D/R DOWNLOAD 5.27

What’s Trending

01/ On Google

• ‘Memorial Day travel’ trended +140% ahead of the holiday weekend. 

• Searches for ‘Graduate hotels’ trended +160% this week following the announcement of their 30-hour sale of $30/night hotel stays.

02/ With Media

• Event MB will now be called Skift Meetings, a rebrand fueled by parent company Skift, which bought Event MB in 2019. The company’s goal is to align the event planning industry blog more closely with Skift and its stakeholders.

• Journalists this week expressed interest in ‘splurgecations’, 4th of July destinations for solo travelers, lake towns in the U.S.,and more.

03/ In The Zeitgeist

• In the wake of Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, The Onion is devoting its homepage to displaying all the times it has recycled and republished a story headlined “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” 

• Ilios, a new dating app designed by college women launched this week to help people find partners based on their astrological compatibility where users will receive a lifestyle compatibility score, numerology score, and an overall compatibility score to meet their “celestial match.”

• Author Margaret Atwood is responding to the rise in book censorship by auctioning a fireproof edition of her novel "The Handmaid's Tale," which ranks among the most frequently banned books in the U.S. 

Industry Insights

• Several travel and tech companies are taking employee PTO to the next level by offering additional compensation to offset the cost of vacation expenses. These companies include AirBnb, Expedia, United, TripAdvisor and tech company FullContact –  which offers up to $7,000 per year to spend on personal travel expenses, truly allowing for employee wellness and rejuvenation. 

• The city of Venice is postponing its proposed tourist tax, now set to launch in January of 2023. The initiative will charge day-trip visitors between $3-$10 in hopes of promoting longer-term visits while combating overtourism. 

• Delta Airlines will add courses from MasterClass, an educational subscription platform featuring celebrity-led lessons, to its on-board entertainment options in hopes of boosting declining airline customer satisfaction.

• ELLE Magazine is entering the hospitality space with the launch of ELLE Hospitality, two boutique hotel concepts: Maison ELLE and ELLE Hotel. Maison ELLE is set to open in Paris this fall. 

• More resort owners are hopping on the cryptocurrency trend by converting rooms into NFTs that can be bought or sold by hotel guests. This allows properties to receive payment for rooms regardless of occupancy and reach new customers who are enthusiastic about the world of cryptocurrency. 

COVID-Related Updates

• The CDC upgraded its monkeypox travel alert to  ‘Level 2’, warning travelers in North America, Europe and Australia to take caution as the rare pox virus resurfaces, causing symptoms such as fever, headache and body rash. 

• Spain has eased its vaccine requirement for visitors outside the European Union, now allowing unvaccinated Americans to enter with a negative COVID-19 test.

Best Practices

01/ The Good

• Clean the World, a nonprofit that recycles bar soap has partnered with 8,000 hospitality companies, including Marriott International, to collect, melt, reform and repackage partially used soap left behind by hotel guests. The nonprofit has distributed nearly 70 million bars of soap in more than 120 countries.

• Visit Iceland launched a humorous campaign where their world-famous horses will reply to work emails for tourists, so visitors can fully enjoy their trip to Iceland. The initiative comes after Visit Iceland’s study found 59% of people feel the need to respond to colleagues when on vacation.

02/ The Bad

• After conservative groups lobbied against a partnership with GenderCool, a nonprofit that supports gender inclusivity and LGBTQ+ literacy for youth, State Farm ended the program causing the dismay of many customers who supported the collaboration. 

• Walmart launched Juneteenth-themed ice cream along with apparel, wine and party products, causing backlash on social media at the company for capitalizing on a very serious holiday. Some people seemed to disagree, arguing that the commercialization of holidays is expected.

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