Millennials, defined as people born between 1982 and 2000, now make up the largest living generation. And they are spending more than ever on travel, with 26% saying they spent more on vacations than in the previous year. What's more, they are also taking charge in helping plan vacations with their parents, with multi-generation travel making up 32% of anticipated domestic trips, higher than any other generation.They are obviously ready to travel and willing to spend on what matters to them, offering tremendous marketing opportunities. However, they are not often swayed by traditional marketing methods. To effectively target millennials, hotels need to embrace their needs and celebrate their passions.Millennials at a glance

I had the great pleasure to join some of the leading experts in travel technology at Cornell University to discuss disruption and transformation in the hospitality industry at their Hospitality Research Summit last October. Our conversations covered a wide range of subjects, from how to improve the guest experience to what the capabilities of artificial intelligence look like for hotels in the future.

With the May 25, 2018, deadline for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) quickly approaching VENZA is hosting four free webinars for the hospitality industry. Daniel Johnson, Partner/Co-founder will be guiding you through key aspects of the regulation and how GDPR impacts hoteliers who either solicit bookings from Europe-based persons ("data subjects") or who monitor their behavior.

I have been in the hotel technology industry for a long time, but I have never seen the pace of technological change and advancement move so quickly. It is almost as if, within the last two years, the industry has been pushed into hyperdrive and every small, medium and large tech company is jumping on the bandwagon. In the past, it was a big deal when we could connect a CRS to a PMS and implement a 2-way interface. Now we are talking about in-room voice recognition, robots, AI and much more.

Adcomm TV, a Leading National Authorized Dealer for DIRECTV™ for Business, IPTV, HSIA services, and Samsung for business Platinum Level Channel Partner for the Hospitality and Healthcare Industry, and Volara, the voice hub for the hospitality industry, have partnered to bring the power of voice-based guest engagement to hotel rooms across the country.

Who didn't love the '90s? We had pagers, Spice Girls, video rental stores and paid for our internet connection by the minute. Two decades ago, a household would temporarily sacrifice their only phone line just to connect one stationary device to the World Wide Web. Today, it's difficult to count the number of devices simultaneously connected to the internet in a single home. From TVs, thermostats, doorbells, cameras, lighting, voice-controlled assistants, tablets and mobile devices, a family of four could easily have upward of 20 connected "things"—hence we now have the Internet of Things (IoT).

KEYPR®, the leading hospitality technology company whose cloud-based platform integrates an end-to-end hospitality experience for guests and staff through embedded and mobile devices, announced today that CGI Strategies' newest luxury residential property, The KODO, has deployed its expansive hospitality platform.

While regional differences and language factor into the uniqueness of the Latin American traveler, the 6 mega-trends identified in this report are defining what these consumers expect from brands.

Ask hoteliers and technology companies alike about their biggest pain points, and inevitably they will mention integrations. Building interfaces between systems proves to be costly and time consuming. Hoteliers want a simple way to connect all the software that is required to run their business, and technology companies want to focus on their products rather than moving personal and monetary resources to build integrations.

Back in 401BC, the classic Greek philosopher Plato famously said that "everything changes and nothing stands still." Travel company executives will be forgiven for thinking that he was talking about their businesses today. It is no exaggeration to say that the digital innovations of the recent past have caused more disruption for the Travel industry than anything else has. While the likes of Expedia and AirBnB certainly have leveraged digital technologies to disrupt this industry, none has done so more than the Connected Traveler with nothing but a smart phone in his hand. Today's travelers have easy and complete access to all the information they need...