Brand USA, the private but quasi-governmental U.S. travel marketing arm, won a new lease on life as the U.S. Senate followed the House and passed a $1.1 trillion federal government spending bill yesterday that reauthorizes Brand USA through 2020.

President Obama is expected to sign the government spending legislation, which funds the government through the end of the next fiscal year, avoiding a government shutdown and officially reauthorizing Brand USA in the process.

Anyone that's ever visited a traditionally summer destination from Punta del Este, Uruguay, to Ibiza, Spain, knows that the beaches and businesses are empty until just a week or two before their busy seasons begin.

Visit during high season and hotel rates soar, restaurants are packed, and beach access costs several dollars per beach chair.

 

Mobile devices are now outperforming PCs in terms of both product sales and broadband subscriptions. As a result, mobile is going to play an increasingly central role in the travel industry in the next few years, in terms of both customer service and bookings. The mobile channel has transformed travel consumer behaviour in the sense that consumers are today connected to the internet throughout their journeys, and as a result they expect assistance, service and the opportunity to make additional purchases during their trips and through their mobile devices. 

Florida's official tourism marketing organization Visit Florida has announced a new $2.5 million grant program to assist state businesses in promoting themselves as a medical tourism destination.

Funded by the Florida legislature, the program consists of two grants: one for medical tourism destination promotion and a second for medical meetings and training promotion, according to a news release by Visit Florida.
 

HomeAway is pressuring vacation rental owners and property managers to accept online bookings in a bid to spur more bookings, ready itself for additional distribution partnerships through online travel agencies, and perhaps make the company a more suitable target for acquisition.

Behind the scenes, officials from Expedia, which partnered with HomeAway to offer vacation rentals, and executives from Booking.com, which is in "constant discussions" with HomeAway about working together, according to Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston, are undoubtedly imploring HomeAway that it must get its digital act together.

More than a handful of state legislatures could be taking up regulating - and taxing - the short-term rental industry in 2015.

That's the word from the Travel Technology Association, which has a membership that includes major online travel agencies such as Expedia and Orbitz, global distribution systems like Amadeus and Travelport- and HomeAway and Airbnb.

Philip Minardi, who heads public affairs for the association, says California, Hawaii, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Wisconsin and Utah are expect to take up legislation at the state level to regulate the short-term rental industry in 2015.

This Thanksgiving holiday in the US was an eventful one for the hospitality industry, not least due to one particular last-minute hotel app.

What got my attention was the Black Friday offer of $7 rooms on HotelTonight (my favorite mobile travel app).

One important consideration - no matter who got paid how much in the end, or what the real breakup of advertised rate versus actual payment made by HotelTonight was was like, the fact is that the guest paid $7 for booking those hotels and that is what he/she will remember.

    

Even though the global travel market continues to expand and online bookings accelerate, all categories of the industry, including hotels, face disruption from a variety of sources, said speakers at last month's PhoCusWright Conference.

 In an opening presentation titled "Disruption's curve," PhoCusWright executives discussed five forces that could change the travel industry's trajectory in the coming years.

"At every turn, the old guard is under threat," said Lorraine Sileo, senior VP of research. "And it's not just happening in travel; it's also in (personal computers), music, autos and more."

Amid the deluge of Cyber Monday deals last week, a number of travel companies were among the retailers and suppliers angling to leverage the post-Thanksgiving promotional period to boost sales, predominantly for the holiday and spring travel season.
 

And despite the barrage of inbox-cluttering offers from every nook and cranny of the retail world, several travel sellers reported that their messages did make their way through the noise, resulting in a healthy bump in revenue.