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MORAVIA, Iowa — Honey Creek Resort is set to reopen to guests on Thursday, July 2, bringing renewed energy to one of Iowa’s most distinctive resort destinations ahead of peak summer travel. Located on 880 acres along Rathbun Lake, Honey Creek Resort features lodge rooms, cabins, dining, coffee, meeting and event space, marina access, trails, and outdoor recreation. The reopening marks a significant milestone for the property as it welcomes guests back for overnight stays, lake weekends, family travel, and group gatherings. Embergrove Hospitality Group, a Midwest-based hospitality management company, is leading the reopening and ongoing operations of the resort. The company’s focus will center on guest experience, operational consistency, team support, and long-term care for the property. “Honey Creek has all the right pieces — an incredible setting, strong resort amenities, and a meaningful place in the memories of many Iowa travelers,” said Travis Wiederien, Chief Development Officer at Embergrove Hospitality Group. “Our focus is on bringing renewed energy, accountability, and thoughtful hospitality to the guest experience.” Honey Creek will reopen with lodging, cabins, Harbor 72 restaurant, Rathbun Roast coffee shop, marina access, and outdoor recreation available for summer guests. The resort will also mark its reopening weekend with Fourth of July programming, including live music, fireworks, glow karaoke, and a lantern ceremony. Fourth of July Weekend Schedule Friday, July 3 Live Music | 7:30–9:00 PM Fireworks | 9:00 PM Saturday, July 4 Live Music | 5:30–7:30 PM Glow Karaoke | 7:30–9:00 PM Lantern Ceremony | 9:00 PM “As Iowans ourselves, we understand what Honey Creek means to this region,” said Katie Wienen, Chief Operating Officer at Embergrove Hospitality Group. “This reopening is about welcoming guests back, supporting the team on property, and helping Honey Creek move forward with the care and consistency it deserves.” The reopening comes as travelers look for summer destinations that offer outdoor recreation, water access, dining, and space to gather. With its location on Rathbun Lake and a wide range of resort amenities, Honey Creek is positioned to once again serve as a destination for families, leisure travelers, meetings, weddings, and group events. For more information, visit honeycreekresort.com . About Honey Creek Resort Honey Creek Resort is located in Moravia, Iowa, on the shores of Rathbun Lake. The resort features lodge rooms, cabins, meeting and event space, dining, coffee, marina access, trails, and outdoor recreation across 880 acres. About Embergrove Hospitality Group Embergrove Hospitality Group is a Midwest-based hospitality management company focused on hands-on operations, strategic growth, and meaningful guest experiences. With a growing portfolio of hotels and hospitality assets, Embergrove brings operational discipline, strong leadership, and a people-first approach to hospitality management. Media Contact: Tessa Hansen Director of Marketing Embergrove Hospitality Group [email protected]

Tuesday keeps the focus on how guests and buyers actually find hotels, and how little of that hotels control. AI systems can read hotel data well but still recommend on earned presence, corporate travel buyers are pushing AI deeper into the booking process, and a closer look at the workforce suggests stable headcount is masking weaker engagement. Property news runs from a new St. Regis in Cancún to Hilton's first Spark hotels in India. AI can find your hotel, but it stops short of recommending it Hotels lead travel sectors in AI machine readability at 73%, yet that visibility does not convert into recommendations. Ahrefs data across 730,000 AI responses shows that earned web presence, and YouTube mentions in particular, drives what AI systems actually suggest, not structured data on its own. The piece, AI can find your hotel. It just won't recommend it. , sits close to the AI discovery work many readers are already doing. The practical point is that being readable is the entry ticket, not the result. A hotel can do everything right with structured data and still stay off the shortlist if the wider web says little about it. Travel buyers are about to lean much harder on AI A GBTA and Radisson Hotel Group survey of 258 travel managers finds that AI use in hotel RFPs is set to climb from 32% to 69%. The same research, covered in Corporate Hotel Programs Evolve , points to growth in dynamic discounts and a consolidation of fixed rates as managed programmes adapt to cost pressure and complexity. For hotels and their commercial teams, the sourcing process itself is changing. The data a hotel feeds into RFPs, and how machine-ready it is, will shape outcomes a little more each year. Low turnover is hiding a retention problem A BBC broadcast on falling quit rates prompts a hospitality reading of the trend in The Great Stay . The argument is that low turnover can mask rising disengagement, stored flight risk and a slowly degrading guest product, as people stay in roles they have mentally checked out of. It is a useful counter to the comfort of stable headcount, since a quiet payroll can still hide weakening service and staff who are ready to leave once the market turns. Signals Connected hotels report better numbers. An Expedia Group survey of 1,500 hotel decision makers across six markets finds fully connected properties are 31 points more likely to report improved occupancy, ADR or RevPAR than those on basic connectivity. Detail in Expedia Group's research . HITEC put agentic governance centre stage. A recap names agentic governance, Agent Management Platforms and Guest Success Management Systems as the defining trends, with AI moving from point tools to orchestrated, enterprise-wide workflows. Read the HITEC 2026 recap . Buyers judge vendors before the first call. Many hospitality vendors lose deals before any sales conversation, as buyers quietly check LinkedIn, YouTube, reviews and AI tools before booking a demo. More in why the best hospitality

The Hotel Marketing Association (HMA) has officially announced the winners of its annual Hotel Marketing Awards for 2026, which celebrate the finest marketing talent and campaigns across the UK hospitality industry. Part of HOSPA, the Hospitality Professionals Association, the HMA’s annual awards ceremony brings together leading hospitality professionals from across the sector to recognise the exceptional impact of strategic and creative marketing over the past year. The 2026 awards highlighted an industry evolving rapidly to embrace new customer journeys shining alight on a wide range of innovations - from trailblazing digital storytelling and immersive partnerships to the cutting-edge implementation of artificial intelligence. Broken down across a series of categories, the award-winning entrants on the night were as follows: Best Website (sponsored by Clockwork Marketing) Winner: The Newman: Fitzrovia First – The Newman Website Best Partnership Marketing (sponsored by HBD Partners) Winner: The Grove, Hawksmoor in the Woods Social Media Campaign of the Year (sponsored by GuestRevu) Winner: Barons Eden – The Perfect Blackout Innovative Use of AI in Marketing (sponsored by Screen Pilot) Winner: Corinthia Hotels: Every visit, it’s own story. HMA Creative Excellence Award (sponsored by Net Affinity) Winner: Horwood House Hotel: The Butterfly Resort Best Hotel Marketing Team (sponsored by Agilysys) Winner: London Hilton on Park Lane Rising Star in Hotel Marketing (sponsored by For-Sight) Winner: May Facey, Senior Manager, Marketing EMEA, Marriott International This year’s entries reflected a powerful shift toward high levels of authenticity, with the winning campaigns highly praised by the judging panels for showing clear commercial attribution and distinct brand personality, ranging from Barons Eden’s disruptive in-house Black Friday "calm" campaign to Corinthia Hotels’ cutting-edge deployment of distinct AI content agents. Other winners included Buckinghamshire country house hotel, Horwood House, which took home the headline Creative Excellence Award for its 'The Butterfly Resort'. Aligned with a national conservation initiative, the campaign maximised a modest budget to secure national press and television coverage, seamlessly blending environmental ESG goals with local community and corporate market engagement. Meanwhile, teams like London Hilton on Park Lane and rising star May Facey (of Marriott International) were spotlighted for bringing agile, data-driven leadership to major corporate brands. Commenting on the awards, Harry Fielder, Chairman of the HMA , expressed his appreciation for the exceptional calibre of submissions this year, saying. "The innovation and strategic clarity showcased by our winners this year are exactly what our industry needs for the future. From using advanced AI frameworks to executing beautiful, human-centric local partnerships, UK hotel marketers are proving that marketing culture has firmly returned to the heart of business strategy. On behalf of the HMA, I extend my congratulations to all the winners and finalists." Jane Pendlebury, CEO of HOSPA , also shared her enthusiasm for the evening’s success, saying: "The HMA Awards continue to highlight the extraordinary talent and hard work that’s so synonymous with our sector. It’s a privilege to celebrate the achievements of those who are pushing the boundaries of hotel marketing. Each winner has set a new benchmark

Corporate travel managers continue to adapt their hotel sourcing strategies in response to changing global market dynamics, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), and evolving program priorities, according to new industry research from the Global Business Travel Association ( GBTA ) in partnership with Radisson Hotel Group . Based on a survey of corporate travel managers across North America and EMEA, the study explores key issues which are creating new pressure on companies to rethink how their hotel programs are managed, including evolving RFP processes, the rise of AI, and challenges around program compliance. Following the inaugural 2025 study, this second edition examines how companies are managing this category today, based on research conducted in April 2026, and highlights how priorities and practices have evolved over the past year. Business travelers worldwide spend $461 billion annually on lodging, representing the largest share of corporate travel spend, according to GBTA’s Business Travel Index . “This research offers timely insights into the growing opportunity for managed hotel programs to evolve to meet a rapidly changing and unpredictable market environment. We see a clear picture emerging of travel managers striving to balance increasing costs against managing risk and enhancing the traveler experience, while also actively leveraging AI to simplify and drive smarter, more efficient programs,” said Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA. The Evolution of Requests for Proposal (RFPs) The survey found that companies have diverse priorities when conducting hotel RFPs. While savings remain the anchor, traveler experience and safety/risk management top the list of the other factors that travel managers prioritize. Travel managers report a generally favorable hotel sourcing environment, particularly in North America. However, the research highlights large variations between global markets, with negotiating conditions becoming more complex and less predictable across regions. The findings reveal that hotel program outsourcing remains widespread. More than half (54%) of organizations outsource their RFP activities at least partially to travel management companies (TMCs) or consultants. Large companies (20,000+ employees) are most likely to “partially” outsource (64%) – but not “fully” outsource (14%). Outsourcing is particularly prevalent in Europe – 64% of European travel managers say their company outsources some or all RFP activities, vs. 52% of North American travel managers– reflecting the complexity of managing multi-market programs across the region. EMEA-based travel managers (47%) are less likely to perceive a favorable overall negotiating climate than NORAM-based travel managers (65%). Dynamic Pricing Models Continue to Gain Momentum For the second year, dynamic discounts have grown and fixed rates have consolidated, highlighting a shift in how companies approach hotel pricing strategies. 49% of hotel programs saw an increase in the number of dynamic discounts, while only 17% saw an increase in the number of fixed rates. While fixed rates remain the foundation of most programs, travel managers are increasingly adopting a blended approach, combining fixed rates in high-volume markets and dynamic discounts in secondary or less predictable locations. This more flexible model enables companies to extend programs coverage, access savings in markets where fixed rates are not

One of the biggest misconceptions in hospitality sales right now is that great products naturally rise to the top. They don’t. Not anymore. I’ve watched incredibly talented hospitality salespeople lose opportunities before they ever knew they existed. Not because they failed in the demo or because their platform wasn’t strong. But because the buyer had already researched competitors, formed opinions, and quietly built a shortlist long before anyone booked a call. That’s the shift I keep coming back to. The decision-making process in hospitality has fundamentally changed, but many vendors are still selling like it’s 2019. Recently, my business partner Cory Falter sat down with Byron Bunda from RoomMaster on the InnSync Show to talk through what’s happening in real time. As I listened to the conversation, one thing became crystal clear: Trust is no longer built primarily in the sales process. It’s built before the sales process ever begins. Today’s buyers are conducting silent research journeys that most hospitality vendors never see. Before a VP of Operations schedules a PMS demo, they’ve likely already: searched LinkedIn watched YouTube walkthroughs scanned Hotel Tech Report reviews read Reddit threads asked ChatGPT for recommendations compared competitors online evaluated whether your company feels credible And that last part matters more than many brands realize. Because when products start looking similar, trust becomes the differentiator. The hospitality vendors winning right now are not always the loudest companies or the ones with the biggest booths at trade shows. They’re the brands creating enough visible trust signals online that buyers feel confident before the first conversation even happens. That changes everything. Buyers Are Researching You Quietly One thing Byron said during the conversation stuck with me: “By the time they actually get into the traditional sales process, the discovery call, the demo, they’ve already really formed such a strong impression.” I think many hospitality companies still underestimate how independently buyers now operate. Years ago, salespeople controlled access to information. If a buyer wanted insight, they had to talk to you. Now buyers can gather almost everything they need without ever raising their hand. And honestly? Many prefer it that way. (I know I do!) Especially in hospitality technology, where decision-makers are overwhelmed with outreach, overloaded with cold emails, and increasingly skeptical of polished sales messaging. The modern hospitality buyer is looking for something else: proof consistency transparency expertise authenticity In marketing circles, we often call this EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Buyers may not know the acronym, but they absolutely feel the difference between brands that demonstrate those qualities and brands that don’t. I see it constantly. Someone gets referred to a company after a conference conversation. Then they go home and start vetting: Does this person actually know what they’re talking about? Are they visible online? Do they share insights or only pitch? Does the company feel modern? Do customers appear to trust them? Is there substance behind the branding? Those questions often determine whether a vendor even makes the shortlist. Silence Creates Risk

While the vendors are marathoning from scrum to scrum to innovate their products, HITEC is a sprint. Everyone knew that ‘AI’ would be the buzz word, but for this iteration in San Antonio, the mission was to get a glimpse of which companies actually had the goods. The question is no more about chatbots, virtual concierge and one-off tools, but how hotels manage, govern, orchestrate and extract value from dozens and eventually hundreds of AI-powered workflows operating simultaneously across the enterprise. In short, AI agents are infrastructure, and fast movers can reap big rewards. I’m keeping this one brand-agnostic but needless to say, some vendors are definitely better than others. Governance Via the Agent Management Platforms (AMP) I’m calling this new software category the Agent Management Platform (AMP). With so many agents spread across disparate systems, tracking them all, your token spend and your fallback pathways becomes central to operations. Which models are being used? What data can these agents access? What decisions are they authorized to make? What is the audit trail? Can you build in a PII scrub? And perhaps most importantly, what is the cost or, more specifically, how can we prevent ‘token creep’? Whether in an orchestration framework or not, hoteliers are deploying specialized agents across revenue management, marketing, reservations, maintenance, finance, guest messaging and operations. What happens when one workflow uses GPT-5, another uses Claude, a third uses an industry-specific small language model, and all of them are consuming tokens at different rates? Token Spend Optimization Requires Agentic Budgeting Here’s the macro: the architects behind OpenAI and Claude seem to be acting a bit like heroin dealers. We’re all getting hooked with cheap subscriptions and freemium pricing, and yet both of these monoliths have promised IPOs later this year or not. Once they’re public, the goal shifts to profits above all. Set aside energy costs and sourcing rare earth metals to make more GPUs; that alone should set off alarm bells. This is where that token creep becomes a reality. Today, many organizations treat AI costs as negligible. In three years, finance teams will be scrutinizing token consumption the same way they currently analyze labor costs or OTA commissions. Hotels will increasingly arbitrage tasks amongst different models based on performance, speed and cost. Simple guest requests may use inexpensive SLMs (small language models) while high-value commercial decisions are escalated to more sophisticated systems. The AMP becomes the governance layer that determines which agent does what, what permissions it has and how token-efficient it operates. The Disciplines of Harness Engineering and Loop Engineering Another emerging concept visible throughout HITEC was the shift toward what can best be described as loop engineering and harness engineering . Much like how social media and paid search reinvented marketing, these two will soon be required business knowledge by senior managers. Loop engineering is the practice of designing operational workflows where AI continuously observes, recommends, acts and learns from outcomes, creating a self-improving cycle. Harness engineering is the complementary skill of

Peachtree Group (“Peachtree”) has formed a strategic partnership with Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions (“GSCS”) to expand investor access to its alternative investment offerings through Goldman Sachs’ custody solutions platform. Through this collaboration, Peachtree's investment products will be made available on the GSCS platform, providing registered investment advisors (RIAs) and their clients with streamlined access to Peachtree’s differentiated real estate and credit strategies. This partnership is a key milestone in making Peachtree’s private commercial real estate strategies more accessible to independent advisors. Through Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions, advisors can now access our offerings on an institutional-grade custody platform with integrated onboarding, reporting and scalable operations for their high-net-worth clients Brian Cho, president and senior vice president of investor relations and operations at Peachtree GSCS is a modern, digital-forward custodial platform that delivers institutional-grade capabilities and enhanced flexibility for sophisticated investors. The partnership underscores Peachtree’s commitment to innovation in capital markets and its focus on aligning with best-in-class platforms to enhance investor experience, transparency and access. Peachtree, a leading commercial real estate investment firm with over $10 billion in committed capital under management, continues to expand its distribution channels to meet growing demand for alternative investments. The firm’s investment vehicles are available through leading alternative investment platforms, including iCapital, SEI marketplaces and CAIS, providing a broader range of investors with access to Peachtree’s vertically integrated platform spanning private credit, real estate development and special situations investing.

Expedia Group today released new global research showing that full connectivity is a decisive performance differentiator for hotel properties in driving revenue, maximizing operational efficiency, and delivering reliable inventory. Findings from independent hotels, franchise properties, and mid-to-large chains show that properties using a full suite of connectivity report stronger business performance, less friction, and greater confidence. Based on insights from 1,500 hotel decision makers across six markets, the research examines how different levels of connectivity software adoption – full, basic, or no connectivity – affect workload, channel performance, and perceptions of value. As booking channels proliferate, travel distribution is becoming increasingly complex, and hoteliers using connectivity providers and API capabilities can automate workflows, streamline operations, reduce pressure on their teams and improve profitability. Our goal is to continue removing friction from travel distribution by developing APIs that address the most critical needs of our hotel partners and connectivity providers Chris Hodges, Vice President of Global Connectivity & Partner Solutions, Expedia Group Connectivity is a profit driver for hotels 81% of fully connected properties say connectivity has improved their property’s occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), or revenue per available room (RevPAR). 52% of properties relying on basic connectivity say that technology has improved their occupancy, ADR, or RevPAR. 83% of fully connected properties believe better connectivity improves their bottom line, compared to 55% with basic connectivity and 26% of unconnected properties. Connectivity helps hotels cut friction and save time 81% of decision makers from fully connected properties say working with a connectivity provider has reduced both friction and manual work, compared to 49% of properties using basic connectivity. Roughly 74% of unconnected properties report doing tasks on OTAs either partially or entirely manually. Approximately 50% of fully connected properties have tasks on OTAs fully or mostly automated. Connectivity gives hotels more control with less risk 95% of fully connected properties feel confident that rate and availability changes are made across all channels within 15 minutes , compared to 90% of properties with basic connectivity, and 80% of unconnected properties. OTA issues for unconnected properties: 14% are more likely to experience overbookings caused by mismatched availability and 9% are more likely to experience reservations not being delivered or delayed in their PMS or front office system. Perceived barriers preventing hotels from adopting connectivity 32% of hotel decision makers say concern about losing control over pricing or inventory is the top reason they haven’t adopted connectivity software. 27% have plans to adopt connectivity but have not done so yet, and 25% cite limited internal IT resources or technical expertise as their main barrier to software adoption. Notably, 24% of hoteliers do not see sufficient benefit to connectivity. Expedia Group is supporting hotels on their journey to full connectivity Expedia Group is embarking on a three-phase journey to reduce friction in hotels day-to-day operations through Autonomous Distribution. Each category will unlock a different layer of support: Autonomous Onboarding will enable properties to onboard and go live in minutes. Autonomous Management will streamline day-to-day operations

SAN FRANCISCO - Duetto, a leading provider of revenue and profit software for hotels, today announced a new integration with Triptease, a data marketing platform for hotels. The new tool, Auto Date Boost, automatically adjusts paid marketing spend when occupancy forecasts change, eliminating manual coordination between revenue and marketing teams. Revenue forecasts and marketing budgets have historically been disconnected. While tools like Duetto’s Revenue & Profit Operating System can predict occupancy with precision, marketing strategy and spend often get implemented in a vacuum. The result is wasted marketing budget, last-minute discounting, and revenue left on the table. Auto Date Boost solves this problem using the Duetto Rate Engine (DRE), Duetto’s API. DRE offers comprehensive real-time insights, including total guest value, segment-specific pricing, occupancy, and more to Duetto’s customers and integration partners. Triptease's Auto Date Boost leverages occupancy forecast data directly from DRE. When occupancy falls below a hotel's customized threshold, Triptease automatically increases ad spend in a key high-intent conversion channel: Google Hotel Ads. By boosting direct visibility when bookings are needed most, hoteliers can capture every revenue opportunity and optimize the overall performance of their hotel. Revenue and marketing have rarely moved at the same speed, let alone synchronously and in real time. Auto Date Boost changes that, enabling hotels to turn commercial intelligence into direct business action. We're delighted to be partnering with Duetto on the introduction of this new integration. James Osmond, CEO of Triptease Hotels using Triptease Date Boost without automation have already seen the impact of connecting marketing activity to demand signals: +8% overall visibility on boosted dates +38% increase in top ad placements +20% uplift in direct bookings* We're excited for marketing teams to benefit from DRE's occupancy intelligence and to partner with Triptease on our first joint integration. This is a crucial step in aligning marketing and revenue teams toward the most profitable outcome, and engineering overall hotel performance through a data-driven integration. John Lingos-Webb, VP, Global Partnerships & Alliances, Duetto Auto Date Boost is available now. Triptease handles setup, monitoring, and ongoing optimization. * (Average performance for Triptease Date Boost users, Jun-Oct 2025. Results vary by hotel.)