In the name of safety: TripAdvisor has introduced a new review feature to provide travelers with access to safety information about the businesses it promotes, the company has announced. The feature will make it easier to find reviews that contain reports of safety-related incidents. It will also engage travelers, businesses and tourism destinations to share information and insights about how to stay safe. The new safety filter allows travellers to more easily surface reviews that were posted in the past year concerning sexual assaults and sexual misconduct by employees of a business, with reviews about other safety categories added on a rolling basis. A notice now appears at the top of each review that contains safety information to make it easier for travellers to distinguish these from other reviews.
Zell taking hotels public? Equity International LLC, the investment firm founded by billionaire Sam Zell, is weighing plans to sell shares in four of its companies, including some that invest in hotels. Under consideration are Colombian lodging company Decameron, which operates all-inclusive hotels and resorts from Peru to the Caribbean, as well as India’s Samhi, which develops and operates about 30 hotels and more than 4,000 keys in major cities across India. That would be the third IPO in India’s lodging market in about a year.
Rocking Barcelona: Hard Rock International on Tuesday announced a deal with private equity investment manager ActivumSG Capital Management Ltd. to develop the Hard Rock Hotel Barcelona. The projected €200 million (US$225 million) hotel is reportedly being developed on the last available seaside plot in metropolitan Barcelona. Construction of the 504-room hotel will begin in late 2019 and is set to open in early 2022. For Jersey, England-based ASG, it marks the fourth Spanish hotel development project following the dramatic surge in visitor growth to Spain.