Last night I slept in a major airport hotel in order to catch an early flight in the morning. Despite current economic conditions, the hotel was very busy, with many taking advantage of the great public areas- catchy design and well laid out catering for those that wanted a bar experience, lounge experience or business area. The in-room experience was however in stark contrast to the public areas. There was only an old and extremely small CRT with a remote control that belonged to another age and no interactive TV. Several light years away from the hotel’s claim to be contemporary and to give guests a comfort level similar to that of their own home. It is in fact, interesting that a minority of hotels have decided to move away from interactive TV and video on demand claiming it to be outdated and non-economical. A look at the real world shows quite the contrary: Never have so many consumers had access to true video-on-demand at home, with millions benefiting from on-demand services provided by the PayTv and Telco operators. For example, UPC Netherlands reported 34 million VoD streams in 2008 which is approximately 3 to 4 sessions a month for its subscribers. Clear evidence that video-on-demand, or non-linear V as it is sometimes called, is becoming a given for consumers with a clear willingness to subscribe and pay for such services. Ignoring this could lead some hotels to be increasingly disconnected from their guests' needs.

I visited the International Hotel Investment Forum this week in Berlin, at significant cost I might add, so I was pretty keen to get something out of it. There was an air of pessimism, certainly on the first day, coming from most people I interacted with. The exception was the more senior, publicly listed company representatives. No dirty washing in public sort of thing.

There seems to be an ocean of people who are now feeling so depressed that not only have they become resigned to the fact that they are in deep trouble, they have told everybody else that they are in deep trouble. And then we all have a good laugh about it. Ha ha ha ha…how we laughed.

On the second day, I attended a session entitled "Mitigating Collateral Damage and Maximising Opportunities" and was well pleased that I did. There was a highly qualified team of panelists and it struck me as the session started, why on earth was this room not full? With other sessions being about Russia, management agreements, brand confusion, leases, developers and Turkey, you would have thought that any presentation with "Maximising Opportunities” in the title would have people hanging from the rafters!

The session was full of great practical advice and discussion. Some of the comments I noted:

• Do something uncommon, introduce common sense.
• Check that your suppliers are in good health.
• Don’t fall out with your partners - get closer to them.
• Search for the best people as others are cutting staff.
• Accurate and realistic forecasting is the biggest challenge.
• Seek to package your business in a different way.
• Don’t focus on RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room). A 12 percent drop in RevPAR could be a 26 percent drop in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization). Think cash.

Overall, it was a great discussion and it is becoming clear – we cannot "save" our way out of difficult times, we have to "sell" our way out. And that’s where the fun and creativity begins. Apple, for example, seeks to provide what the customer should want rather than what he thinks he wants. Neat.

I enjoyed the session immensely. Difficult questions without all the answers, but a willingness to really take them on. Optimism grows on you.

Pornography is a subjective term which doesn’t in anyway reflect more specific content than sex. It seems to be any depiction of sex, in fact, to which the person using the word objects to and finds disapproving.  I much prefer the genre adult entertainment, or AE to save ink.

Because AE is often available in hotel rooms, I am regularly asked if the current explosion in technology and content, plus the X and Y generations, will lead to the demise of such content?

Alas...it's unlikely.

At the dawn of every new media, it has been AE that has grown quickest and often to be the largest. From early cave paintings of 40,000 years ago, to the printing press, to TV and DVD and, of course, the Internet - AE has proliferated. It does appear to go on and on. The most recent research published by XBIZ research shows that the industry showed substantial growth in 2008 and 70% of adult businesses were expecting moderate to substantial growth in 2009.

The current economic correction may slow things down a little whilst the AE industry awaits a new wave on which to ride...3D perhaps??