Innovation

🏨 In Washington, D.C., the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) welcomed four new companies to its Premier Partner program: ADA Cosmetics and BKL Hospitality as Silver Partners, and BDV Solutions and Sabre as Associate Partners. These partnerships aim to strengthen the hotel industry by offering insights, trends, and engage with AHLA Board members. Partners benefit from marketing support and discounts to AHLA events, contributing to industry advancements and meeting guest expectations.

💾 B&G Food Enterprises, Taco Bell's largest franchisee in Louisiana with 150 locations and 3,000 employees, faced a challenge managing thousands of invoices weekly among franchises in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi since 1982. The AP department processed 700 invoices per week manually, a time-consuming task with complex tax rates and formats. They adopted Ottimate for invoice automation, which resulted in a 92% reduction in processing time, saving 46 hours monthly. Now, 90% of their old imaging system is obsolete, and invoice processing dropped from 60 seconds to 5 seconds per invoice.

📊 Square introduced Square Kiosk in 2024, a solution combining hardware, software, and payments for fast-moving restaurants, along with features like Bar Tabs and Instant Payouts. Tabit in 2024 enhanced its POS with smarter tools for multi-location restaurants, while in 2025, plans to expand its Loyalty platform and integrate AI-powered insights. Toshiba's ELERA, also in 2024, advanced POS with AI, IoT, and computer vision for intuitive transactions in hospitality venues. TRAY enhanced its POS in 2024 for flexible transactions and seamless operations, even offline, and aims to introduce richer in-kitchen capabilities and AI assistance in 2025.

💾 Midtown Manhattan's Refinery Hotel, with 197 keys, is a tech-forward luxury lifestyle boutique hotel and a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Michelle Sharma, the Commercial Director, leveraged LodgIQ's revenue management system to transition from manual pricing strategies to automated, intelligent decision-making. This shift resulted in double-digit RevPAR growth, peak weekend room-type premium deltas of $500, over 40% direct booking contribution, high Net ADR from OTAs with minimal discounting, and approximately 90% annual occupancy. These advances allowed Sharma to focus on strategic roles such as marketing, distribution, product, branding, and technology leadership.

📖 Meta Andromeda has changed Facebook ad delivery to AI-driven, individual preference-based content. The key for advertisers in 2025 is high content volume and variety, targeting all awareness phases with psychologically driven messaging. Media buying now relies on providing Meta's algorithm with quality creative options. The new essential KPI is Cost per Winning Asset, focusing on creative volume over cost caps. Soar With Us has adapted by restructuring internal teams and partnering with Hambi Media, emphasizing performance-led creative to fuel Meta's AI. Their payment model aligns with client success, prioritizing creative performance.

🎥 Gemini Live introduces a tool enabling conversation with AI through a camera or screen. It aids with organization, creativity, shopping, and skill development, and is presented as a companion for users seeking assistance or conversation. Summaries are generated by Google AI, highlighting the experimental nature of generative AI.

📷 Snapchat introduces Sponsored AI Lenses, leveraging Generative AI technology for personalized, interactive brand experiences. Brands using this format on Snapchat's Lens Carousel, with over 300 million daily engagements, can achieve 25-45% more impressions in a day. Companies like Uber and Tinder have already seen higher engagement times compared to standard Lenses. Artists such as Coldplay have also harnessed AI Lenses for fan engagement, enhancing creative storytelling and brand connections.

💸 Duetto, a revenue management software provider, acquired financial benchmarking platform HotStats. The HotStats team will join Duetto, but financial terms were not disclosed. HotStats offers financial insights for hotel property performance against competitors. Duetto aims to unify various revenue streams into one platform. Duetto, serving over 6,300 hospitality properties worldwide, was acquired by GrowthCurve Capital last year. The acquisition is set to enhance revenue and profit optimization for hotels. Financial advisory by Houlihan Lokey and legal counsel by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for Duetto, with Gately plc for HotStats.

🏠 India, now the world's most populous nation and 5th largest economy, is expected to see over 6.5% GDP growth in 2024. Accor and InterGlobe plan to operate 300 hotels by 2030 (71 current, 40 in pipeline). In 2005, India had around 68,000 hotel rooms, less than Paris’s 80,000. Taj Hotels leads domestic luxury stays and aims for 700+ hotels by 2030. Marriott International, with over 150 properties in India, and China's Jin Jiang are also expanding, the latter targeting 30 new hotel signings annually for 5 years. Radisson, with over 200 hotels, and Louvre Hotels Group, via Sarovar Hotels, are significant players in this growth.