Adam Mogelonsky discusses strategies for hotels to capture FIFA World Cup demand while building long-term direct booking systems that extend beyond the event.
HCN's commerce media network transforms hotel room tablets into advertising platforms, claiming 90%+ engagement rates and targeting affluent travelers when they're most receptive.
The boutique hotel brand introduces a guest-driven Instagram campaign offering free stays in exchange for sharing memorable experiences.
RBC partners with Hopper Technology Solutions to upgrade Canada's largest loyalty program with enhanced booking features and price insights.
The idea that “search is dead” is mostly an exaggeration. What is really happening is a change in how people find information online, not the disappearance of search itself. For hoteliers, this difference is important because people are still searching for hotels, but the way they search and where the traffic goes is starting to change.
Traditional search isn't dying — it's disaggregating. The front-end experience is shifting dramatically, but the underlying data infrastructure remains largely the same. When ChatGPT or Perplexity answers a hotel query, it's still drawing from indexed web content, reviews, and structured data that lives in the same ecosystem traditional SEO has always served.
Survey of 2,142 travelers shows 83% prioritize trust over price, with rewards programs and thoughtful service gestures driving value perceptions more than basic amenities.
IRIS promotes mobile ordering solutions for hotels to maximize F&B revenue during the 2026 FIFA World Cup across North America.
GBTA-ALTOUR study of 168 travel managers reveals 32% report stricter policies today, with 64% interested in AI-generated policy explainers to improve compliance.
The ceremony honored 500+ industry leaders with Platinum winners across Paid, Earned, Owned, and Multi-Channel marketing categories.
Lodging Interactive's annual contest raised $1,500 for The Healing Place of New Hanover County through hotel social media engagement.
This really resonated with me. People aren't leaving social media; they're moving where they think and decide. The public feed is noise; the real influence now happens inside private conversations. In hospitality, that's seismic: guests no longer "discover" hotels, they ask chatbots where to stay and trust the answer.
Chatbots are not replacing social media, but they are taking over the part that matters most. Social networks are still where people watch, scroll, and perform. Chatbots are where people think, decide, and ask questions they would not ask in public.
It will turn into "anti-social media marketing", where introverts go down the spiral of never-ending conversations with their AI bff, bombarded by paid ads to reinforce the downfall.
The invitation-only symposium on February 19, 2026 will focus on AI integration in luxury hospitality marketing and revenue optimization strategies.
A Chicago luxury hotel's Google Display Network campaign generated $150,000 in breakfast package revenue with 12.5:1 ROAS, tripling initial targets.
The survey of 500+ U.S. luxury travelers shows 79% plan to increase spending in 2026, with 60% willing to prepay for 20% discounts.
Choice Hotels partners with Keegan-Michael Key for its third consecutive year to launch a multi-channel campaign across TV, digital, and social platforms through 2026.
The article raises a timely and necessary challenge to the traditional franchise value proposition. Distribution, technology, and digital visibility are no longer exclusive to brands, while fees, rigid standards, and limited data access continue to pressure owner returns.
KAYAK, the world's leading travel search engine, has dropped its 2026 'What the Future' (WTF) Report, offering a look at the destinations and travel behaviors that will shape the year ahead. Along with exclusive community data from TikTok, the report focuses on the places and patterns that matter before they become mainstream news. In its second edition, the WTF report uses billions of KAYAK user queries to spotlight overlooked destinations offering lower prices, fewer crowds and more flexibility.
Tambourine creates new digital platform for Ted Turner's four New Mexico conservation properties spanning one million acres of preserved wilderness.
The idea of AI-crafted reviews doesn't worry me as much as the possibility of losing the emotional color that real guests bring to the table. Yes, quick prompts will make feedback easier and remove a lot of noise but hospitality has always lived in the small details that guests describe in their own words.
Can the future of hotel reviews be completely AI-generated? - Yes. Will it? Only if we think reviews will continue to be read by humans, which is highly unlikely, as already they're mostly digested by LLMs through semantic analysis to derive trends, sentiment, and suggested areas of improvement.
In the next 3–7 years, expect: 95% of reviews to be AI-generated from structured input, platforms to become "reputation orchestrators", users to see personalized, not universal, review summaries, hotels to optimize for models, not guests, because models shape guest choice.
This is a really thought-provoking take. I agree that metasearch isn't dead. it's evolving, quietly powering AI-driven interfaces rather than existing as a visible marketplace. The first to benefit will be those who can move fast and think at scale likely OTAs while traditional booking engines risk becoming just another costly layer.
Rather than disappearance, we're witnessing transfiguration: the logic of metasearch is alive, but its form is shifting from a visible comparison table to an invisible, integrated intelligence layer.
Simone's argument resonates strongly with me. If metasearch has dissolved into the invisible infrastructure of distribution, then the next challenge is redefining where real value lies. With conversational AI agents now capable of pre-filtering, recommending, and contextualizing travel options, simply consolidating data from various sources is no longer enough.