Expert Views (9)
View all Answers
Nicolas Peluffo of Awasi on Ultra-Luxury Lodge Travel, One Villa One Guide One Vehicle, and the Last Untouched Frontier in Luxury Travel
Awasi CEO Nicolas Peluffo outlines the brand's one-villa-one-guide-one-vehicle philosophy across five South American lodges, arguing the continent remains the most underdeveloped frontier in luxury travel.
The Capital Readiness Gap in Latin American Hotel Development
An advisory perspective on why Latin American hotel developers frequently misread investor expectations, covering capital structure, pre-opening budgets, brand agreements, and risk transparency.
By Enrique L. González, Founder and General Manager, F2F Invest LATAM
Latest
Shangri-La Group Announces Songtei Kyoto, Shangri-La Signatures
Shangri-La Group (“the Group” or “Shangri-La”) today announced Songtei Kyoto, Shangri-La Signatures (“Songtei Kyoto”), the latest addition to its ultra-luxury Shangri-La Signatures collection. Situated opposite Nijo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kyoto, Japan, the 77-key hotel will be the second address in the Shangri-La Signatures portfolio — a collection of rare sanctuaries, each defined by the depth of its location and provenance, brought to life through intuitive, personalised hosting. The hotel is set to welcome its first guests from late 2026, with additional facilities opening progressively ahead of a full property unveiling in early 2027.
Aiden® Debuts in Downtown Kansas City, Brings New Life to Historic Mutual Building
BWH® Hotels has announced the opening of Aiden Kansas City Downtown, bringing the contemporary boutique hotel brand to the heart of Kansas City. Housed in the historic Mutual Building located at 405 E. 13th Street, the property transforms the landmark into a modern hospitality destination while preserving the architectural character and stories that connect it to the city’s past.
WTTC Announces Right Honourable Justin Trudeau as Headline Speaker for Malta Global Summit
The WTTC 26th Global Summit, themed "FUTU[RE]SET", takes place 7–9 October 2026 in Valletta, Malta, with 1,000+ delegates and former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau as headline speaker.
Recent Appointments
View AllSales & Marketing
Kim Pedlar has been promoted to Group Director of Sales at RBH
Operations & Strategy
Claire Barrowclough has been promoted to Operations Director at RBH
Operations & Strategy
Marlon Kigonya has been appointed as Hospitality Director at The Grand Saddles Lodge
Hyatt Announces Plans for First JdV by Hyatt Hotel in the UK
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) today announced that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into a franchise agreement with an affiliate of CL Capital for Oxford Witney Hotel. The 130-room hotel will be operated by InnPractice and is expected to join the JdV by Hyatt brand portfolio by the end of 2026, marking the brand’s debut in the United Kingdom.
Grande Lakes Orlando Debuts Completed Group Meeting Space Renovations and Curated Experiences for Guests
Grande Lakes Orlando, the 500-acre luxury resort destination set at the headwaters of the Florida Everglades, has completed a transformative, multi-year renovation of its meeting and event spaces across both The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes and JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes. The award-winning resort destination is home to the #1 and #2 Best Hotels in Orlando, as recognized by Condé Nast Traveler.
Aimbridge Hospitality Assumes Management of Three Landmark Hotels for Gorman & Company
Aimbridge takes over management of three historic boutique hotels in Wisconsin and Illinois owned by Gorman & Company, marking the developer's first transition to third-party hotel management.
Numa Group Opens Native by Numa Fitzrovia – a Design-Led Urban Retreat in the Heart of Central London
Numa Group has announced the opening of Native by Numa Fitzrovia in October 2026, bringing 29 design-led rooms to one of Central London’s most vibrant neighbourhoods. Located moments from Soho, Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bloomsbury, the new property offers guests a stylish base from which to explore London’s best shopping, dining, culture and entertainment destinations.Housed within a beautifully converted former convent on Margaret Street, Native by Numa Fitzrovia offers guests a stay that combines historic character with contemporary comfort, providing a quieter, more considered base in the heart of the capital. The opening further strengthens Numa Group’s growing London portfolio, reflecting continued demand for flexible accommodation that blends apartment-style living with the convenience of a hotel.Designed for both short city breaks and longer stays, Native by Numa Fitzrovia has been created for travellers looking to experience London like a local. From business trips and extended stays to cultural escapes and weekend getaways, the property offers a flexible alternative to traditional hotel accommodation, with thoughtfully designed spaces that encourage guests to settle in and make themselves at home.The property offers a range of room types with kitchenettes designed to offer flexibility and comfort for every type of stay, including double rooms, compact studios, a mix of one and two bedroom apartments. Each room combines modern amenities with distinctive design details, including high-speed Wi-Fi, comfortable living areas, and workspaces, alongside fully equipped kitchens or kitchenettes.The interiors celebrate the building’s unique heritage and Fitzrovia’s creative spirit, blending bold forms, rich colours and layered textures to create a stylish urban retreat with a strong sense of place. Retro-inspired furniture sits alongside statement bathrooms with elegant gold finishes, while original architectural details have been carefully preserved throughout.A standout feature of Native by Numa Fitzrovia is the preservation of the convent’s original arched sash windows and characterful architectural details, which bring natural light into the loft-like spaces while maintaining the building’s historic charm. The result is a distinctive stay that reflects both the heritage of the building and the energy of the surrounding neighbourhood.Located in the heart of Fitzrovia, the property puts guests within easy reach to some of London’s most celebrated cultural, retail and dining destinations, including Oxford Street, Regent Street, Soho, Bloomsbury and the British Museum. The area’s independent cafés, restaurants, galleries and boutiques are all within walking distance, offering guests the opportunity to explore one of London’s most creative and characterful neighbourhoods.As with all Native by Numa properties, guests will benefit from Numa’s fully digital operating model, including seamless self check-in, contactless access, flexible arrival and departure, and digital guest services, providing a simple and convenient stay from booking through to check-out.Native by Numa Fitzrovia bookings are now open. Rates start from £179 per night. For further information, visit nativeplaces.com/property/londonfitzrovia.
IHG and ALAND sign landmark 15-hotel deal to launch Staybridge Suites in Australia
IHG and Australian developer ALAND signed a Master Development Agreement for at least 15 Staybridge Suites hotels and 2,000 rooms across Australia, with two Greater Western Sydney properties signed as the first phase.
Supplier News
View allInaugural Hospitality Social Media Summit (HoSS) Connects Leaders Across 14 Countries
The inaugural HoSS, held in London on 3-4 September, brought 200+ hospitality marketing leaders from 14 countries to address the gap between social media's commercial expectations and current strategy and capability.
HotelIQ Decision Cloud joins the Mews Marketplace
HotelIQ Decision Cloud integrates with Mews PMS to deliver automated, daily reservation-level data including RevPAR, ADR, and segmentation metrics without manual exports.
Grupo Baleine selects Shiji’s Daylight PMS to scale its vision for luxury boutique hospitality
Grupo Baleine, a nine-property Mexican boutique hotel group, has deployed Shiji's Daylight PMS at its new Mexico City property as a scalable foundation for luxury hospitality growth.
EVT took a chance on a young SiteMinder and never looked back
EVT's GM of digital distribution shares how SiteMinder's channel manager has streamlined OTA management across 100+ hotels for nearly 20 years, freeing teams to focus on revenue strategy.
Gstaad Palace selects dailypoint as provider for guest data and customer relationship management solutions
Gstaad Palace, the iconic 5-star Swiss Alps property open since 1913, will use dailypoint to unify guest data from systems including protel, TAC, and aleno into a single central guest profile.
Forget Fly-and-Flop: Meet the Darecation
Pinterest's 2026 trend report names "Darecations" as a rising travel segment, with searches for adventure tourism up 75% and sports travel insurance purchases up 182% in two years.
Cendyn brings live hotel data to Google’s Search Campaigns for Travel in closed beta test
Cendyn joins Google's closed beta for Search Campaigns for Travel, combining live ARI feeds and first-party guest data with Google's AI to improve hotel search ad performance ahead of general availability.
Amsterdam founders launch Away.ai: an AI-based travel agent
Dutch founders Loes Daniels and Jorik Schröder launch Away.ai, an AI platform that books complete flight-and-hotel packages in minutes based on personal preferences, with a 2-4% travel credit rewards model.
Wyndham Garden Makes Philippines Debut in Manila Bay
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has officially rolled out the red carpet in the heart of Philippines capital with the grand opening of Wyndham Garden Manila Bay, marking the highly anticipated launch of the Wyndham Garden brand in the country. Bringing a fresh blend of modern comfort and smart travel right to the edge of the bay, the 300-room hotel expands Wyndham’s upper-midscale presence in the country and represents another step in the Company’s continued growth across Southeast Asia.
Contribute More Than You Consume
A leadership philosophy essay arguing that sustainable success in business, community, and life depends on consistently creating more value than one receives.
The Risk Report Nobody in Hospitality Is Reading (But Should)
A hospitality-focused breakdown of Anthropic's August 2026 Risk Report flags four findings relevant to operators: agentic task drift, faster vendor release cycles, prompt injection risks, and data retention requirements on frontier AI models.
By Terence Ronson, Founder & Managing Director, Pertlink Limited
Global Hospitality Industry Review - First Half of 2026
Despite RevPAR growth in H1 2026, hotel profitability remains under pressure as labor, distribution, and operating costs rise faster than revenue, forcing operators to rethink channel mix, productivity, and cost structure.
When Brand Recognition Travels: The Ripple Effects of Industry Awards
Research on the Swiss Beer Awards and World's 50 Best Restaurants shows how award recognition travels beyond individual winners to shape partner businesses, industries, destinations, and future standards of excellence.
By Margarita Cruz, Associate Professor of Corporate Strategy and Entrepreneurship EHL Hospitality Business, EHL
Food Waste Management in Restaurants: The Hidden Cost Your Team Can Eliminate
A Swiss restaurant losing CHF 129,600 annually to food waste cut losses by 40% using a four-step method: measure, staff questionnaire, collective workshop, and follow-up.
Celebrating a Decade of International Collaboration - HFE Conference
The 10th annual HFE Conference, held in Tokyo, brought together academics and industry leaders from Asia, Europe, and North America to discuss AI, PropTech, real estate investment, and demographic change.
By Masaki Mori and René-Ojas Woltering
In Europe, Google's hotel unit now shows everything except the rate
Google has stripped live pricing, date filters, and budget tags from its EU hotel search unit to comply with the DMA, leaving hotels with only a name, link, and address in the box built for them.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
A Hotel AI Query Costs More Than a Google Search and AI Prefers Not to Ask, Forbes Ratings Drive 55% of AI Recommendation Frequency, Invest with Purpose in 2027
Wednesday brought hospitality.today's discovery that AI assistants pay per web search and developer caps mean hotel queries are expensive enough to suppress, making AI invisibility partly an economics problem, Americas Great Resorts' finding that Forbes Travel Guide ratings and Michelin Keys explain 55% of AI recommendation frequency while hotel websites show near-zero correlation, and Meyer Jabara's 2027 strategy of capital discipline and ancillary revenue capture as RevPAR growth slows to 2.1%. HotStats' EMEA flow-through warning, Dutch hotel VAT crisis, and a record ten-property day rounded out the session.
The 2027 Hotel Playbook: Invest with Purpose, Operate with Discipline
Meyer Jabara Hotels outlines a 2027 strategy centered on capital discipline, ancillary revenue capture, and profitability as STR forecasts RevPAR growth slowing to 2.1%.
By Justin Jabara, President, Meyer Jabara