Category: Recent News

Having worked in the hotel business for over four decades, I know most people think the numbers are the “hard” part of hospitality. There’s a common belief that the financials are best left to professionals who can sort out the complex interplay between the different departments of a hotel. It’s just too challenging and complicated for anyone who didn’t go to accounting school.

Booking.com began experimenting with conversational recommendations and tool driven automation before most enterprises had a name for agentic systems, and that early start is now shaping a more measured strategy. In a VentureBeat podcast, AI product development lead Pranav Pathak described a layered, modular stack that pairs small travel specific models for fast, low cost inference with larger LLMs for reasoning, plus in house evaluations when precision matters.

Premier Inn has celebrated its latest hotel opening on the south coast of England in Hastings Town Centre.

A well-deserved honor. Visit Tri-Cities has recognized AAHOA Lifetime Member Vijay Patel, President of A-1 Hospitality Group, with the Kris Watkins Tourism Champion Award—celebrating leaders who elevate the visitor experience and strengthen the region’s tourism economy.

First impressions matter, especially in hospitality. Long before a guest explores a city’s streets, tastes its food, or meets its people, their experience begins at check-in. That moment presents a unique opportunity: not just to welcome, but to introduce the character, language, and identity of the destination itself.

What does it take for a family to afford a week away? Today, Eurostat estimates that for more than one in four Europeans the answer is that they can’t. Rising prices and tighter household budgets mean that millions are being priced out of the chance to travel — even though travel has never mattered more for connection, culture, and moments of rest and renewal.

Holiday shoppers are preparing to spend more this season, but there’s a catch. Accenture’s 19th Annual Holiday Shopping Survey reveals that much of this increased spending reflects higher prices, not higher confidence. The result is a stressed-out shopper base struggling to make every penny count while drowning in a sea of confusing offers and promotions. These consumer behaviors and the rise of AI-driven solutions offer important insights not just for retailers, but for travel and tourism professionals navigating similar challenges in their own industry.

After a full renovation, Tivoli Coimbra will reopen in April 2026 with a five-star rating, offering a sophisticated atmosphere, personalized services, and a renewed Tivoli experience in a prime central city location.

Lighthouse, the leading AI pricing, distribution and operations platform, and HotelSpeaker, the humanized AI service for guest communication and review management, are joining forces to offer a complete A-to-Z solution for independent hoteliers.

Travel and hospitality businesses must now win over a more discerning, AI-armed traveler, while contending with an unstable global economy