Aww factor: In about two months the Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile, a pet-centric, 40-room lodge, opens in Kanab, Utah. Operated by Best Friends Animal Society, activities include volunteer opportunities and pet sleepovers. Revenue from the Roadhouse will support Best Friends’ efforts to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025. The Roadhouse features 30 regular rooms, eight suites and two two-level suites, while the Mercantile houses reception, a common area for guests, a complimentary vegan continental breakfast bar and retail, as well as vegan grab-and-go items, beer and wine. I’m such a sucker for this concept that I had to share.—Jeff Weinstein
The future of marketing: What do hotel marketers find most challenging and which technologies may impact the future of marketing? Digital marketing firm Sojern surveyed 600 travel marketers – many hoteliers – and learned about how they are allocating budgets across channels as well as the challenges they face. Reported as top challenges: 55% of global luxury chains cite achieving ROI and profitability targets for their investments; 52% of mid-tier chains cite delivering personalized ads and offers in real-time; 60% of independents cite driving direct bookings. This is a comprehensive look at the opinions and perspectives of 300-plus hotel marketers.—Jeff Weinstein
Summer break: In an era of flash sales and fast-changing rates, Graduate Hotels from Chicago’s AJ Capital group is breaking through the clutter with a simple and potentially effective offer I have not seen before — a set price for a month’s worth of hotel stays. It works for the summer road-trippers. Graduate, which has properties adjacent to bigger college campuses across the U.S., is rolling out a “Hall Pass,” which basically gives guests unlimited stays between July 15 and August 15 for a one-time fee of US$400. A limited number go on sale June 17, according to a Forbes report.—J.W.
The pitfalls of local: Speaking of Graduate Hotels, its outpost in Providence, Rhode Island, got a lesson on the line between “local touches” and “enough with the glamorization of violence and corruption already.” The hotel, which opened in April, agreed to remove portraits of former Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr., a longtime city mayor. “Cianci was a brilliant colorful and witty man. He was also a rapist, a felon, a megalomaniac, and a bully,” one letter to the hotel reads, according to the Providence Journal. That local line gets crossed occasionally – in Chicago a couple of years ago, the St. Jane hotel, named after Jane Addams, a giant of social reform, was considered by some observers to be too clever by half.—Barbara Bohn
A puff piece: There isn’t much information in “Mike Tyson smokes the toad” about the former boxer’s planned cannabis resort in California – the whole reason I clicked on the link in the first place – but GQ’s Alex Pappademas makes this profile worth the investment, if only for the colorful details on the all-around nuttiness of Tyson’s current lifestyle and his numerous attempts at redemption. He’s come a long way.—B.B.