Innovation

🏖 Experian and MMGY developed a marketing measurement strategy for Windstar, utilizing pixel tags, Experian's identity graph, and MMGY's Terminal audience modeling platform. This strategy included integration of MMGY's performance data, Experian's consumer intent data, and Windstar's first-party data, enabling custom audience segmentation. Results: 6,500+ bookings, $20 million in revenue, 13:1 Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) on $1.48M ad spend, $236 cost per booking, and a 28:1 ROAS for Terminal Audiences.

📈 Choice Hotels International, Inc. opened its 69th Annual Convention in Las Vegas, with President and CEO Patrick Pacious keynote speaking. Aimed at "Powering the Future," the event featured nearly 100 educational sessions and a trade show. Business travelers now represent 40% of all stays. The upscale brand portfolio grew by 44% last year, and loyalty membership surpassed 70 million. Direct booking conversions increased by over 6%, and area Directors found over $25 million in operational cost savings. A new food purchasing program saved 9% on costs from July 2024 to March 2025. ChoiceROCS consultancy drove $81 million to properties, and group business revenue jumped 45% in Q4 2024. AARP members booked over 1.1 million room nights at Choice hotels in 2024. Choice leads in midscale and extended stay, with half of all economy and midscale extended stay hotels open and under construction. Everhome Suites projected to have 25 hotels by end of 2025, while upscale rooms reached over 110,000 in 2024.

💾 Hospitable, a property management software, launches a proprietary dynamic pricing tool designed for hosts and property managers to automate rate-setting and respond to real-time market trends. The tool, embedded in the platform, is the first in the industry to be included without an additional fee. New data shows 57.2% of hosts struggle to meet occupancy goals and 28.9% face difficulty managing pricing. Hospitable’s dynamic pricing offers a 30-day pricing trend preview and a one-time 24-month insight access for the first month post-launch. The tool is available on Host, Professional, or Mogul plans from today. Hospitable was launched in 2016, providing a suite of services including AI messaging automation, rate optimization, and built-in payments for direct booking websites.

💾 Hospitable, a property management software, launched its built-in dynamic pricing tool aiming to aid hosts and property managers in increasing revenue by automating rate-setting and responding to market trends without extra charges. Data reveals 57.2% of hosts struggle with occupancy goals; 28.9% find pricing management difficult. The new tool provides real-time, hyperlocal pricing recommendations, utilizes market data, and allows customization of strategy. A 30-day pricing trend preview is standard, but a one-time offer grants access to full 24-month insights immediately post-launch. This release further positions Hospitable as a short-term rental super app, offering diverse business solutions. Pierre-Camille Hamana, CEO, emphasizes the tool's intuitive design and accessibility on any of Hospitable's plans. The full industry report is slated for release next week, while the dynamic pricing tool is available now, reflecting Hospitable's evolution since 2016 from PMS to a comprehensive toolkit for property management.

🍦 Brakes, the UK's leading foodservice wholesaler, introduces exclusive gelatos and sorbettos from Hackney Gelato and Jude’s. Hackney Gelato offers 13 varieties in a 4.5L format including 2 Star Great Taste winners and a 3 Star Award-winning Sea Salted Caramel Gelato. Jude’s provides a new 4.75L Napoli range with unique flavours like Bubblegum and Speculoos Caramel Biscuit. The premium range aims to differentiate menus, especially with Summer and National Ice Cream month approaching, and is exclusively available to Brakes customers. Paul Nieduszynski, CEO of Sysco GB, highlights the opportunity for menu differentiation and customer retention.

🏨 Aspire Group will rebrand the former Hotel Kaiserhof in Wuppertal, Germany as Spark by Hilton Wuppertal City Centre on 2 June 2025, following Germany's first Spark by Hilton in Stuttgart-Sindelfingen earlier in 2025. The hotel, with 172 rooms and situated next to Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof, is 35 kilometers from Düsseldorf Airport and features a 24/7 smart Grab & Go store and in-room steamers in its 11,000-square-metre property. This expansion aligns with Aspire Group's strategy of urban hotel repositioning and the market trend of revitalising city-centre hotels under midscale international brands. Spark by Hilton targets business and leisure guests, emphasizing operational simplicity and standardized services.

💰 Margaritaville's Chief Data Officer, Claudia Infante, utilizes data to reveal opportunities and refine customer experiences. On May 2, 2025, the Hospitality Daily Podcast featured her insights. Infante's strategy emphasizes innovation in Margaritaville's multifaceted operations. The podcast episode encourages businesses to apply the concepts discussed to benefit their operations and clientele.

📈 In the UK, AI adoption has surged by 33% in the past year, with over half (52%) of UK businesses now using AI, outpacing the European average growth of 27%. Businesses embracing AI every 60 seconds have seen a revenue increase, with 92% of AI adopters reporting higher earnings, up from 64% in 2023. Large enterprises' AI use has risen to 55%, but their application remains at a basic level, while 59% of startups have adopted AI, with 36% developing new AI-driven products. The digital skills gap presents a significant barrier to further adoption, as 38% of businesses struggle to access digital skills, up from 29% last year. UK businesses need an average of 5.5 months to hire someone with sufficient digital skills. AWS encourages UK policymakers to address these challenges to unlock AI’s full potential. Recently, Amazon announced an £8 billion investment in UK data centers projected to contribute £14 billion to GDP and support over 14,000 annual FTE jobs by 2028.

🖥 Almawave, part of the Almaviva Group, has incorporated Generative AI into its D/AI Destinations platform via subsidiary The Data Appeal Company. The platform utilizes advanced language models to process textual data for personalized analysis and strategic recommendations. This AI integration enhances Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) by delivering automated insights specific to each location, allowing them to monitor visitor sentiment and align with strategic priorities in real-time. CEOs Valeria Sandei and Mirko Lalli emphasize the transformation in tourism management, offering not only data but actionable insights for informed decision-making.

📌 RMS, a hospitality platform, partners with Right Revenue to offer real-time data integration for independent hotels. The collaboration enables smarter pricing and accurate forecasting, promising less than 2% margin of error in daily forecasts two years ahead and potential double-digit revenue growth. The integration offers automated pricing and customisable, real-time reporting on key business KPIs, allowing hoteliers to adapt quickly to booking trends and optimize revenue, similar to larger hotel chains' strategic rate strategies.