TOP NEWS

🏨 Mews, a hospitality technology platform, raised $75 million in funding led by Tiger Global with Kinnevik, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and Battery Ventures. In 2024, Mews grew over 50% year-on-year, processed $10 billion in payments, generated $200 million in revenue, and achieved 20% market penetration in DACH. The U.S. saw Mews' revenue and brand usage double, with room and space management also more than doubling. The investment will further R&D in AI and expansion, with over $50 million invested in the U.S. in recent years.

💸 Revenue maximization for hotels involves leveraging all opportunities to maximize income, not just relying on ADR and RevPAR. The five building blocks of revenue maximization include optimization through AI-powered RMS with reported up to 35% higher RevPAR and 37% higher ADR, diversification of space usage, automated payment systems for fast and accurate transactions, enhancement of guest experience with potential revenue growth, and protection of revenue with security measures against chargebacks and fraud. Merchants lost 4.4% of revenue to chargebacks in 2019. Hotels implementing Mews ecosystem reported a 290% ROI over three years, a 31% reduction in manual human error, a 24% increase in front desk efficiency, and 7.3% ADR growth.

🏨 The HR Group, based in Berlin, completed the acquisition of H-Hotels, adding over 60 hotels to its portfolio across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Hungary. This marks a one-third increase in the HR Group's portfolio, shortly after acquiring 10 hotels from H World International. H-Hotels, which includes brands like Hyperion, H4, H2, H+ Hotels, H.ostels, and H.omes, will maintain its brand identity. The HR Group plans future developments in digital transformation, F&B concepts, and organizational optimization, aiming to strengthen its European market position.

📌 Occupancy-based KPIs, like Occupancy %, RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room), NetRevPAR, TRevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room), and GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room), present a narrow view of hotel performance, often leading to short-term revenue gains at the expense of long-term profitability and guest satisfaction. These KPIs can incentivize discounting to fill rooms, increase operational expenses, and erode brand value. Alternative metrics such as RPG (Revenue per Guest), PPG (Profit per Guest), Guest LTV (Lifetime Value), and productivity indicators (e.g., Revenue per Worked Hour) offer a more comprehensive approach by focusing on guest-centric profitability and strategic growth. Adopting such KPIs enables hotels to move beyond immediate occupancy rates, aligning daily operations with long-term financial health and service quality.

🎮 At MURTEC (March 10-12, Caesar’s Forum, Las Vegas), Magicgate presents XR solutions targeting restaurant challenges. Offerings include VR Training, AR Remote Support, AR Data Visualization, AR-Activated Marketing, and Immersive Haptic Devices. MURTEC 2025 spotlights industry innovations, networking, and education for QSR and full-service segments. For demos, contact Skip Kimpel at [email protected] or 954-257-8252.

💲 On Mar 4, 2025, Amadeus Cytric and Globetrender outline business travel transformation with AI-driven travel management automating bookings and adjustments, hybrid workspaces spurring meetings in motion, tailored airline bundles, Gen Z's influence on travel policies, facial recognition for airport efficiency, wellness-focused travel with sleep labs and cryo chambers, and a surge in regional travel amid global uncertainties. Full insights at Amadeus.

🏨 CEO Sébastien Bazin leads Accor's transformation, focusing on luxury and lifestyle hotels, with four major reorganizations in the past decade adopting an asset-light model. Accor expanded into ultra-luxury with Raffles and Orient Express and took a majority stake in Ennismore. Facing financing challenges in Europe and the U.S., Accor targets investments in the Middle East and Singapore. In the U.S., Accor aims for scalable growth through partnerships, maintaining a strong commitment to DEI, hiring over 100,000 employees annually, promoting internal career advancement.

🏠 Switzerland focuses on luxury tourism, targeting affluent travelers from the US, Gulf States, China, and India. Luxury hotel stays, though only 8% of overnight stays, generate about 25% of Swiss tourism revenues. Concerns include affordability and local impact, with high-end tourism potentially altering the character of alpine resorts. Switzerland's strategy looks to balance economic benefits with sustainability, amid warnings of a "tipping point" for the authenticity of mountain resorts. Full story at BBC.

🏦 On Mar 4, 2025, Skift Research reported on banks and credit cards disrupting the travel industry by launching their own booking platforms, with Chase Travel's gross bookings rising from $8 billion in 2022 to $10 billion in 2023, aiming for $15 billion in 2024. Chase Travel has captured 7% of the $140 billion addressable spend on Chase cards in 2023 and targets 11% in 2024. OTAs like Expedia and Booking now fuel growth through B2B partnerships, even as they face increased competition from bank-led platforms, which are especially popular with Gen Z and Millennials.