Baby boomers were once the most coveted demographic group for the hospitality industry, but in recent years millennials have become the largest age group in the US with one of the strongest purchasing power. There are now over 83 million Americans in the millennial age range and they represent an enticing, yet challenging, effort for hotel marketers.

The hotel industry, which has enjoyed a five-year boom, is now girding for tougher times ahead.

Ordinarily, it would not be wise for a hotel brand to get political - why alienate a large minority of your customers? But during an election season with so much focus on the news, there are ways to tap into the interest without taking sides.

Great destinations create great stories that so personally shape you that you want to take a piece of them home. That's why, since I was seven years old, I've been amassing a life's collection of items that I call "honestly stolen." From high to low design and all manner of kitsch, these artifacts represent times and places and adventures so indelible that I wanted to possess something to remind me of them. Now, as a designer, I have a deep appreciation for the power these artifacts have to inspire a memory.

Right now, a family is planning a vacation and their mindset is radically different from the travelers of three years ago. Their motivations are more sophisticated, their needs are more complex, and their media choices are more fragmented. If you're marketing a destination, your fundamental strategies must keep pace with how consumers plan trips today. You have to market on their terms, exceed their expectations of a brand, and outsmart your competition rather than outspend them. This vacation business is hard work.

While Americans are busy planning their summer vacations, travel marketers are busy looking for new ways to reach them with the draw of sight, sound and motion. Palm trees swaying in ocean breezes, children splashing in water, tanned couples running on the beach, a tall icy beverage-these are the images that have been used to court would-be vacationers for decades.

New research examines the role of in-room TV and entertainment systems in meeting the needs of today's evolving traveler.

This year's Cannes winners signify an important shift in how modern travel brands tell stories.