TOP NEWS

🏨 Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) started 2025 with $746 million in Q1 revenue, a 15% increase. GHA DISCOVERY loyalty program now boasts 30 million members. Room nights increased by 12%, and average daily rate (ADR) rose by 3%. Cross-brand revenue grew by 11%. DISCOVERY Dollars redemption surged 60%, with Spain, Germany, China, and Singapore leading. Redemptions generated 7.6 times more revenue, with over D$1,000 redemptions yielding 4-5 times the value. New memberships in Q1 grew by 8%, totaling 850,000. International stays contributed 70% of revenue; Maldives and Thailand saw the highest with 100% and 95%. China's stay revenue grew by 19%. Rotana's addition in March expanded GHA's portfolio by 80 hotels.

🏠 Accor reported a 9.2% revenue increase to €1.349 billion in Q1 2025, with RevPAR up by 5% from 2024, and an 8.3% RevPAR growth in the Luxury & Lifestyle division. The company opened 45 hotels totaling over 5,900 rooms in the same quarter. Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs saw a -0.9% economic revenue decrease for the first half of 2024/2025 but achieved a 96% occupancy rate in Q2 at mountain resorts, with a 21.8% accommodation revenue increase in Spain. Compagnie des Alpes reported an 11.6% revenue rise to €849.5 million in the first half of 2024/2025, with a 5.5% increase in ski lift revenue and a 32.8% surge in leisure parks revenue, driven by higher visitor numbers and spending.

🏥 On April 25, 2025, Matthias Huettebraeuker interviews Stijn Oyen, Managing Director at Design Hotels, discussing the transformation of luxury hospitality by "community capital.

💾 B&Bs can reduce booking errors by up to 95% using a cloud-based Property Management System (PMS). With direct bookings, B&Bs can save 15-30% on OTA commissions, potentially recovering thousands in revenue every month. A PMS like Hotelogix streamlines operations, automates guest communication, and provides real-time insights for data-driven decisions, facilitating increased direct bookings by up to 35%. Hotelogix's cloud-based platform is suitable for small to mid-sized properties, offering 24/7 support and scalability.

🚂 GCC Railway project, connecting six countries by 2030. Kuwait signed a $8 million contract with Proyapi for a 2,177-km railway design. Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are already progressing with construction. GCC Grand Tours Visa, enabling travel to all six GCC countries, launching in 2025. Saudi Arabia's SAR tendering design consultancy for the $7 billion Saudi Landbridge, featuring over 1,500 km of new track. Luxury train, Dream of the Desert, with 14 carriages and 34 suites by Arsenale, starting service in Q3 2026. UAE's Etihad Rail to link Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 30 minutes at 350 km/h, with no set launch date for the passenger service.

📊 Golden Corral, with over 50 years of history, has launched a nationwide rollout of the Qu’s unified commerce platform/POS and Decision Logic's web plus mobile solutions, utilizing the AT&T network. HonorBuilt facilitated the transition, focusing on cable management and network wiring. This "Cloud Corral" platform has centralized menu management allowing location-specific pricing adjustments. Since its implementation, training time has been reduced from several shifts to approximately 30 minutes. The full brand rollout was completed in 2024 within just seven months, overseen by HonorBuilt, providing end-to-end installation support.

🏨 U.S. hotel industry Q1 2025 shows RevPAR growth of 6-8%, occupancy rates at 65-67%, nearing pre-pandemic levels, and ADR growth around 4-5%. Labor market stabilizes; group and business travel fully recovers. Economic stability supports consumer spending despite slowdown concerns. Sustainability and tech drive innovation with eco-friendly practices and AI. Wellness and experiential travel rise in popularity. Industry well-positioned for growth but must address labor challenges and economic uncertainties.

🏨 Choice Hotels partners with Mews for a PMS to enhance its franchise network's operations and customer experiences. Mews Cloud integrates with Choice's choiceEDGE CRS for real-time pricing and availability updates. Benefits include data visibility, operational excellence through task automation, scalable infrastructure, and improved guest experiences. Key technological milestones for Choice Hotels: first hotel website (1995), cloud-based PMS (2003), iOS hotel app (2009), instant booking on TripAdvisor (2014), app-integrated gift cards (2016), cloud-based CRS (2018), AWS operations (2019), and AI-powered revenue management (2021). All infrastructure migrated to AWS by 2024.

🛌 Apr 24, 2025 - Hospitality moves beyond services to crafting emotional guest experiences with personalized care. Key takeaways include the essence of hospitality in making guests feel valued, the importance of personalization, the crucial role of emotional connection in satisfaction, the impact of digital transformation, the growing emphasis on sustainability and ethics, and the shift towards an experience-driven future in the industry.

🏨 South Africa's hotel occupancy rates hit 62.5% in early 2024, with a 12.3% year-on-year increase in RevPAR. A McKinsey report suggests hyper-personalization could boost direct bookings and guest retention by up to 30%. Sustainability is key, as 83% of global travelers prioritize it in accommodation choices. Cloud-based hotel management systems improve revenue and efficiency by 20-25%. Domestic overnight trips in South Africa surged to 38 million in 2023, with a 22.4% rise in spending to R121.4 billion.