The rumors about the end of Google Search are highly exaggerated
Google's 2025 revenue grew 15% to $403B despite AI search rise, with traditional search still receiving 34 times more visits than AI platforms.
Opinion Articles
Commission-Free and Crushing It: The CRM Playbook in Hospitality
The article argues hotels need dedicated CRMs for prospecting since traditional sales systems only manage booked business, citing one property's $1.2M in direct group revenue from nurturing campaigns.
By Susan Tucker, Partner & COO, The Lure Agency, Lure Agency
Changing the Spark Plugs Won’t Start a Car That’s Out of Gas
Hotels waste marketing spend chasing demand instead of creating it, allowing OTAs and intermediaries to control traveler decisions from the start.
By Andrew Paul, Managing Director, Americas Great Resorts
Why Guests Abandon Direct Booking for OTAs, and How to Stop it!
The article explains how most hotel websites convert only 2% of visitors, losing guests to OTAs due to decision friction rather than traffic problems.
By Joao Trindade, VP of Marketing & Product, GuestCentric Systems
The 2026 FIFA World Cup: Strategic Sales Positioning for Hotels Beyond Host Cities
Hotels outside FIFA 2026 host cities can capture significant demand through early positioning as strategic bases for teams, corporations, and multi-city travelers.
By Muhammad Tanveer, Author - The Sales Leadership Brief (Linkedin Newsletter), The Sales Leadership Brief
Hotels Are Outperforming Brands at Storytelling — and Marketers Should Pay Attention
The shift to storytelling-driven hospitality reflects rising guest expectations for authentic, immersive experiences rooted in place and history.
By Dulani Porter, Partner, SPARK
When Customer Experience Becomes Customer Transformation
The article argues businesses should help customers achieve aspirations rather than just deliver services, citing examples from fitness equipment to Disney parks.
By Shep Hyken, Customer Service and Experience Expert, Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author, Shepard Presentations, LLC.
If You’re Selling to Hotels, You’re Probably Doing It Wrong
Industry expert explains why vendors fail at hotel sales: they pitch to people without authority, lead with features over business problems, and ignore hospitality's complex decision hierarchy.
By Cory Falter, Partner, Lure Agency
A hotel juggling identity - marketing profiling, personalising and targeting for success
Bradley Spielman from Whittlebury Park explains how the hotel uses guest personas and targeted CRM data to market effectively across golf, spa, events, and motorsport audiences.
By Ryan Haynes, Director/Lead Consultant, Hoteliers' Voice Podcast/ Haynes MarComs Ltd
Phone Calls Are “The Last Mile” of Hotel Distribution
Hotels lose significant revenue when staff fail to convert phone inquiries into direct bookings, missing opportunities to avoid 10-25% OTA commissions.
By Doug Kennedy, President of the Kennedy Training Network, Kennedy Training Network (KTN)
This is How Your Customers Think About Your Customer Service in 2026
Survey of 2,000 US consumers reveals 42% experienced more bad service in 2026 than previous years, with 66% willing to switch companies over poor service.
By Shep Hyken, Customer Service and Experience Expert, Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author, Shepard Presentations, LLC.
The Mille Club: Potato Chip Pricing Lessons
For those who have not followed our writing, the Mille Club refers to properties with rates over one thousand dollars, pounds or euros, with the ‘mille’ picked up from the Italian language. The Mille Club’s premise is that guests at this level are looking for an incredible experience rather than mere accommodations. Instead, hoteliers’ offerings compete for guests independent of location, making comp sets typically geographically derived moot. With great rate comes great expectations…
By Larry Mogelonsky and Adam Mogelonsky
Something is changing in hotel tech and pricing is at the center of it
It’s 8:17 in the morning. You’ve already checked arrivals, glanced at occupancy, answered a question from reception, and flagged a maintenance issue — all before your first coffee is finished. Somewhere in between, you’re also expected to make pricing decisions that will shape your property’s revenue.
By Ewa Gabara, Content Marketing Strategist, RoomPriceGenie
What You Must Take Away from Marriott-Google AI Direct Booking
The 2026 Marriott-Google AI integration bypasses OTAs by enabling direct bookings through natural language search, requiring hotels to digitize all services or become invisible to AI agents.
By Mark Fancourt, Co-Founder & Principal Consultant, TRAVHOTECH
More Than a Meeting Place: Why 80% of Wingspread’s Groups Come Back
There are venues that host meetings.
By Cory Falter, Partner, Lure Agency
Give the Right To Be Right: Free Will, Algorithms, and How Hotels Can Design Real Choice
The author argues hotels can increase direct bookings and guest satisfaction by designing experiences that create perceived autonomy despite algorithmic influence shaping travel decisions.
By Gaspard Bizeul, EHL MGH graduate, HFTP
Check-In, Clock-Out: Hospitality That Moves With the Nomad Lifestyle
The HFTP award-winning analysis explores how hotels must adapt with flexible services, community spaces, and membership models to capture the $120,000+ income digital nomad market.
By Bo Frederique van den Bosch, MSc student in Global Hospitality, HFTP
Luxury: the brand premium pays, but not at any price
The piece argues luxury hotels must balance brand premiums with perceived value, avoiding oversupply that dilutes exclusivity and weakens pricing power.
By Vanguélis Panayotis, CEO MKG Consulting & Hospitality ON / MRICS, Hospitality ON
You Won't Be Replaced by AI but You'll Be Replaced by Someone Who Uses It
The call came at midnight.
By Muhammad Tanveer, Author - The Sales Leadership Brief (Linkedin Newsletter), The Sales Leadership Brief
The Difference Between a Proactive and Reactive Customer Service and CX Strategy
The definition of a proactive customer experience is simple. The company reaches out to the customer before they call about a problem. Sometimes the customer doesn’t even know there is a problem. For example, an Internet provider may experience an outage and send text messages to its customers with ongoing updates. That shows the company is watching out for the customer, and while customers may not love that there is a problem, they love the information and have confidence that the company is doing something about it.
By Shep Hyken, Customer Service and Experience Expert, Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author, Shepard Presentations, LLC.