Dear Readers, Social Media Friends and Oh-So-Secret Sources,
I’m excited to say that my new blog, Travel Update with Barb DeLollis, has officially launched!
On Monday night, I was thrilled to sip Champagne at the New York Palace in celebration of the blog’s launch with industry VIPs including Dave McCaslin, President of Northwood Hospitality (owner of the Palace) and Paul Whetsell, CEO of Loews Hotels. The venue was significant not only because it’s The Palace but because I’d broken the news about the hotel’s $160 million renovation two years ago while reporting for USA TODAY! We celebrated in one of the hotel’s new spaces: Trouble’s Trust cocktail salon.
My No.1 goal for Travel Update is quite simple: Provide travelers and industry insiders with insightful articles and analysis of news and trends in the travel world. Topics that I’ve already addressed included significant hotel openings, important boutique hotel news, why Millennials embrace Airbnb, the emergence of clever phone charging stations, the evolution of hotel room service, travel loyalty points, damaged passenger airplane news and luxury lodging in Cancun. When appropriate, I will connect you with key industry decision makers, many of whom I’ve known and have enjoyed speaking with for years.
I’m also having a great deal of fun curating a talented group of writers, road warriors and travel experts to share their observations every now and then. Watch for their terrific posts throughout the week, but especially on Travel Update’s “foodie Friday” column. In terms of destinations, I expect to pay particular attention to top business travel cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Paris and interesting leisure destinations.
I’m very encouraged by the response I’ve had so far from industry leaders, such as Bjorn Hanson, Divisional Dean of the NYU Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management.
“Congratulations to Barbara on the launch of her new travel blog. Her coverage of lodging and travel has always been informative, revealing, insightful and often entertaining,” Hanson said.
If you haven’t explored all of the posts on Travel Update so far, I hope you will take some time to read a few so you can understand the direction I’m taking during the early stages of this venture. Since Travel Update’s designed to revolve around relationships – both virtual and IRL (“in real life”), know that I’m always open to your getting in touch – whether to write a comment or to discuss a business opportunity. I am always accessible via email, Twitter and Facebook.
– Barb
Photos taken at Trouble’s Trust by Faith Hoops; from top to bottom: Barb with Paul Whetsell, CEO of Loews Hotels (left), and Dave McCaslin (President of Northwood Hospitality); Barb with Sherry Dennis and Michael Suomi of Stonehill & Taylor; Barb with Jesse Suglia, the DOSM of the Sheraton New York Times Square; Barb with Andy Labetti, GM of the Omni Berkshire Place Hotel, Consuela Hooblal of USA Today and the president-elect of HSMAI’s New York chapter, longtime reader and frequent traveler Sally Khudhairi and Suglia.
