In case you missed it, Wellness in Travel & Tourism (WITT), an independent organization composed of experts with over 125 years of combined experience at the intersection of hospitality, wellness, and travel, recently announced the launch of the industry’s first wellness certification for hotels and resorts. This groundbreaking initiative aims to transform the hospitality sector by providing prestigious certification criteria that sets properties apart in a competitive market, enabling them to enhance their wellness offerings and attract travelers. “The WITT Certified seal provides hotels and resorts with a significant advantage in attracting travelers by offering objective and rigorous audits of their wellness amenities and services,” said Robin Ruiz, WITT’s CEO and Founder....

The following is a guest blog entry from Gaby Aziz, co-founder of Heart Core Hotels. As the co-founder of Heart Core Hotels, a pioneering fully vegan luxury boutique hotel brand committed to sustainability, my journey has been a blend of innovation, learning on the go, and impactful daily choices. I was also a hands-on manager at our two locations—Hawaii and Southern California—which has given me a unique insight into the hotel industry, the sustainability realm and the vegan community at large. Here is what I learned:  We get the math wrong. Well-wishing friends and family had advised us against starting a...

According to a report by Borja Suarez and Graham Keeley, thousands of people protested in holiday resorts in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday against overtourism which they say prices local people out of the housing market. Under the slogan Canary Islands has a limit, residents demonstrated simultaneously in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro and called for a change in the tourism model for the islands. In the Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, protesters appeared on the beach while tourists were sunbathing and chanted “This beach is ours.” Activists claimed the arrival of millions of visitors every...

For many, checking into a hotel can mean the beginning of an exciting adventure, a relaxing getaway or important moments in life. For guests who are blind or have low vision, exploring the unfamiliar surroundings of a hotel could pose unique and specific challenges that have the potential to impact their stay. Hilton, a global leader in hospitality, announced an industry-first, exclusive partnership with Be My Eyes to ensure guests who are blind or have low vision can experience a more accessible, seamless and welcoming stay. Together with Be My Eyes, Hilton is making available AI-powered assistance and dedicated Hilton Reservations and...

The Westin Washington, D.C. Downtown announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Dr. Whitney Roban, Ph.D., a leading sleep expert, to launch a new sleep enhancing program designed to support the wellness routines of its guests, specifically those who experience “First Night Effect.” According to Dr. Roban, research has shown that when individuals travel to unfamiliar environments, such as hotel rooms, one half of the brain enters into a hyper vigilant state. This increased alertness disrupts the natural sleep cycle, particularly impacting the crucial slow wave deep sleep stage. This phenomenon is known as the “First Night Effect.” Dr. Roban has identified...

1 Hotels & Treehouse Hotels 2025 openings were announced. 1 Hotel Melbourne is opening in March 2025. Situated on the Yarra River, 1 Hotels & Homes Melbourne, the brand’s first location in Australia, will feature 277 guestrooms and 114 hotel-branded residences. The luxury property will also feature several dining options and a stunning lobby bar with breathtaking waterfront views. Other amenities include Bamford Wellness Spa, an indoor pool, a large function center and access to a 3,500-square-meter public park. The property’s biophilic design, which will include recycled and reclaimed timber from the site’s heritage wharf & shed as well as other...

The iconic Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, the Forbes 5-Star hotel, renowned for its luxury accommodations and commitment to environmental sustainability, has partnered with San Francisco-based Epic Cleantec (“Epic”) to implement a groundbreaking onsite water reuse system. This partnership aligns with the hotel's ongoing efforts to conserve water and reduce its environmental footprint. Alagem Capital, a leading real estate development group and owner of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, played a key role in the initiative. Epic’s OneWater™ system will recycle 438,000 gallons of water annually from the hotel for reuse in landscape irrigation, helping to beautify the hotel's garden-styled restaurant,...

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) was founded in 2008 by Simon Heppner, Giles Gibbons, Mark Sainsbury and Henry Dimbleby, with a vision of creating a clear intersection between the sustainable food movement and the hospitality industry. With a group of 50 founding restaurants, The SRA set out to create a robust framework for what made a restaurant “good”, clearly promote best practice across the industry and inspire healthy competition to drive progressive action. Initially known as the Food Made Good Rating, the Food Made Good Sustainability Standard was launched in 2010. Since then, it has been used to assess and certify the...

With the current increase in pool use, proper maintenance and attention to safety are imperative to keep the pool clean and people safe from chemical misuse. Chemicals are important for maintenance but unfortunately can cause chemical burns, respiratory problems, and eye irritation, to name a few. I recently spoke with Theresa Bellish of NSF to learn more about pool safety. Bellish has over twenty years of experience in testing, auditing and certification services for drinking water treatment chemicals, distribution system components, recreational water products, onsite wastewater treatment systems and electrical safety services. Bellish shared a few simple steps hoteliers...

There are many upsides to adaptive reuse, of course. Converting an existing building into a hotel eliminates the huge environmental cost of materials—their manufacturing, their transportation to the site, and the resources involved in the assembling/construction of those materials. If the building has unique characteristics, the preservation of them creates a story that will live on in the “new” hotel. Historic Hotels of America, an official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, recently announced The 2024 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Best of Adaptive Reuse list. The list spotlights 25 richly preserved historic buildings that were not originally...