IDeaS recently held its annual client conference Converge with the theme of "Bold Moves, Big Impact: A New Era in Hospitality"
The "right time, right place" mantra has always been complete nonsense to me. It treats humans like logical machines, as if only the left side of their brain exists, ignoring emotion and gut feeling, which is what ultimately drives decisions.
If the real question is about skills, mindset, and capabilities, then here's my take: Skills: a Revenue Manager today must think strategically, not just tactically. Revenue management is about defining where the business should go in terms of product and revenue in the next 3–5 years.
A broader skill set — especially in marketing — is becoming increasingly beneficial. Since specialized tasks can now be handled perfectly by AI, commercial roles are moving closer together. This shift makes broad, cross-functional skills more important than ever.
The Revenue Manager we need today looks very different from the one many hotels still have in place. The role can no longer be defined by Excel spreadsheets and static reports. The markets move too fast, the data is too complex, and the opportunities are too big to leave in the hands of manual processes.
The award-winning Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal will continue to redefine luxury with the culmination of a multi-year property-wide transformation with a grand reveal planned on October 1. The final phase of the renovation includes a complete redesign of all 112 guest rooms, suites, beachfront suites, presidential beachfront suite, casitas, and villas, as well as additional updates to the Beach Club Restaurant, adult pool, and the Salon at the Waldorf Astoria Spa.
The debate over proprietary vs. open AI is a symptom of a deeper issue: whether hospitality is willing to collaborate to truly move forward together. At Alliants, the path is open—not about building walled gardens. Distrust of tech vendors has pushed many large hotel brands to build in-house, often because people weren"t listening to one another openly. Innovation rarely happens in a closed room.
When it comes to where our Distribution landscape is headed - it's not even a question. Of course uniting our efforts is the only way to go. Otherwise we'll lose another OTA battle. But there's much more to the world of AI functionalities, it has its tenticles in every part of our tech ecosystem, not distribution alone.
I think we are in danger of running before we can walk here. MCP is Anthropic’s pitch for an open standard to let "agentic AI" bots built on next-word LLMs share data, for example, an OpenAI bot talking to a Gemini bot. Unless you are Marriott or Hilton with hundreds of in-house developers, or a big OTA like Expedia or Booking.com, this really isn’t something you need to worry about.
You could establish your own protocols instead of MCP, A2A, or other widely endorsed standards for agentic interactions. But that would be like creating your own version of HTTP. Not a great idea. The good news is I don't think companies feel the need to change that basic agent-friendly plumbing.
Costa Rica hotel performance over the past five years has resembled other leisure destinations frequented by Americans. Specifically, higher-end hotels and resort areas have done well, while other areas have remained flat.
RIU Hotels presented its Proudly Committed sustainability strategy in Cancún, Mexico. The event, held at the Riu Caribe, was led by Naomi Riu, Executive Director of the group and head of Corporate Social Responsibility, alongside more than 100 guests, including municipal and state authorities from Quintana Roo, such as the State Secretary of Tourism, Bernardo Cueto, as well as the various organisations supported by RIU, key industry figures, and members of the media.
Hilton welcomed government officials and project partners to Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in elegant, sustainable hospitality in the Guanacaste region. Set atop the dramatic cliffs of Punta Cacique with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, the ceremony marked a major milestone in Hilton's global luxury expansion—particularly across Latin America.
The luxury hospitality environment is dynamic and often unpredictable, requiring leaders to navigate challenges, whether it's adjusting to changing guest expectations, managing a diverse team, or responding to unforeseen circumstances.
The decisive skill I feel separates a great GM is "managing the balanced scorecard" - enlivening employee engagement, amplifying the guest experience, and ensuring financial stability. Too often, the General Manager confuses what is truly important and relevant to the hospitality business.
For me, the role of a luxury hotel GM is first and foremost that of a balancing act. Depending on the context, whether corporate or private ownership, the GM must be able to adapt and understand stakeholders' expectations. They must be able to deal with ambiguity and create added value.
Strategic foresight distinguishes outstanding luxury hotel general managers from their peers. Empathy empowers a general manager (GM) to understand and anticipate the diverse needs of guests, staff, owners, and partners. In luxury hospitality, emotional connections are crucial; guests often remember how they felt during their stay far more than the details of their accommodations.
Sat amongst dense flora, XELA Tulum cultivates the feeling of a private beachside residence. The palapa roof rises like a sculptural tribute to tradition, while the 12 individually designed rooms and suites feature custom pieces that reflect the local craft heritage. A roof terrace boasts 360-degree views of the surrounding sea and jungle, and an infinity pool leads the way to 50 meters of secluded beachfront.
IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, celebrates the signing of six Mexico hotels for the premium voco hotels brand, in partnership with Alliance Hotels. The conversions will expand IHG’s upscale offering in Mexico, providing owners with a stylish, welcoming and distinctive brand that elevates their existing properties, optimizes returns and attracts new guests.
Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (Sonesta) today announced the first two properties under its strategic alliance with AKEN Hotels & Resorts. This initial phase of the relationship includes two hotels in Argentina, marking a significant step in Sonesta’s core LATAM market expansion goals.
It was inevitable that we would move to conversational AI and on-demand UI. The writing was on the wall years ago. Hotels will be caught off guard as OTA AI agents beat them without mercy at the pricing game. It’s time to build a defensive tool.
We will still need beautifully designed websites and flows — but more as validation layers and brand showcases than as discovery engines. OTAs and suppliers will increasingly serve as structured data ecosystems rather than pure UX-driven platforms.
Are we moving to a future - interesting... Though, you remove glossy images and brand (the websites of today), don't we just return to the flat green text screens of travel agents past, but this time operated by AI? Where description and detail was the important asset to capture interest and convert the booking?
The recently formed Royalton Hotels & Resorts announced today that it will officially take over the management of Royalton Riviera Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino, and Royalton Hideaway Riviera Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort – Adults Only, beginning December 7, 2025.
Overall, there is no difference between preparing a dataset for AI and preparing a dataset for the myriads of other tech tools and business uses. By AI here, we mean Generative (Gen) AI-next-best-word, probability & correlation-based tools. Traditional analytical tools need normalised data (third normal form etc.) using Structured Query Language (SQL) with potential ambiguities removed in the design. Gen AI is useful to analyse text documents which are, by definition, unstructured, but it still acts as a glorified "word cloud" linking items together by frequency and probability. The main hospitality systems - PMS, POS, Spa, RMS, CRS, CRM - were built on normalized databases precisely to prevent mismatches, duplication, and gaps. Even then, duplicate guest profiles remain common, eg when a frequent guest changes email or surname. The better PMSes use fuzzy matching to ease de-duplication, but this remains a governance issue.
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's largest lodging franchisors, has opened the Radisson Blu Bariloche, a modern retreat designed for travelers seeking an elevated experience with access to stunning natural scenery and year-round outdoor adventures. Set along the crystal waters of Lake Nahuel Huapi and among the breathtaking peaks of the Andes Mountains, the property offers a gateway to one of Argentina's most famed destinations.
It so happens I have a deep background on this topic. Over almost a decade, I deployed enterprise-level customer data consolidation for many of the world's leading luxury brands. In this capacity, developing the methodology and guiding execution of this specific desired outcome scores of times. The process always begins with the standardization of data and the rollout of those standards, followed by the cleanup of information sets once the standards are in place. Only after that point is true consolidation a reality.
I believe priority #1 for independent hoteliers, midsize and smaller hotel brands is to create true two-way APIs among three crucial technology pieces: PMS-CRS-CRM. This is the only way to prepare the property for the agentic AI, expected to take over hotel bookings, guest relationships and personalization over the next years.