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📊 Influence Society will host a SOCIETIES event on September 28, 2026, at Château de Bonmont in the Geneva region. The event, in collaboration with Estelle Bernière, will focus on AI's impact on Swiss hospitality, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with lunch included. Registration is free but required by September 24, 2026. Attendees will explore AI-driven marketing, data utilization, and digital experiences, enhancing hotel visibility and customer relations.

🏨 July 2026, U.S. hotel performance peaked due to the FIFA World Cup's conclusion, impacting cities like Kansas City and New York City. Unexpectedly, non-host cities thrived: Chicago's RevPAR rose 16%, Detroit's 17%, and San Diego's 11%. This shift occurred as events moved from Boston and Philadelphia to avoid World Cup traffic. July marked the second consecutive month of U.S. hotel ADR growth above inflation at 8.2% over July 2025, although growth slowed in August.

📰 Andrea D'Amico and Lou Zameryka, former Booking.com executives, now lead Airbnb's hotel initiative from San Francisco and New York. Airbnb boasts 650 million user accounts, with 90% of demand direct. This is compared to Marriott Bonvoy's 300 million members. Airbnb’s Q2 revenue rose 17%, with hotel nights growing 3x faster than homes. In New York, Airbnb hotel supply exceeds most locations. No master service agreements with major brands yet, but discussions are hinted.

📅 More than half of US travel advisors now directly bill travelers. Fora charges $299 annually, with 97% of its advisors new to the field. Service fees range from $50 to over $2,000. Travel Weekly's 2024 survey showed 44% of agencies charging fees, with 55% of US advisors doing so by July last year. In October-November, a survey indicated 56% of advisors charged fees. A Canadian travel fixer charges $100,000 annually, with clients spending over $1 million yearly.

🏨 Fair Market Share (FMS) in hotel performance reveals if a property is winning against competitors, calculated by dividing your hotel’s room count by the total rooms in your competitive set. For example, a 150-room hotel in San Diego should compare against similar hotels nearby, not the entire city. The RevPAR index, calculated as (Your RevPAR ÷ Comp Set Average RevPAR × 100), shows relative market performance: above 100 indicates outperforming, below means underperforming, regardless of absolute RevPAR changes.

🎧 Melissa Auf der Maur performed with the Smashing Pumpkins at Lollapalooza in Chicago, playing "The Everlasting Gaze" from the 2000 album *Machina/The Machines of God*. Her photography exhibit, "My ’90s Rock Photographs," will open at the Art Gallery of Ontario this autumn, featuring over 200 photos. Her memoir, *Even the Good Girls Will Cry: A ’90s Rock Memoir*, covers her time in Hole and Smashing Pumpkins. A new album, *Bass Womb Room*, is also in the works.

🛫 Aug 31, 2026: Over 55% of US travel advisors now charge clients directly, with service fees averaging $350 for a week of planning. Fora's fees range from $50 to over $2,000, and advisors often earn more from commission. In 2024, Travel Weekly's survey showed 44% of agencies charged fees, growing to 55% by July. The industry's shift is due to insufficient supplier commissions. Travelers pay for unique benefits, and the hotel front desk plays a key role in delivering these promised amenities.

📈 Booking Holdings surpassed Expedia Group by booking 196 million B2B room nights in the 12 months ending June 30, compared to Expedia's 170 million. This challenges the industry belief of Expedia's dominance. Booking is consolidating Agoda, Booking, and Priceline under a new platform. Expedia, meanwhile, is enhancing its B2B offerings by acquiring Tiqets and CarTrawler. Skift Research's Seth Borko supports the plausibility of these findings but notes various factors at play.