The Diar Group in partnership with Staroot Real Estate, is pleased to announce a proposed collaboration to develop and operate Diani Residences by CityBlue, a landmark mixed-use residential and hospitality development in Diani Beach. The announcement will be unveiled at the Future Hospitality Summit Africa taking place in Nairobi on 1 April 2026.
CityBlue Hotels, a member of The Diar Group, Africa’s fastest-growing local hotel chain, is pleased to announce a deal with Sands of Darakasi Resort Ltd for the development and operation of Oceara Residences by CityBlue, a landmark beachfront hospitality project in Watamu, Kenya.
Optimising AI literacy in F&B operations starts with a simple principle: buying technology is not the same as building capability.Too many operators still approach AI as a procurement exercise rather than an operational transformation discipline.
AI investments in F&B deliver value only when adoption is treated as seriously as the technology. The implementation gap is rarely caused by weak tools. It is usually caused by weak translation between strategy, tech implementation and frontline execution.
AI literacy in F&B does not start with tools. It starts with understanding what the operation actually produces.Most teams I see try to adopt AI before they can even describe what their workflow does step by step – mostly for the lack of SOP.
How restaurants are turning their wine lists into a powerful storytelling tool for regenerative farming and sustainable viticulture.
Marriott International celebrates the opening of the Four Points by Sheraton São Vicente Resort, marking the company’s highly anticipated debut into Cape Verde. Situated above Laginha Beach within the cultural hub of São Vicente, the hotel blends resort-style relaxation with business-ready convenience on the island.
The idea that “search is dead” is mostly an exaggeration. What is really happening is a change in how people find information online, not the disappearance of search itself. For hoteliers, this difference is important because people are still searching for hotels, but the way they search and where the traffic goes is starting to change.
Traditional search isn't dying — it's disaggregating. The front-end experience is shifting dramatically, but the underlying data infrastructure remains largely the same. When ChatGPT or Perplexity answers a hotel query, it's still drawing from indexed web content, reviews, and structured data that lives in the same ecosystem traditional SEO has always served.
Spanish hotel giant will operate five properties through partnership with MHG, starting with 307-room Mahdia resort opening this year.
The community-partnered collection unites six lodges along 20 kilometers of Sand River, with new flagship Khensani River Lodge opening December 2026.
In a word, no. Websites were designed to entice humans to view, discover, consider, buy. They are heavy with images, HTML, JavaScript, etc. to entice us in and encourage us to dwell. APIs were invented for M2M, machine to machine, transactions.
Agents will be everywhere, but behind the scenes. Booking agents are a short-term solution; using AI to simulate human behavior is like asking for a faster horse. Agents that behave as people, visiting websites and simulating human behavior (clicking on links, filling forms) are an incredible technological feat, but are a poor solution to most real-word problems: - Agents are very slow, because they have to replicate user paths built for humans- They fail often, because every website they visit is differentThe future will be MCP- and API-based, with agents interacting with those MCP/API.
Crystal ball time. 5 to 10 years i think we will quite similar to where we are today. the slow pace of change will not change and traditional tech stacks will still be around. lack of motivation to change, contracts and low investment will hinder the change.
Yasemin Oruc argues that luxury hospitality is uniquely positioned to lead a shift from “doing less harm” to regenerative, net-positive impact, treating hospitality as a living system embedded in people and place. This article explores how regenerative hospitality turns experiences into co-created, transformative journeys that support personal well-being while restoring ecosystems and communities. Luxury hotels, with their resources and cultural influence, can act as pioneers and prototypes for this regenerative way of life.
Jonathan Normand frames regeneration as the only viable path for hospitality in a world of ecological overshoot and collapsing trust, arguing that sustainability alone is no longer enough. It introduces the 7C Leadership Compass as a practical, deeply human guide for leaders who want to align business success with the long-term wellbeing of people, places, and the planet, and positions Moral Ambition plus cross-industry coalitions as the engine of real, regenerative change.
Maribel Esparcia Pérez argues that hospitality asset management must move beyond extractive, short-term models toward regenerative, resilient systems that account for climate risk, ecosystem health, and community wellbeing. Using examples like Casa Leonardo and Coron Natural Farms, she shows how regenerative practices can protect asset value, strengthen local resilience, and align with emerging financial and regulatory frameworks.
O’Shannon Burns argues that regeneration in hospitality is not a new label for sustainability or a framework to “roll out,” but an emergent, place-based practice grounded in relationships between people, land, culture, and more-than-human life. Drawing on global regenerative futures research, the article outlines four key orientations and challenges hospitality leaders to move from aspirational impact language toward honest accountability and structural change.
The 37-suite property on a 10-hectare organic farm will open in phases starting Q1 2027, developed with Sazanes Immobilier.
Starting from her own skepticism, Dr Natasha Montesalvo explores where regenerative tourism is already moving from rhetoric to reality, highlighting destinations and hotels that build regeneration into governance, design, and operations from day one. Through examples like Red Sea Global, Capella Ubud, Maroma and TTNQ’s Reforest partnership, she shows that measurable positive impact on ecosystems and communities is possible – but only when strong policy, thoughtful design, and long-term performance tracking replace vague “do good” intentions.
Using Camiguin Island in the Philippines as a living laboratory, Mahe Besson explores regenerative tourism through the metaphor of acupuncture: small, precise interventions that unlock a destination’s own capacity to heal. Rather than rebuilding systems from scratch, she argues for carefully chosen “acupuncture points” such as teaching resorts, youth ocean programs, and co-created (un)Summits that let local ecosystems and communities regain their flow.
David Leventhal challenges tourism’s “growth is always good” mindset, arguing that low-density, values-driven, regenerative hospitality can deliver both better guest experiences and stronger profitability. He explains how Playa Viva optimises resources, rebuilds degraded landscapes, involves local communities, and experiments with inclusive pricing models, while also tackling tough questions on aviation emissions, greenwashing, and how to scale without becoming extractive.
Regenerative hospitality reframes hotels from standalone assets into locally embedded infrastructures that strengthen ecosystems, communities, and destination resilience. Diane Binder argues that the real shift is from “doing less harm” to actively serving place – with independent and franchised hotels acting as catalysts for land restoration, cultural vitality, and shared prosperity, supported by new governance, measurement, and blended finance models.
Yves Carnazzola argues that the real shift facing hospitality is not from sustainability to regeneration as competing trends, but from seeing hospitality as an industry managing impacts to seeing it as a participant in living systems. Regeneration is framed as a reorientation of purpose: from efficiency and control to coherence, shared responsibility, and place vitality, supported by new governance, financing, and accountability structures.
Amanda Ho argues that sustainability, while valuable, is no longer enough for a hospitality industry facing climate instability, biodiversity loss, and social inequity. Regeneration is proposed as a deeper, place-based paradigm that asks a fundamental question: “What is this place asking of us?” Instead of treating hotels as isolated assets, it frames them as actors within living systems of community, culture, and ecology, illustrated through examples like Fogo Island Inn, Basata Eco-Lodge, and African Bush Camps.