BIG thanks to our awesome Upper Midwest members for making their Elmhurst, Illinois, event a success! They donated over $12,500 to the AAHOA PAC and enjoyed a super-busy trade show! Congratulations also to Veenod Patel, the 2016-2017 Premier Ambassador! (Veenod couldn’t make it to the business meeting, so his nephew stepped up to accept the honor.)

Legislation introduced by Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI) that would delay the Department of Labor’s Overtime threshold increase was voted on by U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon. H.R. 6094, the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools and Nonprofits Act, would delay the mandated increase by six months if enacted.

Late Friday, an Arizona judge placed a temporary ban on new ADA Title III cases from a controversial ‘advocacy’ group that has filed more than 1,100 lawsuits of recent. According to a recent report from Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, from January 1 to June 30, 3,435 ADA Title III lawsuits were filed in federal court, and experts predict that this number will surpass 7,000 by the end of the year.

On Tuesday, AAHOA participated in National Voter Registration Day by encouraging membership to register to vote via the AAHOA Voter Toolkit. As you know, we are now less than two months away from the national election. Are you registered and prepared to cast your ballot?

At just 20 minutes each, you can’t afford not to save a seat at one (or all!) of the four webinars coming up next week! From understanding the OTAs to dealing with hotel tenants, AAHOA’s got you covered when it comes to the complexities of hotel ownership. 

Finishing up your online CHO and need to take the exam? The AAHOA CHO workshop will be in San Diego all of next week. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get certified or recertify! 

Enjoy private AAHOA-member discounts, exclusive pricing, and Friends and Family Sales. Sign up now and discover unbeatable deals at over 250 of the world's best retailers.

The view from the C-suite is one of unsureness. At least they are confident of that. The overriding sentiment within the hospitality industry is that the current cycle has hit its latter stages, so, then, "What do we do now?" asked Naveen Kakarla, president and CEO of HHM. One thing is certain, according to Kirk Kinsell, president and CEO of Loews Hotels & Resorts, "Whether you are in an up or down cycle, it's still always about the quality of your offering – the product. It’s about about pace and judging where you are." 

Earlier this year, Trump Hotels announced it would launch a new brand in "response to the massive growth of the technology-centric ‘we-economy,'" and last night, the company finally gave it a proper name. Not to be confused with the Millennial-focused Scion brand of cars from Toyota that will no longer exist as of 2017, Trump Hotels’ new lifestyle brand is just that: Scion. 

The sign of a successful business plan is to identify a gap in the market and then find a profitable way to fill it. How many times have we heard people say that they cannot stay in shape because they are always traveling? Well, they are not alone.

How many times have you called a hotel looking for a room, and heard the guest agent on the other end either give you a price for the room and nothing more, or quickly add the features in a perfunctory, flat tone, "We have a pool, microwave in the room, free internet, free continental breakfast and a workout room."