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Automatic

2871 posts

The State of Distribution 2025: What’s holding hotels back

📊 Jul 18, 2025: The State of Distribution 2025 report by HEDNA, NYU’s Tisch Center, and RateGain analyzes 700 hotel brands, revealing manual processes and fragmented systems as key obstacles. Booking channels are nearly evenly split: OTAs, direct digital, voice, GDS, and walk-ins each capture around 19-21% of bookings. 80% of hotels spend up to two days weekly on manual reporting. AI adoption is low due to ROI uncertainties. Success hinges on integrated strategies, not increased tech use.
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American Express Travel ends vacation packages after 20 years

🛫 Jul 31, 2025, American Express Travel ends its 20-year flight + hotel packages, initially set up with Travelocity. Why? To enhance booking experiences and card member benefits. How? By eliminating bundles that limited perks like $100 Fine Hotels & Resorts credits. Where? Amex Travel, still powered by Expedia, ensuring no partnership fallout. Minimal financial impact expected as few card members utilized these packages.
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September rising: Europe’s new favorite travel month

🗺 Europeans plan robust travel between June and November 2025, with 77% intending to take a trip, despite economic uncertainties. Older adults (55+) show the highest travel intent at 82%. A shift to lesser-known destinations is noted, with 55% preferring them due to overtourism concerns. September gains popularity, with 22% planning trips then. Intra-European travel dominates at 91%, with Spain, Italy, France, and Greece as top destinations. Travel budgets remain strong, with 62% maintaining and 22% increasing spending.
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Booking.com to cut 1,000 jobs in global restructuring

💼 Jul 17, 2025: Booking.com plans to cut 1,000 jobs globally, with Amsterdam being the hardest hit, due to internal complexity and excessive hierarchy. Despite a 37% profit increase to $5.9 billion, the restructuring targets 7,000 employees in Amsterdam, aiming to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency. This move follows a prior warning in a U.S. SEC filing. More restructuring details will be announced soon.
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ChatGPT enters the checkout lane

🛒 Jul 17, 2025, OpenAI plans to monetize e-commerce within ChatGPT by introducing in-chat checkout, partnering with Shopify. This move aims to generate revenue from product sales directly on the platform, impacting free users. Shopify’s technology enables seamless transactions without leaving ChatGPT. This strategy challenges Google’s advertising-driven model and prompts brands to explore “AIO” practices for AI search. OpenAI considers affiliate models but currently avoids traditional ads. Enhanced memory in ChatGPT personalizes shopping experiences.
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The Web without clicks

📱 Jul 17, 2025, AI is transforming online search, impacting content creators. 69% of searches now yield no clicks, up from 56% (Similarweb). AI tools like ChatGPT provide direct answers, causing traffic declines: Health sites -31%, Reference sites -15%, Science/Education -10%. Google-driven traffic for Dotdash Meredith dropped from 60% to mid-30%. Legal battles ensue, but smaller sites struggle to defend. Google reported a decline in Safari searches in April 2025, while ChatGPT dominates iPhone downloads.
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Short-term rentals reshaping Europe’s tourism landscape

🛠 Jul 17, 2025 – Across Europe, tourism is increasingly dominated by short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, with guest nights up by 67% since 2019, while traditional hotel stays stall. Smaller destinations in Greece and Croatia, such as Santorini with 46 guest nights per resident, are experiencing significant pressure. Local infrastructure struggles with rising rents and water shortages. Cities like Barcelona respond with rental bans. New EU data-sharing rules help, but experts call for sustainable, less extractive tourism models.
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Me, my brand and AI: Accenture Consumer Pulse Research 2025

🤖 AI agents are transforming consumer interactions, with browser-based tools like Mariner and Operator making autonomous decisions and purchases. This shift requires brands to adapt by appealing to both human and AI "shoppers" to avoid losing awareness and search traffic. There are potential security and operational risks with increased AI reliance. Brands should focus on experiential and emotional value in AI-driven markets, preparing for "zero-touch" engagement and enabling cross-brand and multi-service AI integration.
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Google’s EU travel talks stall

🗺 Jul 16, 2025: Two days of negotiations in the EU between Google, travel stakeholders, and the EU Commission ended without agreement on Google's travel search results under the Digital Markets Act. Two proposed formats: “Intermediary-first layout” prioritizes Booking.com, while a “Separate box for direct sellers” offers hotel links. Hotels find themselves at a disadvantage as the focus remains on intermediaries. A lack of resolution could lead to significant fines for Google, impacting the travel booking market.
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What’s behind the rise in hotel guest satisfaction

💻 In 2024, U.S. hotels hit a record-high average daily rate of $158.67, yet guests across all segments felt increased value. The 2025 J.D. Power study shows room quality enhancements, like smart TVs and upgraded décor, boost satisfaction. Smart TVs are essential for 40% of guests, up from 21% in 2019, with 72% of rooms featuring them. Hotel app users reported satisfaction 68 points higher. Only 12% had issues, but satisfaction dropped 217 points when problems arose.
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