Our Selection: The most important news in hospitality

The hotel industry’s distribution war has an overlooked third party: the owner. New questions about AI, loyalty and customer acquisition could make that imbalance even more consequential.

🏨 Wayne West III, president of Newport Hospitality Group, recently attended one of three IHG Owners Association regional Summits, where owners discussed industry challenges and property value. An annual dinner at Gibsons reunited association leaders. About a decade ago, the association adopted professional management while retaining volunteer-owner guidance. Looking toward 2027, West urges owners to join brand discussions as technology, operating costs and changing expectations pressure profitability. Newport is based in Williamsburg, Virginia.

🏨 Pertlink and Hospitality Net will release Terence Ronson’s free, 30-page *Tokenomics in Hospitality* playbook on 5 November, helping hotels track AI costs and plan 2027 budgets. On 18 October, Pertlink tested an AI agent booking one-night stays across the world’s 10 largest hotel groups’ websites. The independent, vendor-neutral guide includes role-specific playbooks, a formula card and a budget checklist. Founded in Hong Kong in 2000, Pertlink advises hospitality businesses across Asia-Pacific.

🌿; ETC, GDS-Movement and NECSTouR updated their guide to Europe’s anti-greenwashing rules for tourism destinations, businesses and event organisers. EU Directive 2024/825, in force since 27 September 2026, requires clear, evidence-backed environmental claims across marketing, visuals and labels. The guide adds eight CREDIBLE principles alongside six practical steps. Poland will apply its legislation from 27 September 2027; implementation status remains unconfirmed in five countries. Independent verification and credible sustainability labels are key priorities.

MIAMI BEACH, FL – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) today announced the recipients of its 2026 General Managers of the Year Awards during The Hospitality Show in Miami Beach, Florida. The awards recognize general managers (GMs) who go above and beyond to deliver exceptional guest service, support their teams, and strengthen their communities. Across the more than 64,000 hotels in the United States, general managers play a vital role in each property’s success. Many rise through the ranks from entry-level positions, demonstrating how the hospitality industry nurtures talent, rewards dedication, and develops frontline team members into leaders. This year’s winners…

Emanuel Arancibia explains how hotels can manage PMS migration execution, from mapping and testing to hotel ownership, vendor coordination and data processing.

🧳 Deloitte’s 2025 Holiday Travel Survey found 24% of respondents planned to use generative AI for travel planning, up from 16% in 2024 and 8% in 2023. Google began testing AI itineraries for opted-in U.S. users in March 2024. East Carolina University’s Jun Kwon urges hospitality businesses to maintain accurate hours, addresses and listings. Research reported visibility gains up to 40% in benchmark tests, but no technique guarantees AI recommendations or bookings.

✈ GBTA and Cvent surveyed 270 travel managers across North America and Europe from September 22–October 1, 2026. Findings show 62% consider their programs understaffed, rising to 68% among those spending at least $30 million annually. Teams average 4.9 full-time employees, with a median of three. Meanwhile, 39% report closer travel-meetings integration, and 82% see benefits from greater collaboration. Travel teams lead AI transformation in 28% of programs; 27% have no one driving it.

🏨 Mews’ Richard Valtr told Josiah in October 2026 that hotel technology should connect personal AI agents with hotel systems, freeing staff to focus on guests. Using illustrative nightly rates of €120, €250 and €650, he argued for data-driven pricing across the entire 72-hour guest journey. His “thinking hotel” concept continuously updates its knowledge from guest interactions, while two-way APIs connect reservations, revenue, distribution and finance. AI, he stressed, is software—not a coworker.

🏨 Jason Floyd argues hospitality trade shows should prioritize relationships over booths as AI reshapes buying. Gartner’s March 2026 survey found 67% of B2B buyers prefer rep-free purchasing; 45% recently used AI. Still, HITEC 2026 in San Antonio attracted 6,100-plus attendees and 400-plus exhibitors. Gainsight’s five-year customer-event analysis linked attendance with 13-percentage-point higher logo retention and 41-point higher net retention—correlation, not proof of causation.

Bookings for the Gulf’s peak quarter are on hold until after the U.S. vote. With airlines still staying away, some operators don’t expect a real recovery until late 2027.

A lack of transparent pricing is the single biggest frustration B2B software buyers report, according to G2’s own research. Hotel channel managers are a textbook case that include room count changes the number, channel count changes the number, PMS integration changes the number, and almost nobody publishes a figure that survives contact with a real […] The post Hotel Channel Manager Pricing for 2026 appeared first on RateGain.

AI agents are here. Travel isn't ready. Decisions made today will determine who controls the booking, the customer relationship, and the economics of travel commerce.

Great hostel marketing doesn’t blend in. It amplifies the difference — turning community and experience into your biggest advantage. The post 8 ways hostel marketing should differ from hotel marketing appeared first on Cloudbeds.

CEO Dom Dragisich can claim a win in budget hotels, with Choice recently outperforming the industry average. But upscale brands grew at a much lower pace than the industry averages.

AGR repeated 100 hotel questions across 4 AI engines five weeks later. Compare persistent hotel visibility, changing lineups and same-day variation.

Marriott said that its talks with hotel owners who want a bigger cut of the pie have been "constructive." It's easier for everyone to stay polite about the fee math when profit growth has revived significantly.

Marriott has reported a 6.5% global RevPAR growth in Q3 2026 and raised its full-year outlook to 4.5% to 5%.

York Lu (Dida, RollingGo) on B2A – selling hotels to personal AI agents via one API: 100,000 directly contracted hotels, net rates for machines, and why the battle for the booking is being fought in the APIs.

Here is how Grok Bot helps you run, automate and optimize your hospitality (or any other) business across departments. It is really easy (not a sales …

The Wyndham HotelREZ partnership adds more than 40 Elegant hotels to Registry Collection Hotels by early next year.

🏨 Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Florida, generated over 350 digital food-and-beverage orders monthly within its first 3 months using IRIS. The 400-room resort replaced an unreliable platform with mobile ordering integrated into Oracle MICROS POS for room and poolside service. Staff handled up to 50 in-room dining orders in one evening. QR codes support ordering across approximately 200 pool loungers, with potential to reach 1,200 neighbouring timeshare units.

🏨 DJ Vallauri, founder and CEO of Lodging Interactive, urges hotels to address guest concerns during stays rather than after public reviews. Its CruVu platform collects private feedback and sends low-rating alerts, while positive comments support employee recognition. Hotel teams remain responsible for assigning tasks, coordinating departments and checking whether solutions helped guests. Lodging Interactive says it has served hotels since 2001, combining 25 years of experience with AI-powered marketing.

🏨 Women hold most front-line hospitality roles, yet unclear advancement paths, rigid schedules and limited sponsorship hinder progression. Studies over the past decade link gender-diverse leadership to stronger profitability and innovation. Workforce consultant Priya Jariwala recommends 4 actions this quarter: review leadership pipelines, ask women about career goals, audit pay equity and recognize untitled leaders. Flexible scheduling, specific feedback, active sponsorship and networks such as AAHOA can support retention and leadership development.

🏨 Terence Ronson cites Mews data: kiosk check-ins account for 30% of reservations at equipped US hotels versus 20% globally; 66% of surveyed guests prefer a human welcome. Adam and Larry Mogelonsky place boutique hospitality’s sweet spot at 50–65 rooms, with service weakening above roughly 80. Since September 28, Booking.com has stopped sharing phone numbers, complicating repeat-guest identification. Greek resorts’ third-quarter RevPAR rose 10.5%; Athens room rates increased 7.5%, while Greece’s internationally branded hotels grew 14.2% to 402.

🏨 Independent hotels are the focus of Connor Frothingham’s RevOptimum article, “5 Practical Ways Independent Hotels Can Lower OTA Commissions This Month,” published November 2, 2026, at 10:03 a.m. EST. The supplied text includes no practical recommendations, commission rates, savings figures, hotel locations, or supporting statistics.

🏨 Terence Ronson urges hotels to redesign front-desk staffing around human service, not check-in volumes. Mews’s 2026 survey of 500-plus properties found 98% had used AI within six months. Its US kiosk-equipped hotels processed 30% of reservations through kiosks—not an industry average. Separately, 66% of surveyed travellers preferred a human welcome. AHLA’s February 2026 survey found over half of 246 hoteliers understaffed. Ronson recommends reinvesting automation-freed hours in guest service and testing results for 90 days.

As Nine Inch Nails sang in 2019; “You and me, we’re in this together now” and this has become the chorus at Marriott International, where analysts on this season’s earnings call were curious as to whether the group was chums with its owners again. Regular followers of grumpy-letter-writing-driven spats will recall that Marriott was having […] The post One of these things is not like the other  appeared first on NewDog PR.

🏨 Revinate CMO Karen Stephens revisits more than 201 Hotel Moment podcast episodes, which have reached over 1 million people. Broadcasting from San Francisco, with co-host Dylan Cole in Amsterdam, she highlights hospitality leaders’ insights on guest loyalty: service involves every employee, human connection distinguishes hotels from rentals, and cutting amenities can undermine long-term value. Personalized experiences, responsible guest-data use and integrated technology help teams recognize returning guests and build lasting relationships.

🧬 Luxury hotels are expanding into clinical longevity as the global wellness economy grows from $6.8 trillion in 2024 toward a projected $9.8 trillion by 2029. Six Senses Ibiza’s RoseBar, opened in mid-2023, offers six-day programs starting at $5,600. Dubai’s One&Only longevity hub spans 3,800 square meters with 29 treatment rooms. Credible offerings require medical governance, evidence-based claims and ongoing follow-ups; longevity services’ standalone market value remains unquantified.

🌍 GBTA Foundation’s 2026 benchmark, unveiled in Vienna during the November 2–4 conference, assessed 204 companies across 28 countries. Average sustainable business travel maturity rose to 1.5/5, from 1.4 in 2025. Asia Pacific improved from 1.3 to 2.1, Europe reached 1.7, and the Americas fell to 0.7. Sustainable aviation fuel investment increased from 20% to 22%, while emissions tracking remained at 71%. PwC India won Global Sustainability Leader.

🏨 Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano recently said AI poses greater risks to online travel agencies than hotel brands because Marriott controls the stay. Marriott has worked with Google’s AI Mode, tested OpenAI advertising and introduced Bonvoy conversational search. Bonvoy connects Marriott directly with hundreds of millions of travellers. AI could become a new booking intermediary, potentially raising distribution costs and affecting hotel owners’ profitability—making control of discovery, bookings and customer relationships increasingly important.

🏨 Booking.com’s top two Genius tiers represent just over 30% of active customers but nearly 60% of room nights, according to 2026 earnings calls. Over 850,000 properties participated by September 2025, funding discounts of 10–20%. Bookboost’s study of 2.2 million European hotel guests in 2024–2026 found repeat rates of 5.1% for direct bookings versus 1.3% for OTA bookings, though email aliases may undercount OTA returns. Independents are urged to identify returning guests and encourage direct rebooking.

🏨 EHL’s Paulina Schmidt explains how hotels segment guests using 4 factors: geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral. The article outlines 5 benefits: targeted marketing, higher revenue potential, improved guest satisfaction, new market discovery and better resource allocation. Hotels can assess profitability through average daily rate, revenue per available room, acquisition costs and profit per guest. Regular data analysis helps refine segments as booking patterns and market conditions change.

✈ Booking, Airbnb and Expedia’s monthly app user growth has slowed from up to 30% annually two years ago to 0–10% this quarter. The post attributes the slowdown partly to the fading post-COVID boom and market maturity, while suggesting AI assistants could reduce demand for travel apps by finding and booking trips. It argues app growth will feel this shift before bookings, creating opportunities for hotels discoverable by AI assistants.

🏨 Hotels and aviation represented 37 of 59 capital moves Skift tracked in October. Pandox sold seven Nordic hotels to reduce debt, while Sunday PropTech struck a deal for Fletcher’s roughly 170 hotels. Aviation investment focused on future capacity: Avolon ordered 250 aircraft and Aviation Capital Group ordered 75. Startup funding remained modest, with 10 of 17 venture financings at $5 million or less; AI investment largely targeted travel infrastructure and hotel automation.

🏨 Pertlink’s Terence Ronson urges hotels to test staff redeployment for 90 days before cutting front-desk jobs. Citing 2026 sources, 72% of Japanese lodging facilities and over half of surveyed US hotels face staffing shortages, despite 70% of US respondents raising wages. Vendor data suggests kiosks handle around 30% of reservations’ check-ins at equipped US hotels. Two-thirds of surveyed travellers still want a human welcome. Ronson recommends shifting freed hours toward guest support, not automatically reducing headcount.

🏨 Hotel Financial Coach David Lund outlines a 3-step financial plan: department managers master P&L details, build annual budgets and monthly forecasts, and own monthly results. His repeatable system requires no additional software. Managers track room occupancy and dining covers daily, adjust staffing and purchases to projected business volumes, verify accounts before month-end close, and write commentary on results and lessons learned. The goal: stronger financial accountability and fewer repeated mistakes.

🌿 Dubai-based Egyptian designer Aya Moug will exhibit her papyrus-based Ankh furniture at Design Doha from 5 November 2026 to 31 January 2027. After two years of research, she developed Byblos, a durable biomaterial made from papyrus fibres, launching her first collection in Dubai in 2023. Used in Egypt since 2,900 BC, papyrus filters water pollutants and supports multiple annual harvests. Her company, Papyri, is exploring architectural applications to revive this renewable material.

✈ 10 Minutes for Hotels mapped 40 AI travel companies across 4 groups. Its 24 standalone planners disclosed approximately $80 million in funding; excluding Steller leaves $40 million across 23 firms. Mindtrip raised $22.5 million. Advisor network Flora raised $60 million in July at a $1 billion valuation, reaching $138.5 million total funding. The article argues investment favors established booking platforms and human advisors, while generic trip planning becomes a free AI feature.

🏨 Hotel groups want AI-driven direct bookings to avoid 15–25% commissions, but their security systems block agents at checkout, pushing transactions to Booking.com and Expedia. These online travel agencies support automated buyers through commercial APIs and agent partnerships. A blocked direct booking can become a $30 commission on a $150 room, while hotels surrender guest relationships and post-stay data. Cybersecurity settings are effectively shaping hotel distribution strategy.

🏨 Hotels, resorts, restaurants, casinos, and event venues can use increased holiday traffic to build guest loyalty. Secure, connected, AI-enhanced technology systems can help hospitality businesses turn seasonal visits into long-term relationships and encourage guests from near and far to return for special celebrations. The article provides no specific dates, locations, or statistics.

🏨 Tom Deighton and Zach Demuth’s TBD targets $15–35 million full-service hotels in supply-constrained secondary cities. Their two-person team uses AI to screen deals and support underwriting—not make investment decisions. The strategy includes converting independent hotels to Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt soft brands where financially justified. Demuth estimates 80% of U.S. hotels are branded, with 90% of those franchised. Upcoming debt maturities over 12–18 months could create buying opportunities.

🏨 Simone Puorto joins Infor’s Alan Young and hotel technology strategist David Poprawka in the 38-minute, 28-second debut of Hospitality Net’s *Alien Explainers* podcast. A fictional alien delegation in low Earth orbit questions hospitality, €50 versus €5,000 room rates, two-minute check-in targets, and whether automated hotels still offer genuine hospitality. Puorto brings over 25 years of international experience. Hospitality Net was founded in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 1995.

🏨 Greece’s international arrivals rose 10% through August 2026, while travel receipts excluding cruises increased 9.7%, according to the Bank of Greece. Road arrivals surged 22.6%, but hotel overnight stays grew just 1.2%. Through September, Athens hotels’ average daily rate reached €195, up 7.5%. Internationally branded hotels increased 14.2% to 402 by October. New accommodation and food-service lending reached €748 million in January–August, up 18%, driven by large businesses.

🏙 Matteo Thun & Partners has designed 72 luxury residences across the top eight floors of Milan’s Torre Velasca, with the first phase launched this autumn. Originally designed by BBPR in 1958, the tower’s residences draw on Milanese interiors from the 1950s–1980s while preserving its architectural identity. Sunset Hospitality will operate the homes and provide resident services; the rest of the building houses a hotel operated by METT Hotels & Resorts.

🏨 Adam and Larry Mogelonsky argue in 2026 that authentic boutique hotels thrive on personalized service, ideally with 50–65 rooms. Above roughly 80 rooms, repeated staff–guest encounters become less likely during 2–4-night stays. Drawing on worldwide travel and asset management experience, they recommend lean teams, above-market wages, flexible shifts and professional development to reduce turnover. Familiar staff can anticipate guests’ needs, encouraging repeat visits, word-of-mouth recommendations and profitability.

🌿; Luxury Frontiers, founded in 2011, uses regenerative hospitality design to support ecosystems and local communities. At Kenya’s Kitirua Plains Lodge near Amboseli National Park, solar panels supply energy, greywater irrigates grounds and local artisans furnish interiors. In South Africa’s Babanango Game Reserve, invasive black wattle becomes woven lodge walls, creating recurring artisan work. Costa Rica’s Nekajui uses tents prefabricated in South Africa to reduce on-site waste and forest-floor disturbance.

🏨 TrustYou co-founder and CEO Benjamin Jost argues conversational AI could help hotel groups move from 12 annual guest-experience reports to thousands of questions, with managers exploring 3–4 follow-ups in 10 minutes. After 30 years of siloed analytics, he says value depends on connecting systems, aligning data definitions and extending access beyond head office. Hotels should track distinct questions, cross-system queries and participation outside headquarters—not just response speed.

🏨 French hotel and restaurant operators seeking commercial-lease status can gain nine-year stability, renewal rights and potential eviction compensation. Christopher Boinet and Anne Epinat warn that claims generally face a two-year deadline from the contract’s effective date under Article L. 145-60. Courts rarely approve reclassification: operators must prove the agreement covered premises, not an existing business. Stronger legal protection can improve financing access, but tax advantages are not guaranteed.