Innovation

📈 Sabre's GDS hotel reservations grew 8% in Q2, with corporate travel making up 45% of its volume. Booking Holdings collected payment on 73% of sales. U.S. hotel RevPAR rose 5.5% for October 11-17. WTTC forecasts Spain's Travel & Tourism sector will contribute over €269 billion to GDP by 2026. Harry Styles' tour increased Melbourne and Sydney hotel bookings by up to 30%. Sydney room rates rose $127 per night from 2025.

📱 Richard Trinder, senior director at Holafly, discussed connectivity challenges at the Skift Global Forum 2026. Connectivity affects travel experiences, with disruptions impacting airlines, hotels, and ride services. Trinder emphasized integrating eSIMs into travel services, noting they should be as routine as boarding passes by 2028. Holafly's "Always On" ensures data access during emergencies. Trinder advocates for partnerships and technical integration to enhance customer experiences and prepare for AI-powered services.

🏨 By late 2026, the hospitality sector is evolving past post-pandemic recovery, hitting the global market size of over USD 5 trillion. Technological disruption and labor inefficiencies drive this shift, with AI-native systems and robotics becoming standard. Key examples include Marriott's investment in citizenM, IHG's acquisition of Ruby Hotels, and Turkish Airlines' use of New Distribution Capability (NDC). Strategy Capital is essential, integrating asset-light models, intelligent data distribution, and automated operations for competitive advantage.

📧 HiJiffy launched Email Copilot, an AI assistant for hotels, improving email response times. A study (Q1 2026) revealed hospitality teams reply in 4 hours 50 minutes, while guests wait nearly 15 hours. Email Copilot reduces response time to one day at Oliva Nova, down from five days. It drafts emails by using Answer Templates and Knowledge Bases, requiring human review. Founded in 2016, HiJiffy supports 2,600+ hotels globally, with headquarters in Portugal.

💻 Pertlink Limited, founded in Hong Kong on 23 October 2000, celebrates 26 years of guiding hotels through tech evolution in Asia Pacific. In 2026, AI transitioned from simple chatbots to advanced booking agents. Pertlink, now an AI advisory, empowers hotels with frameworks like TCPG and HXO, while offering free AI-driven resources. The 2027 challenge: ensuring AI can locate, comprehend, and trust your hotel. Founder Terence Ronson, a double Hall of Fame inductee, leads this transformation.

📅 Oct 2023, Microsoft introduced Copilot Cowork within Microsoft 365 for travel management. By Oct 20, Julie Shainock announced its travel version, integrating calendars, travel policies, and loyalty accounts to automate business trip bookings. Despite early access, full trip-building capabilities remain unreleased, with unresolved issues like data standards and security. The tool aims to eliminate manual booking tasks, allowing an AI agent to organize travel logistics based on user preferences and company policies.

The Super 8 and La Quinta franchiser is opening its inventory to Meta's Muse, OpenAI, and Instinct. Morgan Stanley analysts think AI agents could cost hotel groups less per booking than online travel agencies do.

💻 Who? Thomas McDermott, CMO, Tambourine. When? 1 hour ago. Where? Not specified. What? Hotel websites should function like top-performing salespeople, making strong impressions, providing accurate information, and facilitating smooth bookings. How? Websites should have fast-loading pages, clear booking paths, and updated content to prevent potential guests from turning to OTAs, which charge commission fees. Regular audits are recommended to ensure optimal performance and direct booking rates. Tambourine, a global leader in hotel marketing, provides solutions in over 50 countries.

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📈 Hotel technology provider dailypoint has launched a free AI Readiness Check for hotels, revealing a gap in AI adoption. Based on the h2c Global Study 2026, 91% of hotel chains use AI, but only 13% see measurable ROI. While 69% manually handle guest preferences, just 19% use AI for this purpose. Only 42% have a central guest profile database. Visit dailypoint at The Hospitality Show, Miami, November 2-4, 2026, booth 2820.