March came in like a Lion

for most of us here in North America. More snow, ice and cold on the way. Oh Spring, where are thou? Grab another Monday coffee and settle in with all the Travel news you’ll need to plan your Spring getaway.

Live Like a Local in St. Lucia

You can call it the year of the experiences in St Lucia as the small island is on a roll with a massive, $157 million USD infrastructure development plan which will see a brand-new airport and a 50% increase in room capacity in the next five years. St Lucia recently hit 1.2 million arrivals for the first time in history, and 5 of their hotels were listed the top romantic in the world.

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Marriott Cites Growing Pains Following Data Breach, Labour Strikes

Marriott on Friday divulged the financial impact of the massive data security breach it disclosed in late November, as well as the cost of major labor strikes that took place at a number of its hotels throughout the U.S. The data breach, which exposed the personal information of up to 500 million individuals, cost the company, pre-tax, a total of $28 million, but those expenses were offset by insurance recoveries of approximately $25 million and did not impacted adjusted earnings, Marriott Chief Financial Officer Lenny Oberg noted during an earnings call with investors.

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Booking and Airbnb in Dead Heat and 9 Other Digital Trends This Week

Which is the biggest, baddest company offering alternative accommodations? It has been hard to tell because Airbnb is a private company and its largest competitor, Booking Holdings, didn’t break out its sales from vacation home and apartment rentals — until now.

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