Can Access Credentials Inspire Local Discovery?
GCSTIMES explores how hotel key cards, designed with local food-inspired graphics and FSC-certified materials, can serve as guest touchpoints that encourage neighbourhood exploration.
News
Trust wins group business. The data proves it.
A report based on 900+ event professionals reveals what trust signals influence venue shortlisting decisions and how AI-driven discovery is reshaping the planner evaluation process.
By Diana Tamboly, Manager, Field Marketing, Hospitality Cloud, Cvent Europe Ltd
Cloudbeds Launches OTA Ads to Seamlessly Manage OTA Campaigns within the Platform
Cloudbeds' new OTA Ads feature lets hoteliers launch and manage Expedia TravelAds campaigns directly within the Cloudbeds platform, consolidating paid OTA visibility alongside metasearch, retargeting, and reputation tools.
We keep winning. Nothing changes.
A sharp editorial argues that regulatory wins against OTAs and platforms have delivered no meaningful revenue shift for hotels, and that direct guest relationships remain the only distribution asset that compounds.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
Radisson Hotel Group’s Creator Hub wins global awards as nano creator platform reshapes travel marketing
Radisson's nano-creator platform now spans 400+ hotels in 64 countries, claiming 22x higher conversion than macro-influencers and winning multiple industry awards since launch.
Stop Screenshotting Your AI Visibility. It Is One Deal of the Cards.
Research across 28,600 AI answers shows the top hotel result changed 40% of the time within one hour, making single-screenshot AI visibility checks unreliable for boutique hoteliers.
By Lynn Patchett, Founder & Head of Marketing, Kollective
Google's now selling placement inside the AI answer — starting with IHG, by invitation only
Google's new Direct Offers format places sponsored promotions inside AI-generated travel recommendations, with IHG named as the first hotel partner in an invitation-only program.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
Booking Holdings' 'connected trip' vision never materialized, and AI is the latest threat
Seven years after launching its "connected trip" vision, Booking Holdings still lacks true itinerary integration, and agentic AI now threatens to execute that vision on behalf of competing platforms.
By Mario Gavira, CMO, travelier.com
The law that just fined Google has been running on Booking.com since December 2024
The EU's Digital Markets Act already forced Booking.com to drop rate parity clauses in December 2024, giving hoteliers the right to undercut OTA rates, but paid placement still dominates visibility.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
Your Hotel's Website Is No Longer Where the Decision Gets Made
As Google evolves into an agentic booking platform and AI tools reshape travel discovery, independent hotels risk being bypassed before a guest ever visits their site, making structured data and brand definition more critical than web design.
By Sébastien Felix, Founder, Influence Society
The EU fined Google for burying its rivals in hotel search. The hotel was never one of them
The EU's €460M fine against Google for favoring its own hotel search results will reshape the results page toward comparison sites, leaving hotel direct links increasingly sidelined or monetized.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
What I Learned Judging a Global Commercial Awards Program Most Sales Leaders Never Get Near
A judge for HSMAI Commercial Awards Asia Pacific 2026 shares what separates winning submissions: evidence of durable systems over individual heroics, honest friction, and outcome-linked metrics.
By Muhammad Tanveer, Author - The Sales Leadership Brief (Linkedin Newsletter), The Sales Leadership Brief
The Hotel Guest Journey No Longer Starts with Google
Travelers now discover hotels via TikTok, Instagram, and AI tools like ChatGPT before ever reaching a hotel website, forcing marketers to build presence across multiple platforms.
By Debbie Miller, Digital Marketing and Communications Professional and member of Cayuga Hospitality Consultants, Cayuga Hospitality Consultants
Google, Take the Wheel (And the Budget): Navigating Ads’ Hands-Off Future for Hotels
The article warns individually branded hotels against adopting Google's AI Max, citing risks of irrelevant keyword matching and misdirected traffic to competitor properties under shared brand URL structures.
By Kylie Chen, Director of Paid Strategy, Cogwheel Marketing & Analytics
Increase Hotel Revenue, without the Operational Stress
GuestCentric argues that AI tools, smarter booking journeys, and greater team autonomy over digital commerce can lift direct bookings and cut operational friction for independent hotels.
By Melissa Rodrigues, Lead Content Manager, GuestCentric Systems
U.S. News Announces the 2026-2027 Best Travel Rewards Programs and Debuts New Rankings for Business Travelers
U.S. News ranks Wyndham Rewards, American Airlines AAdvantage, Marriott International, and United Airlines at the top of its 2026-2027 travel rewards and new business traveler program rankings.
The Great Wake Up Debate: Rob Beckett and Holiday Inn Express® Uncover the Wake Up Rituals Defining the UK and Ireland
Holiday Inn Express partners with comedian Rob Beckett to launch a consumer PR campaign based on research into UK and Ireland morning routines, sleep habits, and breakfast preferences.
Webinar on July 29: The AI Visibility Flywheel - How Brands Get Featured in AI Search
Milestone's July 29 webinar covers how brands can improve discovery in AI-powered search engines, including entity building, content authority, and a practical visibility roadmap.
AI is changing hotel search. Is your hotel ready to be recommended?
Cendyn webinar covers how AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini are reshaping hotel discovery, and what content strategies marketers can use to stay visible in AI-generated recommendations.
Apollos Gause in conversation with Rick Posey
Independence Is Mile One, Not the Finish Line
As AI increasingly drives hotel discovery by citing OTAs and third-party editorial over hotel websites, independent owners must prioritize earned media to build discoverable, brand-proof reputation.
By Patrick Burkhardt, Senior Director, Sales, Curacity