Ahead of the game: Amsterdam hoteliers must be pleased about the ban on new hotel development imposed on the city center. As a result, HVS reports, hoteliers, believe it or not, have been able to increase their rates without sacrificing occupancy. With international and domestic visitation to Amsterdam growing by nearly 7% a year over the past 10 years, hotels in the Dutch capital have experienced robust growth, with RevPAR up 4% in 2018. Transactions in Amsterdam also remain strong and prices per room relatively high.—Jeff Weinstein
Can you have it both ways? While Peter Matthews of Nucleus focuses on the millennial traveler today, Booking.com is taking a look at the even more social media-savvy and digitally native cohort of Gen Z. Turns out they’re hungrier to travel, too. Besides aiming to visit at least three continents in the next 10 years, the 16-to-24-year-old group is looking for adventure experiences in “extreme” locations (they might want to skip this one, though), don’t mind traveling solo and rely on Instagram for travel recommendations. Twenty-five percent take (and post, presumably) more than 50 photos a day while on vacation, while 50% think too much emphasis is put on social media when traveling.—Barbara Bohn
Another way to look at influencers: And speaking of Instagram, here’s another way to think about those influencers who keep pestering you about staying at your hotels: They may be your future employees. A New York Times reporter covering an influencer convention considers the increasingly established influencer culture: “The way to think of influencers or creators is as entrepreneurs,” one industry observer says. “These people are setting up businesses, hiring staff, managing budgets. These are massively transferable skills.” That I can get behind.—B.B.