Terence Baker is senior reporter, Hotel News Now, the news vehicle of hotel-industry data bench marker STR, recently acquired by CoStar. Baker has written about hotels, travel and the MICE industry since 1997. Baker lived in New York City for 20 years but has been back now in his native London for six years. In New York, he wrote for STAR Service, Travel Weekly and Meetings & Conventions. For five years he was travel editor and managing editor of Car & Travel magazine, the publication of automobile association AAA’s New York branch with more than 1.1 million readers. He has also contributed articles to various travel magazines. On his return to London, he started up the European office for Hotel News Now, expanding his coverage to include the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He has a MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and in his spare time he travels, runs marathons and ultramarathons and goes birdwatching, sometimes all three things at the same time.