Say WOW

Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Podcast: Controlled Cold with Nicky Twilley
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we get a crash course in the fascinating temperature-controlled ecosystem we’ve created to keep our food fresh—and available—all year round. Our guide is Nicky Twilley, cohost of the Gastropod podcast and author of the new book called Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring,...

Read More

Bali's Massive Stone Sarcophagi Included Global Grave...
The district of Pangkung Paruk lies on the northern coast of Bali where verdant green jungle meets azure sea. It is off the beaten track, removed from tourist hotspots on the south coast around the city of Denpasar. In 2009, a local rice farmer digging an irrigation trench stumbled upon a massive stone sarcophagus that had been buried for nearly 2,000 years. Experts from the Bali Institute of Archaeology were summoned and, over the next two years, working with...

Read More

Podcast: Welcome To Wall Drug
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the South Dakota badlands, where a small pharmacy employed an ingenious marketing gimmick, and boomed into a business that draws millions of visitors every year. It’s a story that involves giant dinosaurs, a mythic jackrabbit, and lots and lots of donuts. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under...

Read More

 
In Tibetan Macaques, Females Rule the Roost
Reprinted with permission from The Well-Connected Animal Social Networks and the Wondrous Complexity of Animal Societies by Lee Alan Dugatkin, published by the University of Chicago Press. © 2024 by Lee Alan Dugatkin. All rights reserved. The Huangshan mountains were named by Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuanzong almost 13 centuries ago, in 747, the same year that legend has it the elixir of immortality was found somewhere among its dozens of imposing peaks. Soon hermits, poets, and artists came to...

Read More

Early Check-in Hotels: Optimize the Guest Experience...
Early check-in hotels are properties that allow guests to check in before the conventional time of between 2:00pm and 4:00pm. This may mean offering earlier check-ins, offering 24/7 check-ins, or offering self-check-ins. Providing options for early check-ins can be especially important for hotels receiving lots of international guests, as many flights land early in the The post Early Check-in Hotels: Optimize the Guest Experience & Hotel Revenue appeared first on Revfine.com.

Read More

What are the Best Marketing Strategies for...
Question for Our Hotel Marketing Expert Panel For hotels with a smaller budget, what marketing strategies carry the biggest impact? What could move the needle the furthest, but with the lowest amount of investment? (Question by Cory Falter) Our Marketing Expert Panel Thom de Graaf – Online Marketing The post What are the Best Marketing Strategies for Hotels on a Budget? appeared first on Revfine.com.

Read More

 
Common Booking Funnel Bottlenecks and How to...
The road from research to booking is not exactly straightforward for today’s travelers. The competition is fierce for hoteliers, and so is the pushback from OTAs. It’s crucial for hoteliers to optimize their booking funnel so that the transition from research to booking feels smooth and natural for guests. 5 Ways to Overcome the Booking The post Common Booking Funnel Bottlenecks and How to Overcome Them appeared first on Revfine.com.

Read More

The 2024 Ultimate Guide to Google Hotel...
72% of travelers use metasearch engines in their booking journey! Google Hotel Ads (GHA) is a powerful metasearch solution for hoteliers looking to attract more guests and elevate their direct bookings and visibility. Whether you’re a seasoned hotelier looking to enhance your direct bookings or a newcomer to the world of digital marketing, this guide The post The 2024 Ultimate Guide to Google Hotel Ads appeared first on Revfine.com.

Read More

Hotel Association: 8 Benefits of Joining for...
A hotel association is a collective trade group or industry body for the hotel industry. Associations of this kind are typically made up of hotel brands, owners, management companies, suppliers, and other industry partners. Hotel associations are important because they provide support, networking opportunities, marketing assistance, guidelines, and access to valuable data. A hotel association The post Hotel Association: 8 Benefits of Joining for Hotel Owners appeared first on Revfine.com.

Read More

 
Five Rate Mistakes in Revenue Management and...
Ask any hotel staffer not directly involved in revenue management about the daily tasks of a revenue manager, and they’ll likely suggest it’s all about ‘setting’ or ‘raising rates.’ While these activities are indeed crucial, they often eclipse the comprehensive analysis that underpins each pricing decision. Five Rate Mistakes in Revenue Management and How You The post Five Rate Mistakes in Revenue Management and How You Can Solve Them appeared first on Revfine.com.

Read More

Philtower and Philcade Buildings in Tulsa, Oklahoma
To the surprise of some, downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, is one of America’s foremost architectural marvels. In the 1920s, a flood of oil money rushed into town, leading to a boom of spectacular and ornate architecture, much of it in the popular Art Deco style of the time. Many of these buildings, such as the spectacular Boston Avenue Methodist Church, rank among the most beautiful examples of 20th-century architecture in the United States. At the forefront of Tulsa’s wealth and...

Read More

Bulawayo Club in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
The Bulawayo Club building is a time capsule of a colonial gentlemen’s club. The building was erected in 1934. It remains an extravagant piece of Zimbabwean history. The distinction is still visible, showing the grace and disgrace of a bygone era.  Like other similar establishments in ex-colonies, the club was established as a social hub for the male white elite; officers of the armed forces and other gentlemen. The club is like a museum, with thousands of hunting trophies...

Read More

 
North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, Oregon
The North American Bigfoot Center serves as the center point of Cliff Barackman’s research into Bigfoot, and all things “Squatchy.” The staff are all individuals who have been involved in research at some level, and the museum itself highlights the more evidence-based material available on the subject. Eyewitness accounts including newspaper articles, memoirs and maps, casts, anatomical reconstructions, infrared and standard photographs and film, and audio recordings, all form a compelling account of the antics of America’s favorite cryptid.  The...

Read More

Mosquito Carrying A Man in Upsala, Ontario
On a pole by the highway in Upsala, Ontario, is a giant mosquito. With a knife and fork held in two of its legs, and a doomed man in two more, the mosquito appears to be on its way to a filling dinner. The steel structure, which has about a 16-foot wingspan, appears to be a reference to the horrendous mosquito problem in this rural area. The creator of this evocative piece of roadside art.

Read More

Mountain Dew Headstone in Johnson City, Tennessee
This six-foot-tall headstone pays tribute to the Appalachian drink that changed the pace of human life: Mountain Dew. Located in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Johnson City, this unique monument is an homage to Mountain Dew’s original bottle design. Brothers Ally and Barney Hartman ran a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant in Knoxville, Tennessee. They wanted a lemon-lime soda to use as a mixer with whiskey, and mixed up a little something of their own. They jokingly called it Mountain Dew, an...

Read More