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Development Pipeline

Hilton Announces Plans to Debut its Premium Economy Brand, Spark by Hilton, in Puerto Rico this Year

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) today announces the signing of Spark by Hilton Ponce, marking the upcoming debut of the trailblazing premium economy brand in the Caribbean and Latin America. Slated to open in late 2025 in Ponce, Puerto Rico's second largest city, Spark by Hilton Ponce will represent another market first for the fastest launch-to-open brand in Hilton's history. Spark by Hilton Ponce is owned by Ponce Resorts Inc. and will be managed by HI Development P.R.Corp.

Spark by Hilton
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

The Shape of Hospitality Tech to Come: Funding, M&A, and the Innovation Horizon

After two decades of watching hospitality tech rise, stumble, evolve, and occasionally reinvent itself, I have learned to spot when change is more than just a new buzzword. Right now feels like one of those moments. Not a flashy revolution, but a quiet recalibration. One that is redefining how technology is funded, built, and deployed across the industry. From capital discipline to platform thinking, we are entering an era where substance finally matters more than sizzle. And if we pay attention, this shift could set the tone for the next generation of hospitality innovation.

Michael Cohen
By Michael Cohen, Managing Partner, GAIN - Growth Advisors International Network
Simone Puorto
By Simone Puorto
Expert Views (20)
Mark Fancourt
Mark Fancourt, Co-Founder & Principal Consultant, TRAVHOTECH

Our work with clients on personalization is rooted in the fundamental view that we've always aimed to better match what we have to offer with what a guest truly desires. This is particularly crucial when a property offers a diverse range of products beyond just rooms, where strategic personalization can genuinely elevate the guest's enjoyment by more accurately aligning offerings with their individual preferences.

Eric Lutz
Eric Lutz, CEO & Co-Founder, olive

The real threat today isn't personalization creating an echo chamber, it's hotels failing to meet the expectations of generations raised on TikTok, Spotify, and Instagram. Gen Alpha and Gen Z aren't marveling at algorithmic recommendations; they expect them.

Michael Toedt
Michael Toedt, CEO and Founder, dailypoint

Let's be blunt: most hotels haven't even reached personalization, let alone hyperpersonalization. And while Booking.com, Netflix, and Amazon are masters of knowing what you want before you do, many hotels still worship the PMS like it's the digital holy grail.

View all Answers
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Beds, Assets & Balance Sheets: The Hotel Industry's Journey Through Change

After half a century in hospitality, one truth endures: this industry doesn’t stand still. It evolves. Slowly at times, all at once at others. What was once a business built on bricks, beds, and brand loyalty is now a high-stakes game of capital flows, margin compression, and digital transformation. The fundamentals remain: service, trust, and consistency. But everything around them is shifting. If the last decade taught us how to survive disruption, the next one will ask us to lead through it. That begins by rethinking what hotels are, who they serve, and how every square foot and every line of code can drive performance.

Mylene YoungAlan Dourado
By Mylene Young and Alan Dourado
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

What Happens If You Don’t Modernize Your PMS?

Mention PMS migration and most hotel executives will pause. It’s not hesitation without reason. Shifting core systems takes time, coordination, and no small amount of budget. It impacts every layer of your operation, from the front office and housekeeping to finance, IT, and beyond. But while the disruption is real, the real risk lies in waiting too long. In a fast-moving tech landscape, staying still doesn’t keep you safe. It just means you’re falling behind without even noticing.

Steven Hopkinson
By Steven Hopkinson, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, Shiji
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

The Hotel Technology Paradox: More Present Yet Less Visible

Luxury isn’t loud. It doesn’t announce itself in flashing features or complicated tech. True luxury in hospitality whispers through anticipation, intuition, and the kind of personal touches that make a guest feel not just welcomed, but understood. It’s not about the opulence of the building or the buzzwords on the website. It’s about how effortlessly everything unfolds. Behind the scenes, there’s powerful technology doing the heavy lifting. But on the surface, what the guest experiences is something far more human: calm, confidence, care. In this article, we’ll explore how the best luxury properties use invisible systems to create unforgettable, seamless moments. Moments where service feels less like service and more like being seen.

Alan Young
By Alan Young, VP, Strategy | Hospitality, Infor
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

The Hive Mind of Hospitality: Why Your Data Needs a Bigger Village

There’s no shortage of hype around AI right now. Everyone’s talking, posting, paneling. But here’s the thing: most of it misses the point. If you’re in hospitality, the question isn’t whether AI matters, it’s how you make it matter for your business. Not in some distant future, robots running the lobby kind of way, but in the here and now. In the everyday moments where performance is won or lost. Because while the spotlight stays fixed on shiny AI travel assistants and chatbots with witty comebacks, the real advantage, the one that moves the needle, is quietly waiting behind the scenes.

Brian Reeves
By Brian Reeves, Founder and CEO, The roomangel Foundation, roomangel
Ad #1 Hotel PMS
See why hotels are switching to Mews

Revenue up. Manual work down. Hotels using Mews see 35% higher RevPAR and 45% more upsells. Book a free demo. 
Mews
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Guest “Experience” is the New Currency: Benchmarking That Moves the Hospitality Needle

In hospitality today, what matters most cannot always be seen on a checklist. The guest experience has become the defining product, shaped not just by the room or the view but by every moment of interaction and ease. A warm greeting, a seamless digital check-in, a timely response to a simple request. These are now the hallmarks of value. As expectations rise, so does the need to measure what truly moves the guest. This is where guest experience benchmarking steps in, not just as a performance tool but as a strategic lens for building loyalty, trust and lasting impressions.

Ryan King
By Ryan King, Senior Vice President for the Americas, Shiji
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Top Property Management System Trends Defining the Future of Hospitality

The Property Management System is no longer just the engine room quietly humming in the background. It’s becoming the brain of the operation. As guest journeys grow more complex and expectations rise, the PMS is stepping out from behind the curtain and into a starring role. Not just as a system of record, but as a platform for revenue growth, service delivery, and operational agility. The real shift is not just about building better tech. It is about rethinking what the PMS is and what it needs to become. This article explores the six key trends reshaping that future and what it means for operators who are ready to move beyond the status quo.

Frank Pitsikalis
By Frank Pitsikalis, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy, Hotels, Agilysys
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Outlet or Boutique? The Strategic Power of Dual Revenue Management

For years, hotel revenue strategy has defaulted to a one size fits all model: optimize for RevPAR, chase occupancy, and call it success. But the landscape has shifted. Guests are savvier, channels more fragmented, and margin tighter than ever. In this complexity, a new clarity is emerging. Some hotels don’t want to be everything to everyone. They want to be something distinct to someone. That is where Dual Revenue Management steps in, not as a tweak to existing models, but as a rethinking of how value and volume can coexist. This is not about choosing sides. It is about choosing structure. A smarter, more nuanced framework where distribution is no longer a battlefield but a strategy board, and every move has a purpose.

Piergiorgio Schirru
By Piergiorgio Schirru, Executive Vice President & Board Member, Blastness
Ad Tambourine One
All you need is one.

Some call it a website with a booking engine built in. Some call it a booking engine with a website built in. We call it One.
Tambourine
Development Opening

JdV by Hyatt Brand Debuts in the Caribbean with Royal Beach Hotel Punta Cana

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) in collaboration with Grupo Martinon, today announced the opening of Royal Beach Hotel Punta Cana, marking the debut of the JdV by Hyatt brand in the Caribbean. Royal Beach Hotel Punta Cana joins Hyatt's Lifestyle portfolio and invites guests to celebrate the joy of life in Punta Cana's El Cortecito neighborhood, just steps from Los Corales Beach.

JdV by Hyatt
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Infinite Hospitality: How Tech is Driving The Era of Property Convergence

Hospitality is no longer defined by the type of key handed over at check-in. Whether it is a hotel room for two nights, a short-term rental for a week, or an extended stay that blends work and leisure, today’s guests move fluidly between formats. What they expect in return is simplicity, consistency, and digital ease. The convergence we are seeing across property types, guest segments, and operating models is not a trend; it is a structural shift. And behind this shift is a pressing question for operators: can your tech keep up?

Florian MontagJulius Anders
By Florian Montag and Julius Anders
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Hospitality’s Innovative Future Rests on Modular and Integrated Proptech Solutions

The hospitality industry has never lacked technology. What it has lacked is cohesion. For years, hotels have layered system upon system, vendor upon vendor, hoping that one more plugin or upgrade might unlock the seamless guest experience everyone talks about but few actually deliver. And yet, despite all the investment, many properties still find themselves stuck, trapped between legacy infrastructure and rising guest expectations. It is not a lack of innovation that is holding them back. It is fragmentation. In this article, we explore why the future of hospitality depends not just on more tech, but smarter, integrated tech, and how a modular, connected approach is reshaping everything from operations to the guest journey.

Nicolás Aznar
By Nicolás Aznar, President, Americas, Vingcard, an ASSA ABLOY brand
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

User Adoption Isn’t Enough: Accelerate Proficiency & ROI in Hospitality Tech

For all the buzz around digital transformation in hospitality, the reality is far less polished. Technology is being bought, installed, and announced with fanfare, yet it’s still not delivering on its promise. Why? Because installing tech isn’t the same as adopting it. And adopting it isn’t the same as mastering it. 

Melissa Jurkoic
By Melissa Jurkoic, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Benson Consulting Inc.
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Hotel Guest-Facing Automation vs. Traditional Manual Systems: An Evolving Landscape of Service Delivery

The adoption of automation in hotel guest services has inspired both enthusiasm and hesitation. While the promise of streamlined operations and elevated guest experiences is clear, the reality on the ground is more complex. Automation is not sweeping across the guest journey uniformly; rather, it is advancing in fits and starts, finding strong footholds in some areas while barely disrupting others. This analysis offers a structured, stage by stage examination of where automation is currently outperforming manual systems, where the two coexist in equilibrium, and where the irreplaceable value of human interaction still holds firm. The objective is not to crown a victor in the automation versus manual debate, but to understand how these modes of service interact and where their balance best serves both operational goals and guest expectations.

Carl Winston
By Carl Winston, Founding Director, Payne School, L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at San Diego State University (SDSU)
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Hospitality Tech Doesn’t Speak For Itself

Let’s be honest. In hospitality tech, shouting louder doesn’t mean being heard. You can have the best product, the most visionary team, and the slickest interface in the industry, but if you can’t tell your story clearly, to the right people, at the right time, you’ll be stuck spinning your wheels. Strategic communication isn’t just about press releases and buzzwords. It’s about translating complexity into clarity, turning technical features into business value, and building a brand people actually trust. Whether you're courting investors, selling to hotel operators, or rallying your internal team, great communication is your unfair advantage. And in a noisy, crowded, fast moving market, it might just be your most important one.

Anne Bleeker
By Anne Bleeker, Founder and Managing Director, IN2 Consulting
Opinion Article Development

Caribbean Investment Opportunities: USVI's Hotel Development Act Offers Attractive Incentives

The Hotel Development and Finance Program Act (HDA) is a program created by the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) government through its Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority (USVIEDA). The USVI is a territory of the United States located in the Caribbean Basin and includes the four main islands of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, and the smaller Water Island, as well as dozens of other minor islands. To be eligible for HDA benefits, a project must be located on one of the four named islands.The first benefit available through the HDA is the hotel occupancy tax (HOT) rebate. Hotel guests on the Islands are currently charged a 12.5% tax on rooms revenue, and investors can apply to receive an annual rebate of half or all of that tax for up to 30 years.Another incentive available to properties with a gaming operation is the Designated Casino Tax rebate. Properties that generate revenues through gambling offerings are subject to taxes of 8.0% of gross revenues from gaming operations in years one and two, 10.0% in years three and four, and 12.0% thereafter. Similar to the HOT, investors can apply for a rebate of either half of the casino tax or the full amount for up to 30 years.The third component of the HDA is the Economic Recovery Fee (ERF). The ERF incentive was added to the HDA following the particularly devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Investors can apply to have an ERF tax (up to 7.5% of rooms revenue) added to their property’s guest bills. This tax would then be returned to the investor annually as a rebate for up to 30 years.These incentives are intended to offset development costs (including redevelopment, renovation, and new construction) incurred by investors in hospitality projects (largely hotels and resorts) on the Islands that are oriented towards tourists and visitors. Thus, the HOT, Designated Casino Tax, and/or ERF benefits will expire after either ownership’s recoupment of the property’s development costs (excluding operating costs and owner-funded capital improvements after the initial investment), or a maximum period of 30 years.

Kannan Sankaran
By Kannan Sankaran, Managing Director of the HVS Consulting & Valuation practice in Washington, D.C, HVS
Virgin Islands (USA)
Development Opening

Zemi Miches Punta Cana All‑Inclusive Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton Debuts in the Dominican Republic’s Undiscovered Paradise

Today marks Hilton's (NYSE: HLT) debut of Zemi Miches Punta Cana All-Inclusive Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton -representing the first Curio Collection all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. Facing the pristine shores of Playa Esmeralda, where sophistication meets nature in a white sand paradise, the breathtaking, oceanfront 500-room resort offers the perfect blend of local tradition and world-class services. Guests are welcomed into a cultural immersion inspired by the traditions of the region's indigenous Taíno people, complemented by an array of exceptional amenities, including 14 distinct dining venues, bars and lounges; enriching kids club programming; multiple pools and 2,000 feet of beachfront; as well as Club Azure, a premium category offering guest rooms, suites and bungalows with exclusive benefits and tailored experiences.

Curio – A Collection by Hilton
Miches, Dominican Republic
Hotel Yearbook Article The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

Shaping the Future of Hospitality: Innovations and Technologies for the Present and Beyond

Let’s face it. Hospitality isn’t what it used to be. And that’s a good thing. We’ve moved beyond bellhops and buffets as the main differentiators. Today’s guest doesn’t just want a clean room and a friendly smile. They expect seamless, intuitive, tech-powered experiences that feel personal without feeling invasive. At the same time, hotel teams are navigating a complex mix of pressure points, from labor shortages to cybersecurity, from contactless everything to space tourism, no less.

Tevfik Demirciftci
By Tevfik Demirciftci, Assistant Professor of Hospitality, Colorado Mesa University