TOP NEWS

📌 Vision Hospitality Group, headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, plans to open five new hotels and break ground on four others in 2025, with further renovations on four hotels planned. In 2024, the group opened three hotels totaling 435 rooms and completed $15.3 million in renovations across four Marriott-branded hotels. The openings in 2024 included 189-room Moxy Boulder, 101-suite Home2 Suites by Hilton Chattanooga East Ridge, 145-suite Element Atlanta Perimeter Center, and 115-room The Inn at Celebration. By the end of Q1 2025, Vision will have renovated 21% of its portfolio and expects 37% to be new or renovated by year's end. The company is also seeking strategic partnerships with other hotel ownership groups to share best practices and proprietary systems.

📈 Expedia launched "Expedia Travel Shops," with a focus on video-first content, creator collaborations, and social commerce integrations. The initiative, aiming to ease travel planning pain points, involved Jeremy Jauncey from Beautiful Destinations. Videreo provides an alternative to Expedia's influencer storefronts, allowing brands to shine through directly and set their own commission rates. ABTA introduced an AI helpline for legal advice on AI use in businesses, with Data Driven Legal offering 30 minutes of free expert advice to members. At the WiT conference, Chris Hemmeter described AI as a "once in a generation transformation" for the travel industry. Google shelved its AI trip planner initially showcased at the developer conference in May 2024, raising questions about the feasibility of AI in trip planning. Japan leveraged an AI tool, "Sakura AI Camera," for cherry blossom preservation, aiding local governments amidst labor and budget constraints. Adobe reported a 1200% increase in traffic from generative AI sources during the U.S. holiday shopping season, with these consumers showing 8% higher engagement on retail sites. MyTrip.AI offers generative AI services, including a custom AI Sales and Service Assistant for travel companies. Additionally, over half of business bookers are open to letting AI handle their travel arrangements through management companies, indicating growing trust in AI's capabilities.

🏨 In Mykonos late last year, temperatures around 15°C led to closed shops and restaurants, with few visitors. Hotel businesses face challenges attracting the right crowd, not influencers but a global creative set. Strategies to stay relevant include capsule collections and radio. Sporty & Rich collaborated with luxury hotels like The Carlyle, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Le Bristol, offering branded merchandise (e.g., €100 tote bags). Eaton Workshop, with locations in Hong Kong and D.C., focuses on community-building, offering free meeting rooms and radio booths with over 2,000 shows since 2018.

🚿 In the complex hospitality industry, hotels need integrated data from property management systems (PMS), customer relationship management (CRM), and central reservation systems (CRS) for operational efficiency. Fragmentation and lack of a central data pool hinder comprehensive commercial strategy analysis. The h2c Hotel Direct Booking study highlights the need for better reporting from internet booking engines. AI's role is evolving, with its use in booking engines expected to double soon. Cendyn is creating analytics platforms with AI and machine learning to provide detailed insights and prescriptive actions for hoteliers. Hospitality marketing requires interconnected data to inform decisions, target the right audience, and improve profitability in a competitive, cost-intensive environment.

💰 Guest segmentation boosts hotel revenue by 10-15% and profits by 10% over 5 years, compared to non-segmented strategies. Hotels typically use 3.5 segmentation criteria, and CRM systems are instrumental in personalizing guest experiences. For successful segmentation, hotels should enrich guest data, start with basic segments, utilize CRM filters, gain insights, create specific content, and measure impact to refine strategies. Using tools like Bookboost’s CRM can automate personalized guest journeys. Implementing segmentation from pre-booking to post-stay enhances satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue. ????

🏦 At the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, predictions for 2025 include possible growth or reckoning for hotel investments. Blackstone and Brookfield, with a combined $2 trillion in assets under management (AUM), are selling more than buying, with Blackstone offloading $2 billion in assets last year including the Motel 6 chain to India's Oyo and considering selling Spain-based Hotel Investment Partners. Brookfield sold high-profile properties like The Diplomat Beach Resort and Conrad Seoul. Blackstone's recent purchases focused on Japan and Greece, buying three hotels in Japan and the Grand Hyatt Athens in December 2024. Interest rate expectations affected Blackstone, with only three cuts compared to the seven they anticipated. Brookfield looked at $6 billion in assets last year, acquiring $800 million, with an aim to be a net buyer in 2025. Noble Investment Group plans to sell $1 billion and buy $2 billion in assets despite a "wonky" investment environment. Hilton CFO Kevin Jacobs discussed efforts to drive cost savings to owners and franchisees and highlighted Hilton's technology revamp with its Property Engagement Platform and connected room interfaces. Labor efficiency remains a focus, with AI's role in reducing costs and improving operations being explored, while consumer confidence issues loom over the industry.

🏨 Atomize RMS users report up to 35% higher RevPAR, 37% higher ADR, and 20+ hours saved per month per revenue manager. Hotels adopting the five revenue-building strategies see on average a 290% ROI over three years, 31% decrease in manual errors, 24% increase in front desk efficiency, and 3% ADR growth. These strategies focus on optimization, diversification, collection, enhancement, and protection to boost profitability and create seamless guest experiences.

💧 World Water Day is observed on March 22, reminding the hospitality and wellness industries of water conservation responsibilities. Hotels, resorts, fitness centers, and pools face challenges with water management due to rising costs and stricter regulations. Many are investing in smart water monitoring, leak detection, and greywater recycling to reduce water use and comply with laws. VivoAquatics has helped businesses cut water usage by up to 25%, with one operator seeing a 30% reduction in water usage and an 80% decrease in water-related complaints. Businesses are encouraged to perform water audits, install water-efficient fixtures, and use leak detection technology to improve sustainability and gain a competitive edge.

🏨 Covivio, with 60% variable components in their portfolio, down from 100%, reflects a shift in the hospitality sector's lease agreements, which have become more complex and sophisticated over time. Union Investment's lease agreements evolved from simple 10-15 page documents to more regulated ones, while Radisson, with 20-30% of their business in leases, emphasizes a close partnership and hybrid leases. Marriott International favors franchises, avoiding new leases, and the hospitality sector saw hotels account for 16% of Europe’s transaction volume last year, marking an all-time high. The Hospitality Operator Forum is set for June 12.