W New York Times Square has just completed a $10 million lobby renovation befitting its location in the heart of NYC. Dubbed the Living Room, the revamped lobby is dominated by a 40-foot neon art piece along with a New Year’s Eve-inspired DJ ball.

Sojern, a leading performance marketing platform aimed at travel brands has just completed an analysis of how today’s traveler books a hotel room. Among the many pearls of fascinating data in the company’s infographic, it found that travelers take longer to book a hotel than to buy a plane ticket and last-minute bookings are becoming more and more common. Click to find out more…

Always Pleasant Amenity Hotel, Japan’s largest hospitality company, has expanded into the U.S. Already owners of 347 properties in its home country, the plan is to assume control of 100 U.S. properties within the next five years. The 200-room APA Hotel Woodbridge in New Jersey is the inaugural location and has just celebrated its grand opening.

Bahamas media reports indicate there may be a Baha Mar takeover in the works. Word is Island Capital Group LLC, a private real estate merchant bank led by investor Andrew Farkas, and hotel magnate Sol Kerzner, may officially step in to reorganize, finance, open and operate the long-stalled $3.5 billion resort.

AccorHotels has partnered with Samsung Electronics to enhance the multimedia guest experience. Features include SMART Hospitality Display technology — allowing for ultra-high-definition screens in guestrooms, lobbies, bars and restaurants,  Samsung's LYNK Hospitality Management platform for control of in-room environment, plus Video-on-Demand and streaming capability.

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