Innovation

💰 At the Independent Hotel Show Miami, the focus was on generating new revenue for independent hotels. Key discussions included viewing food and beverage as attractions and expanding wellness offerings beyond traditional spa services. The event also emphasized networking among hoteliers, designers, and vendors. The upcoming trend is shifting from revenue to profit, analyzing profit and loss, net operating income, and gross operating profit per available room to enhance profitability.

📈 BTIG analyst Jake Fuller reported that Hilton's website blocked Meta's personal AI agent, Muse, during hotel rate tests this week. Hilton refutes this, stating they are open to bookings from various AI agents, including Muse. Skift experienced similar issues with Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt. Hilton claims to embrace AI for direct guest connections, pledging to stay visible in agentic commerce. The AI booking tools are still in early development.

🚀 Instinct's personal AI agent, led by 23-year-old Noah Shinn, nears $1 billion in annualized transactions, with over $500 million in travel-related sales. This data reflects early adopters, not typical consumer behavior. The agent enables users to book travel via simple text. AI's role in travel evolves, emphasizing invisible interfaces and automated intent matching. Meanwhile, CollabsMap aids brands in using AI for visibility. Via.ai reports 3-5x conversion lift and 30% larger baskets through AI in real deployments.

📈 In Hollywood, Florida, Red Roof's Brand Conference showcased initiatives for enhanced guest experiences and franchise value. Red Roof PLUS+ upgrades include breakfast, lighting, and design improvements. RediRewards loyalty program, with 6 million members, is expanding with personalized features. Growth includes a new Vancouver location and the extended-stay brand, HomeTowne Studios. Digital efforts involve an AI-native platform to boost visibility and bookings. The company reaffirms efforts against human trafficking, integrating AMBER Alerts into systems.

🌎 Latin America's business travel spending is set to hit $67.7 billion USD in 2026, with an 11% annual growth. The GBTA LATAM Conference 2026 in Mexico City hosted over 450 attendees from 17 countries. Mexico and Brazil lead with $10.4 billion and $35.8 billion in spending, respectively. Mexico City's business travel contributed $3.3 billion USD to its economy in 2024, supporting 50,858 jobs. Regional growth is expected to slow to 3.3% in 2027 due to economic dependencies.

💻 Mews launched Guest Messaging and Automations in Amsterdam. The Guest Messaging system consolidates communication channels like SMS and WhatsApp into a single thread linked to the guest's profile. Mews AI handles 80% of routine queries, increasing staff efficiency. Automations at selected Strawberry properties automated 60% of upgrades for Gold & Platinum guests. During the Beta phase, 47,000 automations ran across Mews. The system supports multiple platforms, enhancing guest experience and operational flexibility.

📈 In 2026, hotel advertising success hinges on combining AI with real hotel data and hospitality expertise. AdsPlus by Userguest integrates booking data, property-specific demand, and marketing experts to optimize campaigns. It uses real-time signals to focus on generating profitable direct bookings, rather than just cheap clicks. AI identifies opportunities, while experts validate these against the hotel's context. AdsPlus manages campaigns across Google, Meta, Bing, and TikTok, ensuring timely and relevant advertising.

💻 Hapi introduced Hapi Guest Identity and Hapi Data Lakehouse in Miami, Florida, aiming to enhance guest personalization. These solutions unify guest data from various hotel systems like PMS and loyalty programs into accurate profiles using deterministic identity matching. Hapi Data Lakehouse offers a governed data model for real-time access to guest and operational data. Founder Luis Segredo emphasizes the importance of reliable guest data for improving hotel experiences.

📄 Twilio’s 2026 survey highlights AI issues in hospitality. **70%** of APAC consumers abandon AI interactions due to memory lapses, yet **84%** of brands think their AI recognizes returning customers. Only **28%** of hotel chains have an enterprise-wide AI strategy, and **13%** report ROI. **91%** use AI, but **69%** still manually enter guest preferences. **65%** of guests repeat themselves to humans post-AI interaction. The solution involves unified data systems and improving AI memory.

💻 Shiji Platform revolutionizes hotel technology by integrating guest experiences through a unified data foundation, open integrations, and a consistent guest profile. This approach ensures a seamless guest journey across all systems.