Articles & Special Reports

Balancing mind, body and spirit:  why the current spa explosion is still the tip of the iceberg.The past decade has seen exponential growth in luxury hotel spas and spa resorts, due mainly to significant customer demand, and  the fact that margins on spa operations are among the largest in the hotel industry.  So what explains this dramatic rise in customer demand?...Read more 

Holistic hotel and resort design - a new paradigm in international tourism. A new paradigm in international tourism has been established through the growing trend of holistic hotel and resort design, according to leading industry architects, interior designers, and sustainable tourism consultants. This view promotes a holistic development system integrating body, mind and spirit to create balanced, self-renewing and sustainable tourism developments...Read more

Sustainable Tourism in the luxury travel sector:  a PR exercise or critical strategic initiative?  According to the world’s leading climate change expert, global warming is now at an extreme danger level.   Whilst the main cause of global warming is the high levels of carbon dioxide, travel and tourism organisations can help arrest environmental degradation.  Find out the benefits of a sound environmental policy, as well as how to implement one...Read more

Luxury Tour Operators reveal: the top 10 criteria for inclusion in their programmes.  Gaining entry into a luxury tour operator’s programme is often a critical necessity for many luxury hotels, due to the operator’s loyal databases, premium positioning, and wide distribution...Read more

Does the GDS code really matter? Over the past 18 months,  several medium-sized hotel chains migrated to their own GDS (Global Distribution System) code, from using the code of affiliated, and often better known marketing groups.  Find out what they experienced before, during and after the transition...Read more