When Airbnb was founded ten years ago, it brought a unique concept to the market: find travel accommodations that feel like home.But as the model has gained popularity, some of the stays have come to feel too much like home. Staying at some Airbnbs can feel like a game of Russian roulette: will this be the one with the kindly landlord who is responsive but far from the premises? Or will you be listening to the sound of their kids screaming through the night?Its meteoric rise shows there's an appetite for the model, but many people want the reliability that a hotel can provide, while offering the "like a local" feel that home-stays can bring.That's the thinking behind Sonder, a company that marries the two travel experiences.The idea began in 2012, when founders Lucas Pellan and Montreal-born Francis Davidson stayed at a home they had booked for a couple days. They couldn't get in touch with the host to find out how they were supposed to get inside. When they did make it in (the key under the doormat, naturally), they found half-eaten food in the fridge and dog hair covering the furniture. They opted to leave the rental and go for an apartment instead. While it was free of dog hair and debris, it was a non-notable room surrounded by sterile chain restaurants.It spurred the pair to create a new kind of home-stay experience: Sonder manages apartments in trendy neighbourhoods through major cities, and opens them up to travellers for short stays. What makes the company notably differs from Airbnb is the hotel-like amenities, like toiletries, a cleaning service, 24/7 concierge and attention to detail in the design.

When you are planning a vacation, you spend a lot of time researching the hotels you want to stay in, the places you visit, restaurants, shopping, and other things. You read reviews and experiences of other travelers. Folks at Travel + Leisure asked their readers to rate various hotels based on their location, facilities, food, service, and overall value. Here are the top 10 best hotels in the world in 2018 based on Travel + Leisure's survey.Top 10 best hotels in the worldRemember that this list is not about the most expensive hotels or the most luxurious ones. It's all about hotels that travelers think are best in terms of facilities, food, service, and overall value. So, without further ado, let's check out the top 10 best hotels in the world.10- Nayara Springs, Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa RicaIt scored 97.04 out of 100 in Travel + Leisure's survey. It was also voted the best luxury hotel in 2016 and 2017 in a survey conducted by TripAdvisor. Nayara Springs is located atop a cliff surrounded by tropical gardens and emerald forests. It costs around $750 per night on average, though you can get a room there for as low as $630 in October. The hotel has two giant pools, an award-winning spa, a piano lounge and bar, and a private plunge pool. It also arranges daily adventurous activities such as canyoning and water-rafting.

In the hospitality industry, customer experience is king. At the same time, companies face fierce competition for each customer dollar and have to deliver outstanding service with ever-increasing efficiency. Automation - especially voice processing, artificial intelligence, smart devices, and robotic process automation - can help with all three of these competing challenges.Today's customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. From research, to bookings, to their actual en-route or on-property experience, customers demand more. They want to use any device, tailored to the way they live and work. They want to immerse themselves in their leisure experience, and they don't want to have to worry about the technology.Hospitality firms are improving customer experience through natural language interaction, high-end digital experiences and with AI algorithms to help guide their leisure choices. They are also increasingly using automation and smart devices to reduce loss, speed up check-in and check-out and provide entertainment and comfort features exceeding those found in a typical home.Customers are increasingly seeing service where the curtains gently open 15 minutes after the alarm goes off, where they can ask Alexa for room service, or they can have their room cleaned based on the service team knowing the room is vacant.Improving service to their customers drives repeat business and the tailored experience provided by automation helps enable that part of the growth curve. Additionally, hospitality firms want to grow by capturing more market share, opening up new and emerging markets.Automation can help by tailoring the experience to the customer based on country or buying behavior. A customer in China books differently than a customer in France! Further, automation can help hospitality firms use detailed quantitative analytics to drive what routes generate the most revenue, which locations are best for new properties and how to distribute luxury versus budget offerings based on customer spend and feedback.

The pioneer of boutique hotel design in Mexico, Grupo Habita, has partnered with the global hotel industry's leading guest acquisition platform, SiteMinder, to capitalize on the rise of international tourists in the country.Grupo Habita, which launched at a time when Mexico City struggled to appeal to international leisure travelers, has brought leisure tourism into less-travelled destinations for almost two decades. The hotel group has amassed 12 lifestyle properties across Mexico, as well as two in the United States, and today says technology will allow it to continue innovating and tapping into new source markets."Mexico is witnessing tourism demand increase every year, however, we see that the local hotel sector is largely not yet equipped with new technologies to benefit from that trend, especially small hotel businesses. Fortunately, we are seeing more and more hotels incorporate technology into their strategies, to access more markets and revenue streams, and Grupo Habita wanted to take that step in order to innovate. Our hotel staff now use SiteMinder's platform constantly and are delighted with the possibilities it offers," says Ernesto Solis, Corporate Director of E-Commerce and Revenue Management at Grupo Habita.Mexico ranked as the sixth most visited country in the world in 2017, with 39.3 million international visitors. It is expected to achieve a new record in 2018, having attracted more than 30.5 million international visitors during the first nine months, which is up 6.8% based on year-on-year figures.SiteMinder's director of communications - Latin America, Rocio Herraiz, says, "SiteMinder exists so every hotel has the opportunity to acquire more guests and we are proud to support Grupo Habita in this regard. We know each of their properties will also give the highest priority to personalizing the stay of their guests and, thanks to the automation offered by SiteMinder, they can focus on really enhancing that experience for today's traveler who seeks comfort and detail."Already, Grupo Habita is working on future must-see destinations, including the remodeling of a mansion in Puebla, Mexico, and new properties in both Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.About SiteMinderIn an age of rising choice and accessibility for curious travelers, SiteMinder is the name synonymous with the belief that technology can empower any hotel to win in a consumer-led world and unleash their potential. SiteMinder is the global hotel industry's leading guest acquisition platform, ranked among technology pioneers for its smart and simple solutions that put hotels everywhere their guests are, at every stage of their journey. It's this central role that has earned SiteMinder the trust of more than 30,000 hotels, across 160 countries, to generate in excess of 80 million reservations worth over US$35 billion in revenue for hotels each year. For more information, visit www.siteminder.com.About Grupo HabitaGrupo Habita has a total of 14 hotels; 12 are distributed across nine destinations in Mexico and two are in the United States. In Mexico City, they are: Hotel Habita, Condesa DF, Downtown Mexico, Downtown Beds and Capital District. Across other parts of Mexico, they are: La Purificadora in Puebla, designed by Legorreta + Legorreta; Hotel Boca Chica in Acapulco; Habita MTY in Nuevo Leon; Casa Fayette in Guadalajara; Hotel Escondido in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca; and Maison Couturier and Azucar in Veracruz. In the United States, they are: Hotel Americano in Chelsea, New York, and The Robey in Chicago.Although comparatively small, what Grupo Habita has achieved in 18 years is significant. It is currently the only hotel company in Mexico funded 100% domestically and successfully operates two hotels in United States. For more information, visit www.grupohabita.mx.