Several years ago, when the industry was still suffering in the throes of recession and hoteliers began scapegoating online travel agencies for all that ailed them, we often joked that these third-party intermediaries received more than 90% of the industry’s attention while accounting for less than 10% of total booked revenue.

During panels and presentations, OTAs seemed to dominate the conversation while a number of much larger and dangerous issues continued to churn under the radar.

As Bill Marriott walked through one of the final mock-up rooms for Courtyard’s new Gen Next room prototype, taking in the tone-on-tone color palette, trendy “lounge around” sofa and mobile desk on wheels, his eyes, as they inevitable are, were drawn to the carpet.

Carpets have always been a sticking point with the 81-year-old hotel icon and executive chairman of Marriott International. Janis Milham, VP and global brand manager for Courtyard, knew this going in, so she prepared herself for the inevitable critique spurred by the brand’s re-imagined floor coverings, which feature a stylized leaf motif in earth tones that mirror the brand’s oak tree logo.

You can always find the gates with planes departing to Orlando, Florida, without ever looking at any signage. Whereas other gates usually comprise a motley assortment of travelers, the Orlando gates are packed primarily with youngsters, bouncing off the walls with giddy excitement at the prospects of flying to visit Mickey et al. at their home base of Disney World.

It’s like transplanting a 6-year-old’s birthday party from your neighbor’s backyard to the middle of the airport.

Upon finding a problem in your hotel room, imagine calling the front-desk agent only to have her reply, “Sir, I don’t have time for you.” Click. Dial tone.

Unacceptable? Unfathomable? I agree.

There’s an infection running rampant in your hotel right now, and it could very well choke the life out of your profitability. But unlike most infections, this one has some very real benefits as well—if cultivated wisely.

I’m not talking of disease or some other terrible plague. I’m speaking here of emotions. Like germs, they can spread from one employee to the next faster than you can say, “Gesundheit!”

I’m sitting in my hotel room on the 25th floor of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, looking out the window as the Burj Khalifa glitters like a diamond caught in a spotlight on the city’s evening skyline. While the effect is manufactured—a series of lights adorning the world’s tallest building flicker and twinkle with alluring precision—the metaphor is prescient.

Here is the crowned jewel of the world’s most glamorous stage, shining Dubai, an emblem of post-recessionary willpower and development might.