Innovation

🏨 Transformative travel technology provider Amadeus has partnered with Scandic Hotels, Scandinavia's largest hotel chain, to deploy the Amadeus Agency360Enterprise Solution. The agreement is a first in Scandinavia, enhancing Scandic Hotels' ability to assess travel agency data across 280 properties in Scandinavia, Poland, and Germany. The solution offers 12 months of forward-looking data and 24 months of historical insights, providing unprecedented insight for strategic decision-making and targeting profitable opportunities.

💻 Oracle and Accor, June 2025, Austin: Accor transitions global properties to Oracle OPERA Cloud PMS, enhancing hotel operations. The platform standardizes data across properties, aiding performance monitoring and decision-making. Accor prioritizes a consistent, high-quality guest experience and operational efficiency. Oracle's collaboration is highlighted as strategic. Accor adopts Oracle OPERA Cloud Sales and Event Management for enhanced meetings and events management, providing digital self-service tools for event planning. Oracle emphasizes Accor's adaptability and innovative approach in hospitality.

📈 Expedia's B2B business surged 21% in 2024, now 30% of revenue, with partners like Walmart and Chase Travel. Expedia's one-key loyalty program drives nearly 50% of room nights. Booking's Genius tiers cover 55% of hotel nights. Expedia's air/car/hotel packages reached $5.3 billion in 2024, projected to hit $6 billion by 2028. Vrbo focuses on vacation rentals; Booking has over 8 million alternative lodging listings. OTAs bet on loyalty, B2B, and AI to adapt to a plateauing U.S. market.

📚 Prague, 4 September 2025: RobosizeME publishes "The Hotelier’s Guide to Starting Your Automation Journey," a seven-step operational guide for hotel automation. It addresses manual workload challenges and rising labor costs, providing solutions without IT overhauls. CEO Stephen Burke emphasizes its practicality for easing administrative tasks. The guide targets CIOs and hotel executives, offering a strategic approach to streamline operations. RobosizeME’s solutions are backed by security certifications and trusted by major hotel groups.

📺 Hotel IT leaders are prioritizing in-room technology as essential, according to a DIRECTV HOSPITALITY survey. Fast, reliable Wi-Fi is the top guest must-have. Kimberly Twiggs emphasizes shifting the view of IT from a cost to an investment. TVs are evolving into digital hubs offering contactless services, guest engagement, and personalization. Ensuring data privacy is crucial, with features like automatic daily credential clearing. Technology enhances guest experiences, balancing digital convenience with personal service.

📈 U.S. consumers' holiday spending is projected to drop by 5% from 2024, the first decline since 2020, per PwC's 2025 survey. Gen Z, ages 17-28, plans a steep 23% reduction in holiday budgets due to life changes and job market instability. Gift spending decreases by 11% to $721 average. 46% still plan to travel, similar to last year, with Gen Z travel intentions down to 55%. Most travelers (48%) visit family. Millennials embrace AI for travel, with 76% using it for recommendations.

💰 In 2022, TakeUp was founded in San Francisco. It's tackling pricing issues for independent hotels using AI that adapts prices based on guest behavior. Their platform boosts revenue by an average of 20%-30% and saves owners 15 hours weekly. By July 2025, TakeUp raised $11 million in Series A funding to expand its offerings. The company aims to democratize AI for independents, offering transparency and human oversight in pricing decisions.

📚 Accor leads with 44 brands, followed by Marriott with 35 and Hyatt with 26. Out of 378 hotel brands, 69 are independent, with 25 of the 73 luxury brands being independent. The high end of the market—Luxury, Premium, Boutique, and Upscale—accounts for 66% of brands, overshadowing Midscale and Economy's 33%. A comprehensive hotel brand infographic required over 100 hours of manual research due to AI's limitations in accuracy.

📊 Last week, an MIT study found that 95% of corporate AI pilots lack ROI. Conducted between January and June 2025, it analyzed 52 executive interviews, 153 survey responses, and 300+ public case studies. Employees prefer general-purpose models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude over specialized AI tools. Researchers claim these models lack memory and learning capabilities, but developments like Google's Agentspace are closing these gaps rapidly. The issue lies in outdated perceptions, not in the technology itself.

📑 Ira Vouk, MBA, discusses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and its impact on hotel distribution. MCP, an open standard developed by Anthropic, enhances API usability without being tied to specific models. It opens the door for “next-gen OTAs” with AI applications connecting to multiple MCP Servers. The discussion highlights the contrast between centralized platforms and direct bookings, while noting conversational AI's potential for personalized travel recommendations. Industry-wide initiatives face challenges against agile private competitors.