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Marriott wants guests to save and share their shower door doodles
Who doesn't get their best ideas in the middle of a shower? The Marriott hotel chain is piloting a new addition to customer rooms that lets them jot down notes on their shower door -- which can be digitally recorded and sent to guests later.
Hopper app uses predictive pricing tech to find NYC hotels
You always hear about the best time to book your travels for big savings, but do you ever follow up? Hint: You're better off nabbing Thanksgiving flights now. That's according to Hopper, a startup that relies on big data to help you purchase cheap airfares through its app. Now, it's applying its predictive smarts to hotels, starting in NYC.
Russian hackers can reportedly take over unsecured hotel WiFi
Security-conscious travelers typically avoid public WiFi hotspots, instead using VPNs and other tools to make sure their data is safely encrypted as it transmits from computer to unsecured wireless router to the internet. According to networking security website, FireEye, that concern is justified. The security team discovered a malicious document in several emails sent to "multiple companies in the hospitality industry, including hotels in at least seven European countries and one Middle Eastern country in early July." The document contained a macro that installs GAMEFISH malware, which is associated with a politically-motivated Russian hacking group known as APT28 (or Fancy Bear). This is allegedly the same group that hacked the Democratic National Committee ahead of last year's US election. Even worse, the tool used after the initial malware installation, EternalBlue, reportedly leaked from the NSA itself.
Google tests vacation rental filter alongside hotel search results
Last year, Google issued some updates that made it easier to track down flight and hotel deals and it has recently been testing an option that would bring up vacation rentals when users search for hotels. The new feature shows up under the "Accommodation Type" category alongside other filter options like price, amenities and rating. According to Skift, which counted around 7,000 such listings in its searches, Google is testing the feature out in multiple markets.
Amazon's Alexa can book hotels through Kayak with your voice
Kayak introduced an Alexa skill a year ago, which lets you search for flights, hotels and rental cars with your voice. Useful, but not that useful -- you still need to hop on your computer or fire up a phone to book them. Might as well do either from the start and use emoji to search for travel deals. Now, Kayak has upgraded its skill, so that you can book a hotel with just your voice. Simple say, "Alexa, book a hotel room in [the location you're going to]," and it will give you a list of available rooms that you can reserve right then and there. The service will make your reservation through its partners Booking and Priceline, but you only need a Kayak account to take advantage of the feature.
Airbnb plans to rent out mansions and penthouses this year
Not content to simply point people in the direction of national parks, it sounds like Airbnb will now offer the well-heeled even more luxurious places to stay. Codenamed Airbnb Lux, the short-term rental service will soon offer penthouses and mansions if its tests are successful, according to Bloomberg's sources. Supposedly, the housing stock comes from Airbnb's purchase of Luxury Retreats earlier this year.
Airbnb to target wealthy customers who prefer luxury hotels
Airbnb keeps expanding its core disruption with new features to help increase its audience. The company has made it easier for business travelers to find a room with the Airbnb app and has tried its hand at tour guiding with a new activity suggestion feature. Now the room-sharing company is reportedly looking at ways to attract customers who would rather book at high-end luxury hotels.
Hotels pressure the government to crack down on Airbnb
There's no doubt that the hotel industry hates Airbnb -- the home sharing service lures many would-be customers away through lower rates and the perks that come from staying in someone else's abode. So how does it fight back? By pushing the government to crack down. The New York Times has learned that the American Hotel and Lodging Association has been conducting a "multipronged, national" lobbying and research campaign to have politicians impose or toughen restrictions, selectively collect taxes and draw attention to the negative side-effects of home sharing. Reportedly, the AHLA is partly responsible for at least some of the higher-profile regulatory moves against Airbnb in the past year.
Netflix strikes a deal with Enseo to offer its service in hotels
Tired of relaxing in your hotel room and flipping on the TV only to realize you can't binge watch your favorite shows without Netflix? Netflix knows the true horror of this realization. That's why it's partnered with hospitality company Enseo to provide the Netflix app in more hotels.
Google helps you find deals on flights and hotels
Planning a vacation often revolves around the delicate art of booking flights and hotels at just the right moment to get a great deal, and Google knows it. The internet pioneer is rolling out a slew of updates that, for the most part, are focused on getting you the best possible bargain. To start, you'll see automatic "deal" labels in searches whenever a hotel rate goes below the norm, and tips when tweaking the dates of your stay could save you some cash. You can also filter hotel searches for very exact criteria -- if you want to look for four-star hotels in Chicago that allow pets, you can. The tips and filters are only now rolling out (filters are limited to the US at first), but they'll be available worldwide over the course of the year.
IBM Watson powers Hilton's robotic concierge 'Connie'
IBM Watson is training for yet another job at the Hilton McLean in Virginia. The hotel has recently welcomed a new concierge named "Connie," you see, and it's actually a Nao robot powered by IBM's AI. Connie, named after the chain's founder Conrad Hilton, can greet guests when they arrive and answer questions about hotel amenities, schedule and services. It was designed to improve the more it interacts with people by storing every question guests ask for future reference. Besides answering inquiries about the hotel, Connie will also be able to recommend tourist spots, restaurants and other destinations, since it has access to WayBlazer's travel platform.
Hyatt is the latest hotel chain to spot malware on its systems
Unfortunately, Hilton isn't the only hotel chain grappling with malware on sensitive computers. Hyatt is now warning travelers that it recently spotted malware on its payment processing systems (on November 30th, the company tells us). It's still investigating what happened and has precious few details, but it maintains that you can "feel confident" using your card. Unfortunately, that's not much help if you recently stayed at a Hyatt. How long does it think the malware was hanging around? And how much damage did the rogue code do? Hyatt tells that it'll share more when the investigation is over. Until it offers the full scoop, your best option is to watch your financial statements for any shady behavior.[Image credit: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel]
Hilton confirms malware accessed payment info at its hotels
If you've stayed at one of Hilton's hotels in the past year, you might want to check your credit card history. The chain has confirmed a report that malware compromised its payment systems, putting your data at risk. The intruders got in between November 18th and December 5th in 2014, and between April 21st and July 27th this year. The malware didn't expose home addresses or PIN codes, but it did get access to card numbers, security codes and names -- enough that hackers could potentially make purchases.
Amazon shutters its 'Destinations' travel site after just six months
Amazon Destinations, the travel site that offered deals on hotel stays, is no more. The company shut down the site yesterday, just six months after it began offering reduced rates on one- to three-night stays within driving distance of a city. Destinations only offered lodging in areas around LA, New York and Seattle when it launched in April, but expanded in July to include Atlanta, Boston, Houston and San Francisco. The company will honor reservations that were already made through the site, but the site's help page says that Amazon is no longer selling hotel stays on the web or through its "Local" app. If you're looking to save some coin on travel, it looks like you'll have to employ the likes of Expedia and Kayak. [Image credit: dierken/Flickr]
Hilton looks into claims its hotels' shops were hacked
If you've been spendy at one of Hilton's hotels in recent memory, you may want to double-check your financial records. The company is investigating claims by security guru Brian Krebs that hackers compromised banking card data at a "large number" of Hilton's gift shops and restaurants, ranging from Doubletree locations all the way to posh Waldorf Astoria hotels. The intruders reportedly broke into point-of-sale machines as far back as November 2014, and it's possible that their attacks are continuing to this day.
Japan's ridiculous robot hotel is actually serious business
"My name is Yoshiyuki Kawazoe. This is my hotel." The University of Tokyo's associate professor of architecture gestures behind himself to a flat, two-story building that doesn't really look like a hotel. "Two-hundred people were involved in making this happen," he says. "Experts in environmental design, engineering, architecture, robotics and construction ... it's their hotel." The "Hen-na Hotel" will go down in tourist guides as the robot hotel, but there's more being invested in here than just talking robots: The minds behind it hope the facility will change the world of low-cost hotels -- and save the world. (Well, at least a little.)
Meet the faces of Japan's first robot-staffed hotel
Japan's first robot-staffed hotel opens this week and we just got the full tour. While the main attraction may be the bordering-on-human receptionist (left) and the English-speaking dinosaur (er, right), the hotel has a whole family of robots performing varying degrees of useful work. Think: room service and a luggage porter, with one familiar face taking up duties as a bilingual concierge. A deeper dive of the hotel is coming; the robots aren't the only curiosity found inside this hotel. For now, let's meet the bots.
Amazon Fire TV players will soon work in your hotel room
Amazon's Fire TV and Fire TV Stick will soon be much more useful, especially if you're outside of the US. Thanks to an impending update, both streaming media hubs will work in dorm rooms, hotels and other places where you have to sign in before you get online -- you can pack your device on that big vacation. The two also get support for Prime Music playlists, shortcuts for screen mirroring and hidden PIN codes when you make a purchase. You're in for the biggest treat if you have a full-fledged Fire TV box, since you'll get support for USB storage (to hold all your extra apps and games) and Bluetooth headphones (for those late-night movies).
Uber riders can now earn points at luxury hotels
In-between shenanigans, Uber actually offers a pretty nice car service, and users are about to get a perk besides free water: points from chi-chi hotelier Starwood. Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members can now link their accounts to Uber, and (after a qualifying stay), will get a point or more for every dollar spent on Uber. In addition, if you happen to catch a special SPG branded Uber car in select cities on February 28th between 2 and 7PM, the ride will be comped and you'll get 15,000 SPG points, enough for a free night. However, the promo is limited to 460 riders, and at that time of day, you could end up with an inflated surge fare instead of a free room.
A night in Richard Branson's state-of-the-art Virgin Hotel
Richard Branson knows how to make a first impression. The first thing I saw when I arrived at Virgin's debut hotel was a statuesque blonde in a bright-red trench coat stepping out of a matching-hued Tesla, with a photographer documenting the whole ordeal. The photographer was there for glamour shots, naturally, and the Model S serves as the hotel's house car that'll drop guests off anywhere within a 2-mile radius. However, it wasn't in service just yet. Virgin bills the hotel as "brilliant," and to see just how smart it actually was, I spent a night in the premiere Chicago location. Given that the inn is run by the same company that wants to make us all space tourists with Virgin Galactic, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by anything during my stay -- least of all, an electric sports sedan waiting out front.