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🏨 A luxury hotel stay is enhanced by seamless technology integration, where settings like lighting, temperature, and entertainment are automatically adjusted upon arrival and throughout the stay. Advanced smart home systems trigger a "grand welcome" scene, with motorized shades, ambient lighting, and preferred music or sounds activating when a guest enters their room. Customizable control options and personalized settings tied to a loyalty program remember guest preferences, ensuring a tailored experience across the hotel's portfolio, creating a sense of true hospitality.

📦 Hoteliers should spend 80% of their time on revenue-generating activities and 20% on converting revenue to profit. Key strategies include understanding guest motivations, providing unique guest experiences, expanding revenue streams through offerings like coworking spaces and personalized recommendations, and maximizing revenue per guest with AI personalization. Digital presence optimization and using revenue management systems are vital. Profitability is enhanced by streamlining operations, fostering innovation, cross-functional teams, employee training, automating routine processes, and energy efficiency measures.

📌 Global business travel spending projected to reach $1.48 trillion by end of 2023, up from 2019's $1.43 trillion. By 2028, spending expected to surpass $2 trillion. The industry likely to see 11.1% growth in 2023, with a compound growth rate of 6.95% from 2025 to 2028. In 2023, spending hit $1.34 trillion: $501 billion on lodging, $282 billion on air travel, $245 billion on food and beverage, $165 billion on ground transportation, and $142 billion on other expenses. Despite recovery, adjusted for inflation, spending remains behind pre-pandemic highs. Business travel recovery varied by region: Asia Pacific grew by 36% in 2023, Eastern Europe 33%, and North America 25%. Financial and insurance sectors may see the largest growth (72%) by 2028, while retail trade (41%) and agriculture (32%) the least. Business travelers' average spend per trip is $834. 81% of travelers found business trips significant for their objectives, with seminars and training being the most common purpose. 76% traveled the same or more compared to 2019, with 58% extending trips for leisure.

💾 Stayntouch, a hotel technology provider, released UpsellPRO for Attribute-Based Selling (ABS) to help hotels market room features separately during booking. A partnership report with NYU's Tisch Center showed half of respondents with over a month booking window would pay more for ABS. Experts highlighted the benefits of ABS for hoteliers, including better booking control, increased upselling, and dynamic pricing. Insights suggest ABS enhances guest preference insights, satisfaction, revenue, and engagement with hotel services. Leaders in hotel tech and consulting shared their thoughts, emphasizing the importance of industry consensus and the potential of ABS to revolutionize hotel profitability.

📊 The RTN community, formed five years ago, aimed to simplify integration in the restaurant industry. It has since established three main data standards: RTN Menu Synchronization, RTN Transactional Data, and RTN Customer Record Data Standards. The standards are designed to allow systems to consistently access and exchange data. RTN's Object Model Repository now makes these standards more accessible by providing visual attributes and enabling JSON or XML message generation. Industry leaders like Jim Clagett from Jack in the Box, Russel Cotter from Chipotle, and Shelly Rupel from Devour acknowledge the positive impact of these standards. These efforts are likened to the "Rosetta Stone for Business and IT" and the "DNA for application integration." Sandy Angel of AHLA relates over 20 years of similar work in the hotel industry. Christopher Sebes and Robert Peterson, both RTN Industry Champions, emphasize the ease of building integrations with these standards. A case study with Cacy Bedoka-Merrifield from Jack in the Box and Del Taco demonstrates the practical benefits of the Object Model Repository for standardizing menu data.

🏀 Sports tourism is a rising trend, prompting tour and activity companies to adapt with new strategies. To leverage this, companies are advised to diversify activities, comply with local regulations, ensure operational flexibility, and utilize technology for enhanced experiences. By doing so, providers can improve satisfaction and inclusivity for sports tourists, potentially leading to increased success.