Category: Recent News

Hospitality Net and Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) are collaborating on a brand-new survey which aims to gather and analyze data on current investment trends, funding needs, future investment priorities, technology adoption rates, and the overall market dynamics within the hotel technology ecosystem. The objective is to identify areas of growth, potential investment opportunities, challenges facing the sector, and how technological innovations are shaping the future of the hotel industry.

An effective partnership between the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is crucial, as research shows that finance and marketing are intrinsically linked. Therefore, aligning marketing initiatives with the broader financial strategy leads to better performance. CMOs are tasked with deploying budgets in ways that they believe will maximize business growth through strategic marketing efforts. Simultaneously, CFOs are responsible for overseeing the company’s financial health, ensuring budgets are allocated wisely and costs are controlled to safeguard and enhance the organization’s financial standing.

Hilton has announced the launch of its fourth-annual Travel Advisor Appreciation Sweepstakes for National Travel Advisor Appreciation Month, celebrated each May to highlight the contributions of advisors to the overall travel industry. To participate, travel advisors are encouraged to review an overview of Hilton brands and offerings and complete a short quiz. Travel advisors who enter the sweepstakes in May will have an opportunity to be among 10 winners selected to win 100,000 Hilton Honors Points, which can be used at any of Hilton’s more than 7,600 properties worldwide.

Plugging the huge shortage of staff in the hospitality sector is a narrative we’ve been grappling with for years now. People are no longer surprised to hear that there are more than 100,000 vacancies in hospitality at any one time, nor that the proportion of vacancies has increased by 48% since the Covid-19 pandemic (UK Hospitality).

World of Hyatt, Hyatt’s award-winning loyalty program, is teaming up with Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) to become the first global hospitality loyalty program with plans to reward its loyalty members for doing more of what they love – earning World of Hyatt points when they use Peloton equipment at Hyatt properties in countries where Peloton currently operates. In the future, that will mean more opportunities to earn World of Hyatt points to apply towards future bookings, upgrades and experiences just by investing in their own wellbeing when they travel. The collaboration is set to outfit 800+ Hyatt properties with Peloton equipment and provide access to Peloton classes on guestroom TVs at nearly 400 properties for guest and member enjoyment this year. World of Hyatt will provide more information to members on how they can earn under this collaboration.

In response to the post-pandemic demand surge and faced with constricted inventory due to labor shortages, rising supply costs, and other challenges, hoteliers pushed their prices back to pre-pandemic levels in record time. It was understandable that hoteliers would push rate – a hotel’s goal is to maximize revenue and profit, and they had a lot of missed opportunity to make up for. People were so happy to be traveling again that they paid.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard artificial intelligence or “AI” mentioned over the last year, well, you know the rest of that saying. And much like when you repeat a word so many times, it starts to lose its meaning – the discussions surrounding the blistering proliferation of artificial intelligence technology have begun to lose some of their impact. Working within the realm of hospitality technology, I understand – rather intimately – the transformative effect of digital tools that leverage the power of AI and machine learning (ML).

Marriott International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAR) today reported first quarter 2024 results.

The research, based on a survey of 19,000 consumers across 12 countries highlights the issue of ‘information overload’, with 73% of consumers feeling inundated by too much choice and 75% saying they are bombarded by advertising, resulting in 74% abandoning purchases in the last three months of 2023.

Here’s the scenario: Imagine you run a lodging business and the news just dropped. Taylor Swift is coming to town! A surge of Swifties are impending. Your competitors are already upping their nightly rates. You’ve got roughly half an hour to decide what average daily rate ought to be for your soon-to-be-sold-out room inventory. Your average revenue management platform can make an algorithmic guess on what you ought to charge, based upon historical data plus whatever information other users on the platform chose to disclose. Is it a crime to click that tab?