Shower Stream closed a $2 million seed round to expand its smart shower technology. The device pauses water flow during warm-up using radar sensors, reducing water and energy waste by over 20%. Deployed in 500+ rooms, saving an average of $30,000 per property annually.
The Access Group, a UK-based business management software provider, has agreed to acquire hospitality applicant tracking system Talent Funnel for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close next month. Talent Funnel will join Access Hospitality and become part of the Access Evo platform.
During its H1 2026 earnings call, Accor said that about two-thirds of conversations with hotel owners in the past 12 months have been about AI, and this could reach 90% in the next 12 months. Owners are seeking up to 20% cost savings through AI automation within 12-18 months. CEO Sebastien Bazin mentioned AI applications in personalization, itinerary planning, and loyalty member databases. The company reported revenue of nearly €2.8 billion for H1 2026, up 0.6% YoY, with EBITDA rising to €563 million.
Hilton announced the signing of three lifestyle hotels in Phuket, Chiang Mai, and the Maldives, including a Curio Collection in Phuket and two Tapestry Collection properties in Chiang Mai and the Maldives. This supports Hilton's ambition to surpass 250 luxury and lifestyle hotels in Asia Pacific and double its portfolio in Southeast Asia.
PhocusWire reports AI is changing hotel discovery, with travelers increasingly using AI platforms over traditional search engines. Phocuswright data shows US travelers using AI for travel research rose from 33% in H1 2025 to 56% in H1 2026, while general search engine use dropped from 51% to 35%. Experts advise hotels to optimize for AI visibility to protect direct bookings.
Recently, Hilton Group signed an agreement with Sunshine Insurance Group, announcing the return of the Conrad brand to Sanya Haitang Bay. The project was formerly the Haitang Bay Sun One Hotel, which was delisted at the end of last year and taken over by Conrad for renovation and upgrade. It features guest rooms, suites, and duplex villas, with a kids club, 630 sqm meeting space, 4000 sqm lawn, and 3800 sqm outdoor pool.
On July 24, the Ningbo Donggang Sheraton Hotel was sold at a second auction on Alibaba Assets platform, with Lvshun Group winning at the base price of 361 million yuan. The hotel, built in 2005, was Ningbo's first international five-star hotel, with an appraised value of over 645 million yuan. The first auction started at 452 million yuan but failed. Lvshun Group is the controlling shareholder of time-honored brand Loumaoji.
IHG Hotels & Resorts has announced the beta launch of AI-powered conversational search on IHG.com and the IHG One Rewards app, starting in the US. The feature allows travelers to describe their needs in natural language and receive tailored hotel recommendations with rich content, including interactive maps, real-time availability, and property details. IHG also plans an AI-optimized hotel content platform to improve property visibility in AI searches.
At Phocuswright Europe 2026, executives from Cendyn, HomeToGo, and Penta Hotels discussed how hotels and vacation rentals are navigating rapid AI developments. Simon Matthews, Group CTO of HomeToGo, said the rapid evolution is exhausting and requires separating hype from value creation. Fritz Müller of Cendyn emphasized starting with the basics, such as discoverability and operational implications. Ksenia Tarasova of Penta Hotels believes hotels are not ready for AI and should first clean up past errors.
Six Senses has launched a new women's wellness retreat, 'The Yin Way Retreat – The Way of a Woman,' designed to support women's wellbeing across all life stages. The first session will be held at Six Senses Kanuhura in the Maldives in October 2026, followed by Six Senses Kyoto in Japan in December. The retreat blends modern science with traditional Chinese medicine, using Yin principles, hormonal health workshops, and more to help women restore balance.
According to Meadin Research data, as of August 2026, Henan Province has 1,038 county-level chain hotels with 78,413 rooms, averaging 76 rooms per hotel. The top ten counties account for 320 hotels, 30.8% of the total. Xinzheng leads with 67 hotels. Mid-scale and economy hotels dominate at 73.1%, with a gap in upscale supply. There is significant potential for mid-to-high-end and boutique hotels to expand into county markets.
IHG Hotels & Resorts, in partnership with Pacini Group, has opened The Venice Times Hotel in Venice, marking the debut of its Vignette Collection brand in Italy. The 30-room property is located in the Cannaregio district, blending art and history for an immersive experience. The hotel supports the restoration of the Naval History Museum and offers unique activities.
Visiting Media, an immersive content provider, and HotelPORT, a hospitality content management company, have partnered to help hotels strengthen digital content and improve commercial performance. The partnership combines immersive storytelling with enterprise content governance, auditing OTA listings, brand websites, and more to improve accuracy, consistency, and engagement. A 90-day pilot will launch.
Phocuswright's U.S. Online Travel Agency Market Essentials 2026 shows OTA gross bookings rose 4% in 2025 to $100.3 billion, representing one fifth of U.S. travel bookings, projected to reach 21% by 2028. However, only 13% of airlines' online passenger revenue flows through OTAs, and air's share of OTA bookings declined to 20%. Hotels account for 63% of OTA bookings, making them the key growth driver. The report warns that if hotel growth slows, other segments may not compensate.
IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the signing of Holiday Inn Express Krabi Ao Nang, a 158-key conversion property in partnership with Chok Deesuk Co., Ltd. Expected to open by end of 2026, it will be the first Holiday Inn Express in Thailand and feature the brand's latest Gen 5 design.
Booking.com has curated a collection of distinctive stays, including ryokans in Hakone, Japan, cave hotels in Matera, Italy, riads in Essaouira, Morocco, overwater villas in the Maldives, and shepherd's huts in Somerset, UK. The report notes 89% of travelers are interested in alternative accommodations.
Amadeus and UN Tourism released the 'Travel Insights 2026: Focus on Europe' report. Between May 2025 and April 2026, European passenger traffic grew 2.3% year-over-year, hotel occupancy rose 2%, and ADR increased 7%. Japan emerged as Europe's fastest-growing long-haul source market, with searches up 62% and bookings up 19%. Czechia and Iceland were among the fastest-growing booked destinations. Travelers aged 46-65 account for about 30% of all travel demand in Europe. Nearly half of bookings are made more than a month in advance.
Industry executives discuss AI's impact on hospitality. Consensus is that AI itself is not a differentiator; data, tech stack, and customer ownership matter. Commoditization risk exists, but data quality and human execution remain key. OTAs may own customers via AI agents, so hotels must invest in data and tech to stay competitive.
Marriott International has spent roughly $1 billion over three years replatforming its central reservation system, property management system, and loyalty platform. It has deployed to 1,700 hotels in the US and Canada, with global rollout planned over the next 12-18 months. The new system will enable more detailed room choices, non-room product booking, and personalization. Marriott is also exploring partnerships with TMCs and AI channels.
Phocuswright report shows U.S. hotel room revenue rose 1% to $207.9 billion in 2025, ADR up just 1%, occupancy fell to 62.3%, first decline since 2020. 2026 projected revenue growth of 3% to $214.7 billion. International arrivals lag and geopolitical tensions are drags, but luxury and corporate travel rebound provide support. OTA and direct channels split stable at 52%/48%, with OTAs expected to grow faster in 2026-2027. AI is a marketing tool today, potentially a distribution channel tomorrow.
Chad Lemon, Director of Product Marketing at BCD Travel, reflects on ProcureCon Travel 2026, noting that high-performing travel programs are being rethought from the ground up rather than incrementally improved. Key themes include integrating policy with traveler experience, building trust in AI, managing multi-source NDC distribution, rising hotel costs, and the importance of open ecosystems. Leading programs connect data, policy, and behavior, offer choice within guardrails, and shift from lowest logical fare to overall value.
Julie Cheetham, six months into her role as CEO of Travalyst, spoke with PhocusWire. She noted that despite global conflict and economic pressure, C-suite commitment to sustainability is increasing. The Travel Impact Model, developed with Google, has been shown in over 160 billion searches, indicating travelers prefer sustainable options when price and routing are similar. She also discussed AI's role in dispersing tourists and multimodal trip planning.
Expedia Group released research based on a survey of 1,500 hotel decision makers across six markets, finding that full connectivity, not just basic connectivity, drives stronger revenue performance, less manual work, and lower operational risk. 81% of fully connected properties say connectivity improved occupancy, ADR, or RevPAR, compared to 52% with basic connectivity.
At HITEC 2026, hospitality executives discussed AI's impact on the relationship between hotels and distribution platforms. Keryn McNamara of Aimbridge Hospitality believes AI can remove middlemen and provide frictionless, customized experiences; Scott Strickland of Wyndham sees AI as an additional booking channel; Floor Bleeker of In2 Consulting thinks AI will democratize distribution and change loyalty; Lennert de Jong of Another Star is more conservative. The discussion also covered changes in the hotel experience by 2030.
At HITEC 2026, several companies launched new products: Amadeus introduced AI commerce solution Amadeus Max, with pilots showing 44.7% of AI-driven visitors reaching the booking engine; Aven Hospitality launched a redesigned booking engine on SynXis with 3x faster page loads; Virdee rebranded as Virdee.ai and launched an AI platform; Oracle embedded AI suite into OPERA Cloud, adopted by Wyndham and others.
RealTime Reservation, a hotel commerce technology provider, has acquired guest experience platform STAY for an undisclosed amount, with investment from Wavecrest Growth Partners. STAY offers a branded mobile app for guests to access hotel services including restaurant reservations, room service, and wellness/activity bookings. The combined company will serve over 2,000 properties across 75+ countries in North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Hospitality marketing tech company Cendyn has launched Wayfinder, a generative engine optimization (GEO) analytics and AI monitoring platform to help hotels improve visibility on AI platforms like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. Built into Cendyn's CMS, it runs simulated prompts to test GEO health.
Video platforms are reshaping travelers' booking journeys, and hotels face a 'speed problem' as their technology systems struggle to keep up with changing consumer habits. A digital expert at Radisson Hotel Group highlighted that legacy operating models are ill-suited to the fast-evolving customer journey, necessitating integrated marketing, distribution, and revenue management, along with cultural change through partnerships.
The hotel industry faces infrastructure and data fragmentation challenges in the AI era. Choice Hotels opts for a cloud-first, enterprise-wide AI integration; Minor Hotels undertakes a ground-up rebuild; Ascott builds a multi-tier architecture. Data fragmentation is a major hurdle to scaling AI, and operating models determine data standardization capabilities.
Indian online travel platform Ixigo has agreed to acquire a 54.66% stake in Brevistay for about $6.9 million. Brevistay specializes in flexible-duration hotel stays. Upon completion, Brevistay will become a subsidiary, and the combined network will include over 10,000 directly contracted hotels.
This week's travel tech news: Eviivo integrates with Mr & Mrs Smith, Yotel appoints new COO and plans to triple portfolio by 2031, OwlTing launches AI booking engine, IHG launches ChatGPT app, D-edge appoints CRO, Shiji partners with Omniboost, Airbnb launches Earnings Protection, Intuitive launches Universal API, Entravel acquires Moca Traveltech, Phunware appoints CEO, InterLnkd launches Nexora, 123Compare.me launches hotel rate report, Geneva Airport partners with Smartvel, Sensible Weather expands guarantees, Agoda partners with KakaoBank.
First Chair Destinations has launched as a hospitality brand focused on vacation rentals in mountain and beach destinations. Its debut portfolio includes approximately 3,500 homes acquired from Casago, previously managed by Vacasa. Founded by former Wyndham and Vacasa executives, it emphasizes local operations and destination-specific hospitality, targeting ski and coastal markets.
Major hotel group CEOs described AI as a 'competitive advantage' in Q1 earnings calls, but experts argue this may be 'commoditization of intent.' Most hotels use AI similarly, and not investing puts them at a disadvantage. Real advantage may come from proprietary data, deployment speed, and operational efficiency, not AI itself. For example, Wyndham's Connect platform is cited as having a head start.
Danish startup Opally offers an AI receptionist platform that handles guest communication across email, chat, voice, WhatsApp, and social media. Integrated with hotel management systems like Mews and Apaleo, it has grown to over 50 hotels in five European countries in less than a year.
At Mews Unfold, Airbnb executives and Mews founder discussed how hotels can increase their share of guest spending by engaging with local communities and partnerships. They believe AI can help hotels connect with local businesses, creating new revenue opportunities.
Hospitality intelligence provider Lighthouse has acquired AI visibility platform Hotelrank.ai to add a measurement layer to its Connect AI solution. Hotelrank.ai offers real-time analytics showing hotels where they appear across AI platforms, their ranking compared to competitors, and whether AI agents direct travelers to book direct or through intermediaries. The acquisition comes as hotels grapple with how to manage and measure their presence on AI platforms.
Airbnb has announced the recruitment of Andrea D'Amico as VP of hotels, starting in early June. This move is part of Airbnb's expansion into hotels, focusing on independent and boutique properties. Hotel inventory is now expanding to 30 cities.
Mews, a hospitality operating system provider, announced a partnership with Uber to integrate ride booking into its platform, enabling hotels to arrange, track, and bill transportation directly. The collaboration aims to reduce manual front-desk processes and tie billing to guest folios via Mews Payments. The integration will support both staff- and guest-initiated bookings, with a pilot expected later this year.
Since April 2, hotels and other businesses in Spain are legally required to accept the new MiDNI mobile identity app as valid identification. This is part of Europe's eIDAS 2.0 framework, making Spain one of the first major live test cases for digital identity in hotel operations. The industry response is mixed, with compliance as the main driver, but fragmented technology and guest adoption remain challenges.
This week's travel tech news briefs cover multiple partnerships and product launches: Visa and Trip.com Group signed an MOU to deepen collaboration on travel payments in Asia Pacific; Emerging Travel Group expanded its integration with SynXis to include independent hotels; NOL Universe appointed a head of global business; Atlas signed a direct distribution partnership with Wizz Air; Allegiant selected Navan as its internal travel management platform; Outpayce launched split and multi-card payment capabilities; HBX Group and Lastminute.com expanded their dynamic packaging partnership; Europa-Park partnered with Bookingkit for ticket distribution; Wego introduced stablecoin payments; Fliggy l…