A movement: Sourcing locally for F&B is becoming engrained into the hotel restaurant culture. One of the latest examples comes from Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London, where the hotel’s café and wine bar has launched the Five Mile menu celebrating local artisans. Organic vegetables, premium cured meats and farmhouse cheeses are sourced from the hotel’s neighbors located down the road at Borough Market to those up the street at Bermondsey Street railway arches. —Jeff Weinstein
London hotel showdown: London’s Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square opened in spring and what better way to measure its value than to enter it into a faceoff with The Ritz London, as the New York Post did here. If you’re looking for stuffy, the Ritz may have your number: men are still required to wear a jacket and tie in the hotel’s restaurants. Ten Trinity Square on the other hand is solidly rooted in the now: all amenities are brand new and geared towards the many needs of the modern traveler, no dress code required. —Chloe Riley
They work hard for the money: The co-working craze is hitting China in a big way, led by branded hotels like Shangri-La’s Hotel Jen Beijing, which reserved an entire floor for Prototype, its own co-working brand. Building owners aren’t just supporting small startups with the space: They could be nurturing future tenants who require bigger spaces – and heftier leases – as they grow. The South China Morning Post delves into the trend. —Barbara Bohn
Pay MGM could payoff big: Though MGM Resorts will face some short-term negatives in its recent US$450 million quest to upgrade the Monte Carlo into Park MGM, the long-term benefits could mean an increase of US$176 million for MGM’s top line, writes Motley Fool. It could also allow the strip’s south end to start competing with the high-end resorts of the north end that have taken market share over the past decade. —C.R.
Caribbean update: Integra Realty Resource has also released its 4Q Caribbean Hospitality Market Report, which provides market performance stats and insights into the effects back-to-back major hurricanes on the region. Among the highlights, topping US$370 per night, hotel-room prices in Cayman are the highest in the Caribbean (+4.5 % YOY growth); the largest increase in tourist arrivals is St. Lucia; Followed by Jamaica, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic. There is light. —J.W.
Microwaves, not just for reheating ramen: Those behemoths in Las Vegas have a simple profit goal: Keep lots of paying guests and players looking for a payoff flowing freely in and out of their hotels and casinos. So determining how to keep those porous spaces safe – and avoid another tragedy like the one in its city earlier this year – is a particular challenge. Wired has a fascinating story of how one building has adapted microwave technology in surveillance to monitor comings and goings (and what’s in the pockets) of guests. —B.B.