The tech program "Click" on BBC recently ran a feature on how advertising is taking on a whole new level of personalization, with ads moving from print to video (billboards, ad displays) and also adding interactivity.

"If you believe some agencies anything that is currently paper and paste is going to become video. This not only gives the benefit of looking snazzier, but you can change the ad to anything you want, anytime you want. All of a sudden ad campaigns do not last a week, they last 10 seconds."

While converting print ads to video is a expensive undertaking, if done properly, guarantees better targeting and utilization of ad real estate, plus a better chance to reach out to the right audience, at the right time.

Roger Yu writes about the new initiatives by hotel companies to move beyond the traditional piped and elevator music to something that guests really want! High time, too! There's nothing more boring that listening to the same old music day-in, day-out at every other hotel you visit. According to his article, the key trends seem to be:

(1)Centralizing. Traditionally, the chains let hotel managers pick their own music, creating something of a musical mishmash. Hyatt and Omni have contracted with Muzak, the music programming company, for centralized song lists. Muzak transmits songs to hotels via satellite... (2)Changing through the day. They're also changing music throughout the day to fit the mood... (3) Getting creative. Muzak has programmed Hyatt hotels to play songs that match the flavor of the hotel's location: local bands in Austin, Hawaiian music in Honolulu, urban music in Chicago...

With the new brands and efforts by major hotel chains, it is becoming more visible that concerted efforts are being made to woo the younger generation of business travellers. From an article in USAToday:

...professionals in their 20s and 30s look for a midprice business hotel designed for them instead of their parents. That means edgy design, stylish decor, fun hangouts outside the guest rooms and flat-screen TVs...

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New brands and concepts include "Aloft", by Starwood Hotels & Resorts, "Indigo" by InterContinental, "Nylo" and "Hyatt Place". Read the article here: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2006-08-21-more-hotels-usat_x.htm?imw=Y

tags: brands, young, business, generation, starwood, aloft, nylo, hyatt-place, indigo, intercontinental

A recent article "Five spa trends, from wellness to good food" featured on USA Today outlines the trends shaping the Spa industry today...

...today's spas are integrating cosmetic treatments like facials and manicures into holistic approaches to well-being.

From more holistic approaches to treatments to a move beyond serving tasteless veggies...the article goes on to describe how authenticity and fun elements are being introduced...oh, and the increasing number of males who opt for spa treatments and vacations.
Read the article here: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2006-08-07-spa-trends_x.htm?csp=34

tags: spa, trends, industry, hospitality, business, wellness, fitness

Guillaume Thevenot writes in his blog:

"If you remember, we had the 1 million dollar page not so long ago. Well now, we have Hotelier.com who sells pixels for Hotels advertisers."

Interesting to see Hotelier.com pick up this concept and actually make it work...I actually hadn't heard of the site until now. A nice twist is the free section when you scroll down, where sites can add their listings /logos for free for upto a month. The pagerank of the site is still 2 / 10 so not really excited about spending the money to advertise on it yet.

tags: hotelier.com, million-dollar-page, advertising, hotels, hospitality, business, online-marketing

An interesting piece with visions of the hotels of the future:

"Imagine a hotel designed like a gigantic terrarium, set in the center of a modern metropolis. No, wait, make it an oceanfront resort where your guestroom is also a houseboat that can be sailed around the local waters. Oh, what the heck, how about a high-rise that hangs down from the Antarctic ice sheet?"

Read the article here: Designing the future: Where to stay in 2055 - Rob Lovitt columns - MSNBC.com

tags: hotels, innovation, future, 2055

"This September, aloft, A Vision Of W Hotels(SM), will become the world's first hotel brand to place a 3-D computer generated replica inside a virtual world when it debuts an aloft hotel inside the popular online game Second Life. A virtual environment in which players create digital alter egos and exchange virtual currency for digitally rendered goods and services, the Second Life metaverse is currently inhabited by more than 350,000 people worldwide."

Read the full article here

tags: aloft, hospitality, 3D, virtual-reality

"Westin Hotels Celebrate Six Smoke-Free Months With "Breathing Lights" Art Installations in Lobbies"

Personal Downloads to Count Fresh Breaths and Support Smoke-Free Living
WHITE PLAINS, NY – August 8, 2006 – Westin Hotels & Resorts is marking the six-month milestone of its smoke-free conversion in North America with Breathing LightsSM installations in its lobbies nationwide. The artistically designed projections count the number of fresh breaths taken by each Westin guest each day. The design can be viewed by guests and visitors to Westin lobbies nationwide, or by visiting www.westin.com/breathe.

"First Hyatt Place Opens In Lombard, Illinois: Rolling out the welcome mat and inviting guests to a new lifestyle hotel experience, the staff of the first Hyatt Place and company executives celebrated the property's grand opening today in Lombard, Illinois."

With an emphasis on stylish design, innovative services and high end amenities, Hyatt Place offers a new approach within the select service hotel segment, reflecting the comfort, flexibility, technology and taste that people incorporate into their daily lives at home.

The Lombard location is the first Hyatt Place-branded hotel to open following Global Hyatt Corporation’s recent acquisition of the AmeriSuites hotel chain. More than 140 additional Hyatt Place hotels are scheduled to open in 2006 and 2007 as many Amerisuites properties continue to undergo renovation and repositioning under Hyatt’s newest brand.

The latest trend on the user-generated content and social networking front seems to be a foray into the world of advertising. Could this be the new revolution in online advertising? Or is it just a trend that'll fizz out as the novelty wears off?

A good example of this is companies encouraging users to come up with ads that match a particular theme or slogan...though hardly any of these amateur efforts, however creative make it to media besides the Internet. Of course, inadvertant amateur ads do create a splash at times, especially on video sharing sites like Google Video, etc which are fast gaining popularity.

The ultimate result of this trend is likely to be a 'controlled chaos' approach by companies wanting to get their brand and message out to the public, with as little distortion as possible.