Nearly 40 CHART conference attendees help build a home in New Orleans.

In one of my final duties for our In Your Shoes program at the Mystic Marriott (Conn.), I turned my back on my journalistic roots and went on a few sales calls.

Hoteliers along the Gulf Coast are ramping up marketing efforts to summer travelers, noting most beach destinations are squeaky clean. Some organizations expect BP to pitch in.

Passengers on JetBlue will now get a rundown of the latest in hotel offerings in New York City and Chicago through its Citybuzz in-flight broadcast.

The company's First Response Fund and several of its Hilton hotels have both made monetary donations and used its HHonors program to incite Haiti support.

Green takes on many forms in hospitality. For the boutique hotelier, it can be a point of differentiation from powerful brands and other direct competitors.

More than 100 of the biggest names in film, television and music to appear on "Hope for Haiti Now," along with Wyclef Jean in New York City, George Clooney in Los Angeles and CNN's Anderson Cooper in Haiti.

Hotels can now add a URL, telephone number and e-mail address onto their property listing on every TripAdvisor site worldwide.

Get creative with consistent PR campaigns, integrate PR with your other marketing and e-commerce programs and track your successes. Due to the power of the web, publicity is more valuable than ever.

The H1N1 flu virus has caused some people to stop traveling. The virus is not much different than the seasonal flu, and your hotel needs to communicate that message to the public while also making some operational changes.