By Frank Reeves
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HospITALY Brings 60 Italian Voices to the World Panel, Sloan Dean Asks Who Employs Your AI Agents, Accor and Hard Rock Sign Global Partnership
Monday brought the launch of HospITALY, a new World Panel for Italian hospitality, and an argument that hotel owners should settle now who owns the AI agents in their management agreements.
Why AI agents aren't booking your rooms yet
Despite millions of AI agent users, hotel bookings completed inside AI remain near zero because the final step still redirects to OTAs, and most consumers won't let agents pay autonomously.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
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Emirates’ Centre of Hospitality Excellence opens its doors to UAE brands and businesses
Emirates opens its USD 8 million Centre of Hospitality Excellence in Dubai to external UAE businesses, offering tailored 1-5 day training programmes in fine dining, wine, gastronomy, leadership and guest experience.
Nobody Wants to Be First
The author argues that hotel owners must negotiate agent ownership, data portability, and performance-based fees into HMAs before AI becomes a standard clause operators dictate on their own terms.
By Sloan Dean, Founder & CEO, AIHG
Hotel guest satisfaction, what it really means and how to make it better
A practical guide covering the five key drivers of hotel guest satisfaction, how to measure them at each stage of the guest journey, and which technology tools support improvement.
By Victoria Sparkes, Digital Content Writer for Hospitality, Access Hospitality
Recent Appointments
View allWhat Sheets Do Hotels Use? A Practical Guide to Hotel-Quality Sheets
A buying guide for hotel housekeeping and purchasing teams covering thread count, weave types, fabric blends, sizing, and par levels for hotel sheets.
By Camilo Sosa, E-commerce Manager, Hotel Items (A & S Suppliers, Inc.)
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Trading Places
A regional controller recounts how a spontaneous job swap with a colleague led him from Canada to San Francisco, hinging on a tense budget review with skeptical asset managers.
By David Lund, The Hotel Financial Coach, David Lund
Supercharge your hotel's digital marketing with your CRM data
A practical guide on connecting CRM guest data to digital marketing to drive direct bookings, repeat stays, and ancillary revenue through segmentation, retargeting, and AI-driven personalization.
Profit leaks hiding in hotel procurement
PurchasePlus experts and The Landmark Collection's Group Director of Purchasing discuss how digital procurement tools cut costs, reduce invoice errors, and build scalable purchasing strategies across multi-property operations.
Ryan Haynes, Director/Lead Consultant, Hoteliers' Voice Podcast/ Haynes MarComs Ltd
Rosa Grand Milano – Starhotels Collezione unveils refreshed interiors and strengthens its connection with the city
In the heart of Milan, overlooking Piazza Fontana and just a few steps from the Duomo, Rosa Grand Milano – Starhotels Collezione unveils its newly refurbished public spaces, from the lobby and reception to the Grand Lounge & Bar, designed to enhance the guest experience and strengthen its connection with the city. Combining contemporary design, comfort and a welcoming social atmosphere, the project reflects Milan’s identity through spaces designed for every stage of a guest’s stay.The refurbishment goes beyond aesthetics, expressing an approach to hospitality in which spaces, services and people come together to shape the experience. Deeply rooted in Milan, Rosa Grand captures the city’s energy through interiors that cater to a variety of needs, welcoming both hotel guests and those who choose it as a meeting place in the city.The lobby and reception now offer a brighter, more contemporary atmosphere. Warm tones and carefully selected materials are complemented by gold, a longstanding feature of Rosa Grand’s decorative identity, now reinterpreted through contemporary details, reflections and a renewed focus on lighting.Light plays a central role in the redesigned interiors, defining architectural forms, bringing out the qualities of the materials and creating an atmosphere that shifts throughout the day. The new layout balances elegance with informality, offering a more open, relaxed and comfortable welcome.The project reflects the dialogue between hospitality and design culture that distinguishes the Starhotels Group, celebrating Italian design through a selection of furniture and accessories from some of its most recognised names, including Molteni and Artemest.This vision also finds expression in La Grande Bellezza – The Dream Factory, Starhotels’ contemporary patronage initiative dedicated to supporting and championing exceptional Italian craftsmanship.The concierge desk is also an integral part of this new experience, serving as both a point of reference for guests and a gateway to the city. Drawing on the expertise of the hotel’s concierges – all members of Les Clefs d’Or, the prestigious international association of hotel concierges – guests can discover a more authentic side of Milan through tailored recommendations, itineraries and a carefully curated selection of places to visit.
Supplier News
View allMews Announces New Alliance Partnership With Preferred Hotels & Resorts, The World’s Largest Independent Hotel Brand
Preferred Hotels & Resorts members across Americas and EMEA can now access Mews PMS, POS, RMS and Payments at preferential pricing through a new Alliance Partner Program affiliation.
Hotel Ratings Are Rising, but Guests Are Becoming Less Positive, Shiji’s Q3 2026 Global Benchmark Finds
Shiji's Q3 2026 benchmark of 11.9M reviews finds GRI rose to 87.0% while positive sentiment fell to 69.8%, with response times halving to 3.1 days and Ctrip doubling its global review share.
DarkLight Collection chooses Mews to power a new generation of dark-sky hospitality
DarkLight Collection, a luxury dark-sky glamping brand with four US properties in development, selected Mews as its single operating system before opening, integrating PMS, revenue, housekeeping and smart room tech on one platform.
North Beach Village Resorts brings nine boutique hotels together on Cloudbeds’ unified platform
North Beach Village Resorts deployed Cloudbeds across nine Fort Lauderdale boutique hotels, consolidating PMS, channel management, operations and payments into one platform for a 390-key collection.
Customer Alliance and Cloudbeds Partner to Elevate Guest Experience and Automated Reputation Management for Global Hoteliers
Customer Alliance integrates with Cloudbeds PMS to automate post-stay surveys, review collection on Google and TripAdvisor, and real-time feedback alerts via the Cloudbeds Marketplace.
Inn-Flow Appoints Lokesh Seth as CEO to Accelerate Growth and AI-Powered Innovation in Hospitality
Inn-Flow names Lokesh Seth as CEO to drive growth and AI development; founder John Erhart moves to Executive Chairman, staying involved with customers and operators.
IDeaS to Convene Third Resorts Revenue Council as Resort Operators Accelerate Commercial Strategy Evolution
IDeaS will host its third Resorts Revenue Council on Feb. 10, 2027, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, gathering resort commercial leaders to shape future innovation in resort revenue management software.
What Happens When Hotel Automation Only Half Works?
Using late checkout as a case study, this piece examines why hotel automation must propagate decisions across all affected teams and systems, not just update a single field in the PMS.
Hospitality Net to Launch HospITALY at BTO 2026, Bringing Together 60 Leading Voices in Italian Hospitality
Hospitality Net launches HospITALY at BTO 2026 in Florence, a World Panel uniting 60+ Italian hospitality experts to share independent perspectives on industry topics.
The Spa Revenue Trap: Why Luxury Hotels Need to Rethink Wellness Profitability
The article argues luxury hotels over-rely on revenue as a spa performance metric, urging operators to adopt contribution margins, capacity utilisation and payroll efficiency as measures of true wellness profitability.
By Darko Vasić
Kessler Collection Reintroduces St. Augustine Icon as Grand Bohemian Casa Monica
The Kessler Collection introduced the newly reimagined Casa Monica Resort & Spa under its new name, Grand Bohemian Casa Monica, St. Augustine, marking a new chapter for the storied 137-room hotel and the Grand Bohemian brand. An icon in America's oldest city for nearly 140 years, the property is welcoming guests following a thoughtful renovation that honors its Spanish and Moorish Revival architecture. The transformation brings a renewed focus on design, art, cuisine and distinctive Grand Bohemian experiences, while honoring the property’s legacy as the first hotel to join Marriott’s Autograph Collection in 2010.
What the New Congress Could Mean for Hotel Labor Policy
Three scenarios face U.S. hotels in 2027-28: legislative stalemate, bipartisan deal on tip/overtime deductions, or Senate confirmation battles that reshape the NLRB's balance of power.
By Robert Firpo-Cappello, Vice President, Communications, HFTP
Economic Forecast 2027: Lodging Sector Session with Bernie Baumohl
Economist Bernie Baumohl, ranked top US forecaster in 2025, projects 2.1% GDP growth in 2027 with no recession, constrained hotel supply, and roughly 4% RevPAR growth for the lodging sector.
By Bob Rauch, President of RAR Hospitality, R.A. Rauch & Associates, Inc.
Europeans Seek City Breaks and Culture & Heritage Trips, as Three in Four Plan to Travel this Autumn and Winter
ETC's Wave 26 report finds 76% of Europeans plan autumn/winter travel, with AI tools used by 40% of planners and rising interest in off-peak and lesser-known destinations.
Accor Group & Hard Rock International Sign Global Strategic Partnership
Accor and Hard Rock International will link their loyalty platforms and distribution networks, with Ennismore leading Hard Rock's expansion across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific.
PATA, EATOF, and Gangwon State Join Forces to Strengthen Tourism Destination Resilience
PATA and EATOF will host a Tourism Destination Resilience training workshop in Gangwon State, South Korea on November 11, 2026, targeting local tourism officials and industry stakeholders.
Why Hospitality’s Best Venues Prioritize No-Change Over Reinvention
Drawing on conversations with operators, the piece argues that enduring hospitality businesses succeed by preserving core identity and consistency rather than chasing reinvention, with technology and AI acting as tools to support, not redefine, that foundation.
By Chan Wai Sun, Regional Marketing Manager, Shiji
Charleston’s Expanding Economy Sets the Stage for Hotel Market Growth
HVS analysis of Charleston, SC finds ADR and RevPAR on an upward trajectory, backed by record tourism, a $1B+ Boeing expansion, and major healthcare campus developments driving new hotel demand.
By Kaitlyn Hennessy, Consulting and Valuation Project Manager at HVS St. Louis, HVS