IHG now operates 200+ hotels in Canada with nearly 40 more in the pipeline, including first voco signings in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Niagara Falls, and a Garner debut in Alberta in 2027.
Hawkins Way Capital, a fully vertically integrated real estate company with $3 billion of assets under management, announces the launch of the fourth hotel under the new Series by Marriott™ brand — FOUND Hotels, Chicago, marking the latest U.S. property to join the new brand. In tandem with the conversion, the hotel debuts several thoughtful enhancements designed to elevate both the guest and communal experience.
The Charleston Place, a defining landmark in the heart of Charleston's historic district at the corners of King, Market and Meeting Streets, announces the completion of the next phase of its ongoing $150+ million reimagination, ushering in a renewed era for the beloved hotel and longtime gathering place for guests, locals, and visitors alike. Building on the property's transformation under BHC, this latest chapter introduces a newly reimagined Club Level, an elevated rooftop pool experience with garden bar, a redesigned arrival area, and newly refreshed guest rooms and suites.
Adam Mogelonsky makes the case that the longevity revolution is no longer a luxury niche but a structural shift in guest expectations and that the most overlooked opportunity lies not in spas or fitness centers, but in the guestroom itself. For time-poor travelers who rarely make it to hotel amenities, the room is the only wellness touchpoint that reaches everyone.
James Watson argues that AI's most promising role in hospitality design is not to generate atmospheres autonomously, but to give human designers the precision and responsiveness needed to make spaces that genuinely breathe — adapting in real time to occupancy, mood, and moment. The risk, he warns, is not that AI replaces designers, but that without strong human vision guiding it, it flattens the industry into an algorithmically pleasant, characterless sameness.
Alan Young argues that voice recognition technology at the front desk is not a cost-cutting measure but a means of restoring something the industry has been quietly losing: the agent's attention. By offloading administrative commands to speech, the technology frees staff to do what no system can replicate — make a guest feel genuinely seen upon arrival.
A Conrad New York Downtown executive outlines how hotels can use destination storytelling, co-created itineraries, multilingual content, and local partnerships to build cultural relevance into their marketing.
Terence Ronson looks ahead to 2031, when frictionless automation will have made most hotels equally smart, equally efficient, and equally forgettable — and argues that the competitive differentiator will be a new role he calls the Human Experience Orchestrator. Part behavioral psychologist, part operational commander, the HXO is the person who reads the AI's outputs and then decides, with genuine human judgment, what to actually do with them.
U.S. hotel ADR rose 9.2% and RevPAR climbed 9.6% for the week of 21-27 June 2026, with Miami and San Francisco seeing outsized gains driven by FIFA World Cup matches.
The author argues that HITEC 2026 overlooked a key market gap: back-office AI that reduces overhead and drives margins, while vendors focused almost entirely on guest-facing tools.
Catherine Donaldson takes a decidedly practical approach, moving past the philosophical debates about AI in hospitality to focus on where it is already delivering measurable results today. From AI voice agents answering calls around the clock to agentic workflows that coordinate operations without manual handoffs, she maps five proven use cases and makes the case that the performance gap between adopters and laggards is already widening.
Rising legal exposure, health inspection failures, and leadership scandals illustrate why formal governance frameworks are now a strategic necessity for hotel operators of all sizes.
George Roukas identifies the layer most hotel AI strategies are skipping entirely: execution. Brands can build sophisticated loyalty programs and accept intent-rich bookings from AI agents, but if the operational infrastructure cannot reliably deliver what was promised — the right room, the right amenities, the right moment — none of it compounds into loyalty. His argument is that an ontology-based digital twin of hotel operations is what closes that gap, and that now is the time to build it.
Sacramento's lodging market shows RevPAR growth driven by ADR gains, with ~36 hotels in the development pipeline supported by major anchors including the Railyards, airport expansion, and new healthcare facilities.
AHLA CEO Rosanna Maietta marks the first anniversary of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, citing billions in capital investment and job creation driven by the no-tax-on-tips and overtime provisions.
Today, Hilton (NYSE: HLT) celebrates the official debut of Hilton Key West Resort & Marina, the newest addition to the Hilton Hotels & Resorts portfolio in the Florida Keys. Located on Stock Island at the eastern edge of Key West, the 175-room waterfront resort expands Hilton's presence in one of the country's most sought-after leisure destinations, offering guests a marina-front setting, island-inspired dining, flexible meeting space, outdoor adventures, and signature Hilton hospitality.
EVEN Hotel Orlando Universal Blvd by IHG and Staybridge Suites Orlando Universal Blvd by IHG announce the opening of their dual-branded property, bringing together two complementary stay experiences in one of the nation’s most sought-after destinations for leisure and business travel. Thoughtfully designed with contemporary finishes, elevated amenities and welcoming spaces to restore and connect, the hotel delivers a vibrant and stunning arrival experience that is as impressive as its prime Orlando location.
Marriott named Coca-Cola its global beverage partner across carbonated soft drinks, hydration, and functional beverages, with a phased rollout across guestrooms, restaurants, lounges, and events worldwide.
Stephan Wiesener argues that the hospitality AI conversation has moved past experimentation into a harder question: what infrastructure actually allows AI agents to take reliable action across real hotel operations? Through concrete case studies from citizenM, THE FLAG Zürich, and Cocoon & Eckelmann Hotels, he makes the case that open, API-first architecture is the unglamorous foundation on which everything else depends.
Ongoing geopolitical tensions across the Middle East are having a real commercial impact on hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses worldwide. Uncertainty is now shaping how travellers make decisions — where they go, how far ahead they book, and how confident they feel about travel at all.Airspace restrictions and rising operating costs have dampened visitor demand in some regions, while destinations seen as safer alternatives — particularly in Southern Europe, Asia and the Americas — are picking up displaced demand, especially at the luxury and ultra-luxury end of the market, notoriously oblivious of geopolitical tensions.Investors and developers are also treading more carefully.
Much of the industry conversation has focused on what recent Middle East tensions might take away from travel demand. The more interesting question, from where I sit in Portugal, is where that demand goes instead.In my recent piece on the next European hotel buy cycle, I noted that while top-line demand should remain broadly stable in the short term, it will be increasingly reallocated across destinations.Portugal’s latest tourism statistics show the country entered this recent period of geopolitical tension from a position of sustained strength.