TOP NEWS

🏆 Paris hotel room rates hit an all-time high during the Summer Olympics (July 26-August 11), with the highest ADR on opening night at €876.26 and RevPAR at €765.85, a 179.3% increase. Over the next four nights, rates remained above €800, marking a 141% YOY surge in ADR and 200% in RevPAR. Occupancy in Paris grew by 24.1%, while Île-de-France peaked at 79.7% on August 3. Paralympics bookings are at 49.7% occupancy. Prior concerns of a disappointing summer due to high prices and overcrowding proved unfounded with 11.2 million visitors reported.

📱 Sonder integrates technology into every aspect of the guest experience, offering features like mobile unit access and instant replies. The company focuses on optimizing pricing, room management, and underwriting to enhance operations and increase net operating income (NOI) per square foot. By streamlining operations and reducing labor costs, Sonder provides larger spaces or better pricing to guests. Their approach demonstrates how hospitality technology can improve guest satisfaction and drive financial success.

🏃 Senior travelers today harness technology for safer, easier, and more enriching travel experiences. Virtual Reality (VR) allows pre-travel exploration of destinations; wearable tech like smartwatches monitor health on the go; voice-activated assistants act as personal travel concierges; smart luggage comes with GPS and charging ports; senior-friendly apps feature larger text and emergency services; tailored travel platforms cater to seniors' needs; cybersecurity tools like VPNs protect digital information. These tech tools are redefining travel for seniors, enabling them to explore with confidence and ease.

📢 Katharine Ames emphasizes the importance of starting hospitality with the team: value colleagues to enhance guest experience, personalize celebrations for team milestones, anticipate needs of team and their families, promote peer-to-peer hospitality, and leadership by example. Additionally, Ames discusses these points on the Hospitality Daily Podcast available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Hospitality professionals are encouraged to share their thoughts and follow Hospitality Daily for more insights.

🏠 Grand Hotel Courmayeur Mont Blanc, part of R Collection Hotels, joins Preferred Hotels & Resorts' L.V.X. Collection, increasing Preferred's global presence to over 600 properties in 80 countries. Boasting 72 rooms, two dining venues, and a 5,382 square-foot spa, this luxury hotel exemplifies the family-owned R Collection Hotels' portfolio of 10 Italian hotels. Rockbridge acquires Hyatt House Chicago West Loop/Fulton Market, a 200-room hotel featuring a rooftop activity center and built in 2019. Extended Stay America launches Premier Suites in Portland, Oregon, offering 146 rooms and aiming to expand beyond its 700 U.S. properties. Hotel Ivy, Minneapolis, embarks on a multi-million-dollar renovation, with phase one complete and phase two expected by early fall.

🏨 Atlas Hotels innovates across its 58 UK properties, post-COVID, by enhancing F&B experiences—refreshing bars, updating beer suppliers, and standardizing drinks menus to meet premiumization trends. Product Operations Manager Craig Couper highlights the significance of cloud-based tech for real-time performance monitoring and managing tailored promotions, ensuring consistency and control through training and seamless integration of new properties.

🏨 Hospitality businesses set short- and long-term goals focusing on key metrics such as Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), occupancy, and average daily rate (ADR). Utilizing property management system (PMS) reports, hoteliers analyze historical data and booking behaviors to fine-tune distribution and pricing strategies. Regular tracking of occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR, while comparing with market performance, aids in adjusting rates. Implementing a revenue management system (RMS) automates tracking and updating pricing, suitable for properties of all sizes. Reviews and value-for-money scores on OTA sites also influence pricing decisions. Pricing strategies should be reevaluated 3-4 times a month or more, depending on property size and market competition.