sleep study
A scientific study for Hilton Hotels found that business travelers sleep less than they think they do while on the road—an average of an hour a night less—and perform at lower levels as a result. The worst sleep loss actually comes the night before departure, when participants got an average of only five hours' sleep. The best way to improve performance while traveling, the study found, is to exercise. The worst ways: drinking alcohol and coffee. Alcohol consumption increased by 30 percent on the road compared to home, and coffee consumption by 14 percent, the data indicated.

suite deals
InterContinental Hotels Group, the parent of InterContinental, Holiday Inn, CrownePlaza and Staybridge Suites, is growing in the all-suite market. First, the company took on 14 Summerfield Suites hotels, formerly part of the Wyndham family, rebranding them as Staybridge Suites. That boosts the number of Staybridge Suites properties from 57 to 71. Then InterContinental Hotel Group made a deal to acquire the Candlewood Suites chain, with 108 properties. It will operate Candlewood as a separate midmarket extended-stay brand, as opposed to Staybridge, which is an upscale product.

radio tags
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been around a long time, but the airline industry has been slow to adopt it. Now, however, Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport plans to start using RFID baggage tags this year on passengers' checked luggage, with appropriate tracking devices in place. The advantage? "Using RFID tag scans ensures nearly 100 percent accuracy in tracking baggage, and supports the Transportation Security Administration's objective to screen all passenger baggage," an airport spokesman said.

closer quarters
Starting in 2005, the Federal Aviation Administration will ease up on the current rules covering aircraft separation at high altitudes—i.e., above 29,000 feet, which is the normal cruising altitude for commercial airliners. Current rules require planes to maintain a vertical separation of at least 2,000 feet; the new regulation will cut that to 1,000 feet. That will give pilots more flexibility in their routing, and should ultimately reduce delays, since a given volume of air space will be able to handle almost twice as many planes as it can today.

lobby kiosks
Just as the airlines adapted the notion of ticketless travel from hotels, lodging companies are now taking on self-check-in technology like that of the airlines. Starwood Hotels is testing self-service lobby kiosks at the Sheraton Boston and the W New York-Times Square. In 2004, Starwood said, it expects to roll out the technology in several of its downtown, convention and airport hotels. Hilton, meanwhile, is testing similar self-service kiosks at the Hilton New York and the Hilton Chicago. In both tests, travelers can check themselves in and out of the hotel, getting a room key and a receipt.