5 September 2025 - 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers

5 min

AI has pervaded all angles of life. Here are five companies employing it to enrich the travel and hospitality space.

🤖 In 2023, AI reshapes the travel and hospitality sectors. Amadeus uses AI to optimize hotel pricing with its Demand360 tool. Mobi, founded at MIT, enhances travel planning through AI interfaces. Agentic Hospitality connects hotel systems to increase revenue. Reeco reduces procurement times by 60% with AI in P2P processes. Tailos' AI-powered robot vacuum, Rosie, aids hotels in labor efficiency, cutting overtime costs. AI's rapid evolution continues to transform the industry.

42: What Happened in Tech This Week (plus some hints about Life, the Universe, and Everything), curated by Simone Puorto

📰 TikTok and Booking.com enable 10% of U.S. users to book hotels directly from videos. JTB acquires Northstar Travel Group, adding 14 brands and over 100 global events. xAI sues a former engineer for allegedly stealing trade secrets before joining OpenAI. OpenAI launches gpt-realtime API with 82.8% audio reasoning accuracy. Stanford reports a 16% job drop for AI-exposed roles among 22–25-year-olds since late 2022. Italy's CERT confirms a hack, selling 100,000 guest IDs on the dark web.

2 min

New on the Menu: Ceviche with sake lees and a Thai chicken sandwich

🍴 Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor since 1999 at Nation's Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, also wrote for the New York Sun (2005–2008). His expertise includes food trends, French and Asian cuisines. Thorn's column won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal Award. Educated at Tufts University and Le Cordon Bleu, he worked for ABC News during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, and was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

1 min

PM Hotel Group appoints senior VP of development

📈 Washington-based PM Hotel Group has appointed Evan Morick as Senior Vice President of Development. Morick, with over 20 years of experience in hospitality, will drive growth via third-party management contracts. Previously, he advised Douglas Development Corporation and spent over a decade at Procaccianti Companies. PM Hotel Group currently operates approximately 92 hotels and resorts across the U.S. Paul Sacco, Chief Growth Officer, praised Morick's expertise and industry network.

1 min

Hilton Garden Inn Arlington Shirlington Completes Renovation

🏨 Arlington, Virginia—Huntington Hotel Group completed a major renovation of Hilton Garden Inn Arlington Shirlington, enhancing guest experiences, amenities, and meeting facilities. Located near Shirlington's shops and entertainment, the renovation includes updated guestrooms with modern furnishings and technology. General Manager Chris Ng highlights the commitment to high hospitality standards. The hotel, near Washington, D.C. and Reagan National Airport, now offers improved public areas and on-site dining with breakfast and dinner options.

2 min

The Signature Suites at The Trail Hotel: Rooms With a View of Kentucky’s Famed Spirit

🍾 The Trail Hotel opened in May in Bardstown, Kentucky, transforming the historic 1970 Holiday Inn into a luxury bourbon-themed hotel with 95 rooms. Eight Signature Suites offer unique bourbon experiences. The Limestone Suite highlights bourbon's limestone water with historical maps, while the Mash Bill Suite focuses on bourbon grains with recipe cards. The Prohibition Suite evokes a 1920s speakeasy, and the Distiller’s Den Suite honors bourbon pioneers with themed decor.

1 min

CoStar: U.S. Hotel Industry Reports Mostly Positive Yearly Comparisons

🏨 U.S. hotel industry reported mostly positive year-over-year comparisons for August 24-30, 2025. Occupancy was 63.4% (down 0.8%), ADR was $155.87 (up 1.0%), and RevPAR was $98.88 (up 0.2%). Houston saw the largest declines in occupancy (56.3%, down 12.0%) and RevPAR ($63.48, down 16.7%) due to post-Hurricane Beryl effects. Las Vegas experienced a 6.8% drop in ADR ($184.28), while St. Louis had a 6.9% increase in occupancy (60.7%).

2 min

Restaurants are a bright spot amid a slow jobs report

📈 The August 2025 jobs report showed a sharp hiring slowdown with only 22,000 jobs added, compared to 491,000 in the first four months of the year. Unemployment hit a 13-month high at 4.3%. Leisure and hospitality added 28,000 roles, while government employment fell by 16,000. Consumer sentiment dropped over 14% from last year, impacting spending. The restaurant industry faces pressures from reduced visits, especially by lower-income consumers, and rising labor costs, now at 36.5% of sales for full-service operators.

6 min

Travel Tech Essentialist #183: Barriers

📈 Travel industry updates: Since January 2021, Booking's value soared by 158%, reaching nearly $180 billion, while MakeMyTrip jumped 255% due to India's market growth. eDreams increased nearly twofold, and Expedia rose 63%. In contrast, Tripadvisor dropped 39% and Airbnb by 11%, yet Airbnb remains valued at $67 billion. Ground and sea transportation, worth $198 billion, is often overlooked despite its scale compared to cruises, car rentals, or home rentals. AI in travel: Expedia's AI enhancements boosted partner revenue by $6 billion, conversion by 1.3x, and flight price predictions by 15%.

1 min

White Lodging Announces Return of Jason Druso as Regional Vice President

💰 Jason Druso rejoined White Lodging in Merrillville, Indiana, as regional vice president in 2025. From 2015 to 2025, he helped develop over 50 independent restaurant concepts. Previously vice president of food and beverage, Druso will now oversee hotels and restaurants nationwide. Chris Anderson, COO, highlighted his impact on transforming food and beverage operations over the past decade. Druso previously worked at Winegardner & Hammons and in various steakhouse management roles.

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