Category: Recent News

Upselling has long been a powerful tool for driving incremental revenue in hospitality. But beyond boosting the bottom line, it plays a crucial role in enhancing the guest experience. After all, if a guest chooses to purchase an upgrade or add-on, it’s because it fulfills a need or elevates their stay.

Professionals in the business travel industry look forward to an engaged and productive year, according to the first Business Travel Outlook Poll of 2025, released today by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). While shifting economic conditions, geopolitical concerns and technology-driven changes continue to be areas of uncertainty, the poll results show an overall positive industry trajectory with almost half (48%) of travel buyers expecting their companies to take more business trips in 2025, and nearly 20% more (57%) anticipating increased travel spending this year.

Aethos, Europe’s fastest-growing lifestyle hotel brand has acquired Yayem, an experiential members’ club and travel app for modern-day explorers. Members will have unparalleled access to design-led member spaces at Aethos destinations, a vibrant global community, and bespoke retreats around the world — all powered by one Aethos mobile app. This strategic move aims to enhance the member experience through Yayem’s cutting-edge technical platform and Aethos’ network of hotels, clubs, and experiences.

Brand marketing in hotels is a slippery concept. Performance marketing? That’s clear—Google Ads, metasearch campaigns, retargeting, cost-per-click strategies. It’s a numbers game, a direct response approach where you invest a dollar and expect ten back. But brand marketing? That’s a whole different beast.

Meliá Hotels International, Spain’s leading hospitality group, reinforced its commitment to quality tourism at FITUR 2025, an International Trade Tourism Fair in Madrid, with a strategic expansion and repositioning plan that focuses on its premium and luxury segments. With EBITDA projected to surpass €525M in 2024, the company continues to consolidate its leadership and anticipates a pivotal year for tourism in 2025.

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), a global leader in hospitality, continues expansion of its midscale conversion brand, Garner hotels, across Southern Europe, with the rebranding of a Pacini Group property to Garner Hotel Rome Aurelia. This transformation underscores IHG’s commitment to strengthening its midscale portfolio in Italy, with a conversion brand that offers a flexible and purposefully different guest experience while leveraging the established presence of Pacini Group in the market. Garner Hotel Rome Aurelia will join a robust and growing global pipeline of more than 88* Garner properties.

The Travel Technology Association (Travel Tech), a non-profit dedicated to promoting and protecting the travel technology industry, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative emphasizing the impacts of Global Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) on travel technology companies and the travel industry at large.

ITB Berlin is setting the pace shortly before the trade show begins: with 95 per cent of the display area already booked, a record number of international exhibitors from 165 countries as well as strong growth in key travel segments, the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show reflects the upturn in the travel industry. Demand is particularly high in the cruise sector, as well as Southern Europe, Asia and Africa. The travel technology sector is also booming, and now occupying a larger area in Hall 4.1. Regular exhibitors including Trenitalia, Panama and Hamburg, as well as new participants such as Djibouti and Visa, are giving the show an extra boost. Albania, this year’s host country, will host a spectacle for “all the senses” in Halls 3.1 and 4.1. Taking as its slogan ’The Power of Transition Lives Here’, the ITB Berlin Convention focuses on the major challenges and opportunities in global tourism. In addition to a wide variety of exhibitors, participants can also look forward to numerous…

HSMAI Europe is doubling down on its commitment to nurturing future hospitality leaders with the appointment of Yana Kyrylyuk as Young Talent Programme Manager. A natural fit for the role, Yana transitions from Chair of the HSMAI Europe Student Council to steer projects that guide students and young professionals towards thriving careers in the industry.

Our views around the world reflect early optimism for 2025, with the anticipation of stronger transaction activity and modestly improving hotel metrics in most regions.