Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts has recently unveiled a revamped website. New features, which include sharing the best of the group’s photography, aim to help travellers get closer to their destinations.

To commemorate the new site, the group is set to launch the ‘#LovingTheMoment’ Instagram initiative to encourage everyone to share photos of their location.

Movie firm Paramount has announced plans to launch a chain of hotels. The hotels will be luxury properties with ‘elements of the California lifestyle’.

The firm, one of the most active studios in Hollywood and the name behind movies ranging from Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Mission Impossible, plans to create up to 50 hotels and resorts themed around Hollywood and California.

Hotel chain Ritz-Carlton has launched a mobile app that incorporates QR codes and location-based services, designed to provide users with special in-hotel offers and experiences.

Expanding upon basic hotel search and reservation functionality, the new app integrates with other social platform, such as Foursquare and World Concierge, and provides location based recommendations.

French hotel brand Mama Shelter, voted among Europe’s trendiest properties, has announced it will expand internationally.

The company confirmed earlier this month that it plans to open a property in Los Angeles, California next year and Istanbul, Turkey this year, with further French expansion also planned in Lyon and Bordeaux over the coming months.

As African hotels continue to boom, Virgin has announced that it is to become the latest name to move into the continent.

Virgin Limited Edition, Richard Branson’s luxury travel brand, is set to open a 12-tented camp in the Masai Maara Game Reserve next year.

The Mahali Mzuri camp will hold double-occupancy tents, meaning a maximum of 24 people at one time, with fully inclusive services set to include meals, drinks and daily game drives around the area.

This week, InterContinental Hotels announced plans for a China-specific chain which will eventually set up shop outside of the country, highlighting yet again that China’s growing economic might is having an interesting effect on the way we travel.

Thanks to the staggering statistics (outbound trips from China alone are projected to grow from 10 million to more than 100 million in the next 10 to 15 years), hotel chains are keener than ever to ensure that Chinese guests feel at home in their properties.