Valor Hospitality Partners, a global leader in full-service hospitality solutions, today announced the signing of three new hotel management contracts in Namibia. This follows an announcement earlier this week of two new properties in West Africa that’s been added to its portfolio on the continent, signed at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) in Cape Town this week.
Talk to any hotel executive today and artificial intelligence is almost guaranteed to be part of the conversation. From predictive analytics to personalised guest messaging, AI is widely seen as the next frontier in hospitality innovation. But how far have we really come, and where is the line between aspiration and implementation? To answer that, we surveyed over 1,000 hotels across Europe. What we found was a mixed picture, one that reveals both strong belief in AI’s potential and the practical barriers still holding many hotels back.
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world's leading hospitality companies, has announced the signing of Crowne Plaza Lagos Ikeja, a 119-rooms hotel scheduled to open in early 2028 under a franchise agreement with Watercress Hotel International Limited and to be operated by Valor Hospitality Partners, a global leader in integrated hotel management and operations solutions, and one of IHG's trusted partners. The signing represents a strategic milestone in IHG's expansion across the African continent and reinforces its commitment to strengthening its presence in key cities.
Operational Intelligence in hospitality has come a long way. Business Intelligence platforms helped pave the path by giving property leaders visibility into key metrics through dashboards and web portals. But while these tools showed what was happening, they often stopped short of explaining why. That missing piece is now within reach. Thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence, we are entering a new phase of Operational Intelligence. Property teams can now access real-time insights, uncover root causes, and take smarter actions to drive profitability and performance.
Accor has announced the signing of Novotel Victoria Falls, a landmark project set within Victoria Falls - a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
It’s 2025. You can fly across the Atlantic, binge watch a series at 30,000 feet, call a ride with a tap, and unlock your front door with your phone. But step into many hotels and suddenly it’s like the future hit pause at the front desk. The check-in process, still clunky, still manual, still weirdly sacred, somehow remains frozen in time. And the most ironic part? We keep calling it “hospitality.”
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world's leading hospitality companies, has announced the signing of a franchise agreement with Senegindia SA to bring Holiday Inn SD City Dakar in Senegal. Scheduled to open in 2027, the 150-rooms hotel will mark an important step in IHG's growth strategy in West Africa. Valor Hospitality Partners, one of IHG's trusted hospitality partners, will manage the property, continuing their strong expansion in the region.
Labour shortages and global uncertainty are putting serious strain on hotel operations. Margins are tighter, expectations are higher, and operators are being asked to deliver more with fewer resources. In this environment, technology is no longer a nice to have. It is essential. From automation to integration, the right tools can help you streamline operations, improve the guest experience, and protect your bottom line. Here is a practical look at what to do and what to avoid when using tech to ease the pressure and run a smarter, more efficient property.
G Wellness Company Limited, a subsidiary of MP Trading Group, is proud to announce its strategic partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest hotel franchising company, to debut the first internationally branded resort in Banjul, The Gambia, under the globally recognized Ramada by Wyndham brand.
Thinking about technology in hospitality, I often reflect on how it used to feel like something separate, an add-on. Today it is woven into everything we do, especially in something as crucial as managing our talent. And with artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI tools, grabbing headlines, we are entering a new era in how we think about and handle our people strategies.
Believe it or not, this isn’t another late night monologue about AI sentience or the metaverse melting our brains. This one is about something simpler and, honestly, more urgent. It is about consulting, what it is, what it is not, and why it is time we stopped treating it like an Instagram filter for our careers. Somewhere between rooftop selfies and recycled slide decks, the core of this job got lost. So whether you are thinking of becoming a consultant or about to hire one, consider this your cheat sheet. No fluff, no pitch, just the truth.
Hospitality is undergoing a fundamental transformation - driven not only by digitalization and artificial intelligence, but by a new understanding of what human-centered service means in a tech-enabled world. Based on insights from the FutureHotel Innovation Network at Fraunhofer IAO, this article explores how hotels are shifting from standardized procedures toward more adaptive, emotionally intelligent service models. Automation is not replacing humans - it’s freeing them to do what they do best: create genuine, meaningful guest experiences. In this new era, technology doesn’t undermine hospitality’s human core; it enables its renaissance.
Hospitality is on the edge of its next great transformation, and this time it is not mobile driving the change. It is AI. Just look at the numbers. In April 2025, ChatGPT recorded over five billion visits, while traffic to Google declined. This shift marks more than a trend. It signals a complete rethinking of how travel is researched, planned, and booked. And at the center of it all is Agentic AI, the technology that may soon redefine the entire guest journey, from inspiration to reservation.
Let’s be honest. Hotel tech is a mess. Not a quirky, fix-it-with-duct-tape mess, but a full-on, integration-induced identity crisis. Every time a vendor tries to connect to a PMS, a developer cries. The industry has spent years chasing standards, frameworks, and white papers, only to end up with a Frankenstein stack of systems that barely speak to each other. And for what? So we can proudly say we built a digital house of cards that collapses the moment someone updates an API?
Luxury in hospitality is no longer defined by marble floors or high thread count sheets. It is measured by how seamlessly your digital ecosystem meets guest expectations. The modern traveler is not impressed by a fruit basket or a bathroom phone. They are looking for instant connectivity, intuitive digital touchpoints, and a smooth journey from booking to check out. In this new era, your hotel’s ability to deliver digitally is not a bonus. It is the baseline.
It’s easy to think wellness is just another bolt-on, like bath salts or green juice in the minibar. But the truth is, wellness isn’t just a trend. It’s a trillion-dollar shift in how people travel, spend, and stay. And if you are in hospitality, it’s your business to care. Not just in the fluffy “feel good” sense, but in a data-driven, revenue-boosting, loyalty-building kind of way. Because when guests start choosing hotels based on how they feel after check-out, you will want to be the one showing them measurable results.
Hospitality Tech Vendors: one-stop-shop or best-of-breed plug-in?
From a technology perspective, the hospitality industry will continue to have a PMS-centric hotel tech stack approach. Today's PMS is the hotel 's command center for rooms and F&B management, sales and catering, distribution, availability, pricing, reservations, guest interactions, issue resolution, housekeeping, reporting, billing, guest communications, etc. and is often described as the central nervous system of the hotel operations.
Your take is spot on, and it echoes the reality I've seen play out time and again in the trenches of hospitality tech. The debate isn't really about "all-in-one" versus "best-of-breed"—it's about how we work together to deliver actual results for hotels and their guests.
If you’re flipping through this publication in search of buzzwords and hype, I’ll save you some time… this isn’t that kind of yearbook. HYB Technology 2025 is where we talk about what’s working, what’s not, and what’s just been duct-taped together for the 20th year in a row.
A very topical question which also came up at the HFTP Barcelona CIO Summit recently. There was no single answer as it will always depend on the particular situation. For a small hotel/BnB, a combo PMS/POS/IBE product like Avon Data, Heart or BookAssist may suffice and would do a very good job.
In a word, yes. All the major players in industry are working towards a hospitality 'platform' solution. Yes, you may be able to purchase the pieces separately, which is purely commercial. But they are designed and intended to support across business operations.