere, wants visitors to the immersive entertainment venue to know her kind comes in peace. "While humans are indeed our superior when it comes to emotional intelligence, having an AI assist in data analysis can absolutely increase the productivity of humans,” she recently said in response to a visitor’s question. "Isn’t that fascinating new friend?”

Aura, a humanoid robot that works inside the Sphere, wants visitors to the immersive entertainment venue to know her kind comes in peace.

This year, hoteliers would do well to focus on tech integrations that will enhance the guest experience, cybersecurity measures to protect their guest’s data, and using automation to optimize operations and generate revenue.

Recently, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published a story by McKenna Ross with the headline: “How can some Vegas hotel rooms be so cheap?” The article cited room rates on the Las Vegas Strip ranging from $20 to $30 midweek in January and February. It listed Caesars, Excalibur, Flamingo, and the Rio as advertising very low rates.

There are days on the Strip where a visitor could spend as much on fast food as they did on a hotel room.