TOP NEWS

💻 In the hospitality industry, Generative AI (GenAI) is being leveraged to drive productivity, enhance data access, improve customer interactions, and create new revenue opportunities. Deloitte’s report, "Facing travel’s future," highlights demographic shifts in travel planning, with millennials and Gen Z taking center stage, utilizing social media for trip planning and favoring shorter trips. GenAI agents may soon personalize concierge services, tailor loyalty programs in real-time, and improve post-trip feedback. Hospitality leaders are advised to focus on targeted outcomes, build a solid GenAI foundation, condition their data for accessibility, and prepare their workforce through effective training to maximize GenAI deployment benefits. Matt Usdin, the US hospitality leader at Deloitte, highlights the strategic use of GenAI as transformative for the industry.

📱 Digital connectivity, specifically in-building mobile systems with small cells, is crucial in modern hotels for both guest satisfaction and operational efficiency. Small cells enhance indoor mobile coverage and capacity, connecting to mobile network operators' networks securely. Hotels need to support all necessary mobile operators and avoid providers that amplify outdoor signals without quality control. Improved connectivity benefits hotel staff operations, enabling instant communication, task management, and real-time updates, which is also essential for emergency response and safety.

💰 In Q2 2024, service fees were included in 3.7% of restaurant transactions, a more than 100% increase from early 2022. Cafe Venetia uses service fees to maintain its European operating model. According to the Square Payroll Index, as of July 2024, average hourly earnings for restaurant workers were up 4.10%, surpassing the inflation rate of 2.98%. Boston's late-night transactions surged from 12% in Q2 2019 to 31% in 2024. Washington D.C. neighborhoods like Navy Yard and NoMa saw increased restaurant activity, while areas east of The Potomac experienced declines.

🌎 Davidson Hospitality Group now operates two interconnected resorts in Frenchman’s Reef, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands: The Westin Beach Resort & Spa and Morningstar Buoy Haus Beach, both reopening in 2023 after a major $400 million renovation. The resorts boast 486 rooms and suites, 85,000 square feet of meeting space, 10 dining venues, four pools, a Heavenly Spa, and a fitness studio. Extras include a 65' catamaran, speedboats, and a kids club, ensuring diverse experiences for guests.

🏨 Hospitality tech trends include cloud-native tools with open APIs, RMS adoption, AI language models, digital check-in/keyless entry, guest experience hubs, unified inboxes, digital internal communications, conversational commerce, AI-based translation, integrated payment processing, end-to-end reputation management, Google Analytics 4, and IoT technology. RMS data processing doubled since 2018. 34% of chains implemented digital check-in/keyless entry; another 34% plan to. Only 35% have chatbots on websites. Integrated payment solutions score 8.8/10 in importance, but only 34% have implemented them. AI enhances guest experience and operational efficiency.

🏨 On Aug 12, 2024, Medallia Market Research surveyed 2,000 travelers, discovering 53% prefer hotels over Airbnbs and Vrbo rentals (28%) for the summer season. Hotels are favored for location (50%) and cleanliness, outpacing short-term rentals at 44%. Enhancing guest experience through digital analytics and behavioral intelligence during booking and pre-stay is essential for hoteliers to maintain brand trust and loyalty. Full details at Hotel Dive.

📈 Expedia's shares rose over 8% on Friday, August 12, 2024, after surpassing quarterly profit expectations. Domestic travel in the U.S. has been challenged since early 2024, leading to Expedia cutting the FY24 booking growth forecast to 4%, from an earlier mid- to high-single-digit growth estimate. The company flagged concerns about future demand due to rising costs and inflation, aligning with competitors like Booking and Airbnb who observe consumers delaying travel and spending cautiously.

🏠 Hospitality industry adopts digital tipping as a contemporary solution, enhancing staff morale, job satisfaction, and retention. This modern approach, noted on Aug 12, 2024, is in line with consumer behavior changes, offering instant payments and inclusivity for all employees. The move signifies a broader shift towards efficiency and raises questions regarding the transition's impact.

📢 Martin Soler, co-founder of 10minutes.news and a fractional CMO, discusses challenges and trends in the hospitality industry. He highlights the difficulty of implementing hotel subscription models, citing that only 9% of guests return to the same hotel in cities like Paris over several years, and even the best hotel groups see less than 12% of guests return within 12 months. Nike's recent stock struggles are linked to a hyper-focus on direct sales and activist branding, hinting at potential implications for hotel marketing strategies. The importance of adopting hotel technology that addresses unchanging guest needs such as increased tech usage, integration, privacy, security, and faster service is also emphasized. Soler encourages the use of YouTube for hotel marketing and critiques the disconnect between hotel design and technology integration. He ends with personal observations on the positive impact of the Olympics on Parisians' happiness and city atmosphere.

💲 A new study "The Future is Now: Technological Transformation in Corporate Travel" by GBTA and Cvent highlights the corporate travel industry's adoption of technology. 88% of travel management companies, 74% of suppliers, and 59% of buyers believe their organization handles technology well; however, there's room for integrating AI and blockchain. On average, 18% of a travel program’s budget is spent on technology, with European buyers (43%) likelier than North American ones (30%) to increase tech spending. Data was collected from 388 travel professionals in North America and Europe from February 6-19, 2024. 📊