BCD Travel has published a guide on assessing travel program resilience. By identifying strengths, vulnerabilities, and priorities, organizations can determine where to strengthen resilience. The content emphasizes that every organization starts from a different place and needs a tailored assessment approach.
BCD Travel has published a guide on supporting travelers during disruption. When disruption occurs, travelers need clear guidance, timely communication, and access to support when it matters most. The content emphasizes that policy and communication, supplier strategy, and intelligence create resilience before disruption.
BCD Travel emphasizes that resilient travel programs need visibility and intelligence. Visibility understands current situations; intelligence helps anticipate change, evaluate options, and respond quickly. Practices include real-time traveler tracking, proactive travel monitoring, market monitoring, destination risk intelligence, data-driven insights, and automated workflows. Intelligence extends beyond traveler safety to supplier performance and market shifts.
BCD Travel states that resilient travel programs are built on flexible policies, strategic supplier relationships, cross-functional ownership, and connected digital experiences. Supplier strategy is key; over-reliance on few suppliers increases risk. Diversify supplier portfolios, build contract flexibility, maintain alternatives in key markets. Continuously evaluate supplier performance, not just annual sourcing cycles.
This opinion piece by Skift founder Rafat Ali argues that Kayak remains the best travel search tool, despite parent Booking Holdings writing it down by $457 million in October 2025 and co-founder and CEO Steve Hafner stepping down in February 2026. The article contends that Kayak's struggles stem from rising Google-driven customer-acquisition costs and stalled revenue (around $500 million, down from ~$600 million pre-Covid), not a failing product. Meanwhile, competitors like Trivago and Skyscanner are growing but require higher ad spend. Booking is investing in a new AI travel brand, Lola, built by Kayak's founders, rather than leveraging Kayak's 21 years of brand recognition and user base.
According to Meadin Research, in H1 2026 international hotel groups saw revenue growth but mixed net profits; domestic leaders mostly grew revenue, but mature store RevPAR only slightly increased, with profit improvement relying more on cost control. Internationally, Marriott surpassed 10,000 operating hotels globally; domestically, managed franchising share rose to about 95%. The report indicates the industry's growth logic is shifting from scale expansion to operational efficiency and service capability.
SAP Concur outlined the pre-submit receipt check in Concur Expense, an embedded AI feature that validates receipts in real time while employees create expenses, attach receipts and prepare to submit reports. Capabilities include receipt and data completeness checks, duplicate receipt detection, receipt-expense mismatch detection, contextual guidance, and user control over edits and final submission. Concur says this reduces send-backs, shortens approval delays and accelerates reimbursement.
Several airlines are launching new long-haul routes, including United and Air Canada adding seasonal flights to Sapporo, Japan; British Airways and Finnair launching one-stop services to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok; and Delta opening the first U.S. nonstop from Atlanta to Riyadh. These routes reflect airlines' bets on leisure and emerging market demand, with some travelers routing around Gulf hubs due to Middle East conflict.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) has partnered with T-ROC Global to deploy up to 1,000 automated retail machines nationwide over the next three years, targeting high-traffic locations such as airports, universities, hospitals, and hotels. The kiosks use Turbo-chef cooking technology to deliver a CPK pizza in about 90 seconds. T-ROC will handle operations, replenishment, and maintenance, with an initial rollout of clusters of at least 20 units across 30 major U.S. markets.
BCD Travel has introduced travel solutions for finance teams, aiming to consolidate booking, invoicing, and expense management, providing full spend visibility, reducing manual reconciliation, and supporting VAT compliance and expense reimbursement. The solution helps finance teams control travel costs and improve policy compliance without adding an internal travel management team.
BCD Travel has launched a business travel solution tailored for office managers, operations managers, and executive assistants, aiming to simplify booking, reduce manual coordination, and provide direct traveler support. The solution integrates booking, communication, and support in one place, handles VIP and guest travel, and helps organizations without a dedicated travel manager manage travel efficiently.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has included Brazil in the list of states participating in the second phase of CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation), effective from January 1, 2027. International routes between Brazil and other 134 states will be subject to offsetting requirements. Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) is responsible for implementation and oversight.
This week in hotel news: LivAway Suites broke ground on its first hotel in Montgomery, Alabama, expanding into the Southeast; Meyer Jabara Hotels will manage the Reitz Union Hotel on the University of Florida campus, its first university property; Davidson Hospitality Group launched the GM Edge leadership development program.
Viator updated its global supplier agreement this month, clarifying that channel partners (such as OTAs, airlines, banks) have the right to set final retail prices. This may allow partners to discount or use tours as loss leaders, further reducing operator pricing control. Viator frames it as clarification, but observers note the new terms pave the way for large platforms to ingest massive volumes of non-sourced listings.
SAP Concur's blog argues that businesses rely on multiple systems for travel, expense, and invoice management, but lack of integration leads to data silos, manual reconciliation, and inconsistent reporting, slowing decision-making. It advocates intelligent integration tools for automated data sync and workflow automation to improve efficiency and visibility.
As travelers increasingly use AI for trip planning, hotel groups including Marriott, IHG, and Wyndham have launched conversational search tools in 2026. Some tools debuted on ChatGPT, others on websites and apps. Hilton's generative AI concierge is still in beta. These tools are part of a broader push in hotel technology strategy.
Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) released July fare data: the average real domestic airfare was R$703.52, down 5.2% year-on-year and up 1.1% from July 2024. Aviation fuel (QAV) price rose 35% year-on-year to R$4.89/liter. 45.4% of seats were sold below R$500.
Following the outbreak of the Iran war, India's international aviation network contracted sharply in Q2 2026. Overall international passenger traffic to and from India fell about 9% to 17.2 million, but Indian carriers' international traffic fell about 27% to 6.4 million. Gulf hubs like Dubai and Doha are critical for Indian travelers, and airspace restrictions disrupted flights, with varying impacts across markets.
In an interview ahead of Skift Global Forum 2026, Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta argues that AI changes the gatekeeper but not the fundamentals of winning guests. His thesis: delivering reliable, friendly stays generates positive reviews that feed into AI models, while Hilton builds its own AI capabilities (Hilton AI Planner) and a proprietary tech stack to control the recommendation layer. He frames Hilton's 28-brand portfolio and Hilton Honors as the right architecture for a fragmenting market, and points to renewed midweek business travel from SMBs broadening demand beyond luxury, signaling healthier, more durable growth. He also emphasizes culture as a competitive input a…
A Skift podcast discusses the reality of AI adoption in travel: Google reportedly paid $10 million for Spirit Airlines' data, Airbnb shows real AI-driven savings, while Booking reports AI accounts for less than 1% of room nights. The industry focus shifts from AI hype to data, trust, and ROI.
Skift Daily Briefing reports that Google acquired Spirit Airlines' pricing and booking data in bankruptcy for $10 million, considered a bargain. Additionally, the UK launches a crackdown on hidden travel fees with fines up to 10% of global revenue, and Delta's pilot scheduling talks break down ahead of the busy fall season.
Digital travel platform Agoda has released its ranking of European travel interest to Asia based on accommodation search data from April to June 2026 for summer travel. Thailand remains the most-searched destination for the second consecutive year, Indonesia rises to second, and Japan holds third. Vietnam climbs to fourth from fifth, with Malaysia rounding out the top five. India, South Korea, and Vietnam show the highest year-on-year growth at 14%, 13%, and 12% respectively. At the city level, Bangkok and Bali top the list, followed by Koh Samui, Tokyo, and Pattaya.
The U.S. Department of State maintains Austria at Level 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions) with no change in advisory level. Austria is generally safe, but travelers are advised to enroll in STEP, review the Country Security Report and CDC health information, and purchase travel insurance covering medical and evacuation.
Maycur Technology published an article explaining the complete path for enterprise electronic accounting archive construction, emphasizing that archives are not file repositories but evidence chains for financial digitalization. The article proposes four types of goals, a three-step implementation method, and compares competitors A/B/C, recommending enterprises to verify system fit with real business samples.
The U.S. Department of State maintains Turkmenistan at Level 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions). Turkmenistan is generally safe, but medical services are limited, and the country is in a seismically active zone. Travelers are advised to review health and safety information.
TravelDaily announced its 2026 Summit will be held on September 22-23 at Shanghai International Convention Center, featuring 100+ industry leaders sharing insights on hotels, business travel, technology, and destinations. Attendees include executives from Marriott, Hilton, Ctrip Business, etc., discussing trends like AI and experience economy.
The U.S. Department of State maintains Turkmenistan at Level 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions) with no changes. Turkmenistan is generally safe, but medical services are limited, and the country is in a seismically active zone. Travelers are advised to enroll in STEP, review health information, and purchase travel insurance.
The U.S. Department of State maintains Lebanon at Level 4 (Do Not Travel) due to crime, terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, landmines, and armed conflict. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services. Embassy personnel face travel restrictions. Commercial flights may be disrupted, and airport infrastructure may be affected.
TravelDaily reports that the homestay industry is shifting from accommodation to experiences. Meituan Homestay data shows users staying 7+ nights grew nearly 30% YoY, with young users up 75%. Meituan launched 'Special Experience' tags covering 8 experience types in 136 cities; listings with such tags have occupancy nearly 3 times that of ordinary ones. Global OTAs like Expedia and Tripadvisor are also expanding into experiences.
Maycur Technology published a selection guide for group enterprise electronic accounting archives, pointing out that the difficulty lies in unified rules and retrieval across multiple legal entities, ledgers, and systems. The article proposes five key capabilities, compares competitors A/B/C, and recommends a 'headquarters coordination, step-by-step rollout' implementation path.
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said AI agents may weaken OTAs' intermediary value, but hotels have a moat by controlling the stay experience. Marriott is undergoing a multi-billion-dollar tech upgrade replacing PMS, CRS, and loyalty platforms, potentially enabling AI agents to connect directly.
IHG Hotels & Resorts, the official hotel and loyalty program of the US Open Tennis Championships, returns for its eighth year with the new IHG Racquet Cruiser, a complimentary premium motorcoach that transports fans from Arthur Ashe Stadium to select IHG hotels in Manhattan. Onboard experiences include Prince St. Pizza slices, express facial treatments, post-match replays, device charging, Wi-Fi, and surprise gifting. The popular Watermelon Slice cocktail also returns to the IHG Racquet Bar. IHG One Rewards members can enjoy additional perks and exclusive experiences.
The US Department of State has issued a Level 2 travel advisory for Mozambique, advising travelers to exercise increased caution due to terrorism, crime, health, and unrest. Terrorist groups are active in the north, potentially attacking public areas and tourist destinations, sometimes taking hostages. Violent crime such as mugging is common, and the health infrastructure is weak. Do not travel to Cabo Delgado Province, Niassa Special Reserve, and certain northern districts of Nampula Province due to terrorism.
Guilin's cultural market law enforcement team strengthened summer tourism supervision using routine inspections, rapid complaint response, and joint enforcement. From June to July, complaints involving travel agencies and guides dropped 38% YoY; 8 cases were ordered corrected and 10 filed. Travel agencies proactively issued service commitment cards to improve quality.
Maycur Technology published an article explaining how its electronic accounting archive product connects reimbursement, invoices, vouchers and archives to achieve integrated business-finance-tax-archive management. The article compares competitors A/B/C, highlighting Maycur Archives' strengths in multi-system connectivity, evidence chain traceability and full lifecycle management, and provides implementation paths and selection suggestions for enterprises.
Maycur Technology published an article pointing out that e-invoice archiving is shifting from saving images to managing original electronic vouchers, structured data, and business evidence chains. The article proposes six key capabilities: original file management, invoice collection, field parsing, business association, compliance detection, and audit utilization, and compares competitors A/B/C.
HotelData.com's H1 2026 Profitability Performance Report, based on financial data from 5,000 U.S. properties on Actabl's ProfitSword platform, reveals overall GOP margin expanded 3.6 percentage points year-over-year to 44.9%, reaching 47.2% in Q2. Luxury properties led with ADR up 10.1%, RevPAR up 15.9%, and GOP margin up 4.0 points to 38.6%. Economy was the only chain scale with falling RevPAR (-2.7%) despite highest occupancy gain (+4.6 points), as ADR dropped 9.3%. June, boosted by FIFA World Cup, saw strongest rate environment with ADR +11.4% and RevPAR +13.1%.
Hotel booking technology provider GuestCentric and interactive video platform HOVR have announced a strategic partnership that activated HOVR's video engagement technology across 865 independent hotel booking engines in a single morning. The deployment was achieved through a single master integration, requiring zero code or manual setup from individual hotel staff. The interactive video is merged with GuestCentric's AI-powered booking engine, providing real-time personalization and dynamic upselling, designed to increase direct booking conversion rates and average booking value.
Hospitable, a property management platform for short-term rentals, has launched its Business Dashboard, replacing passive reporting screens with a personalized command center. The dashboard features an 'Opportunity Center' that analyzes account performance, listing settings, and market trends to deliver prioritized prompts, such as advising low-occupancy properties to activate dynamic pricing or suggesting early check-in upsell modules. It also consolidates daily arrivals, departures, turnovers, and maintenance alerts, and dynamically scales recommendation logic based on portfolio complexity.
The Venetian Resort Las Vegas has launched its new Venetian Rewards App, integrating real-time casino management system (CMS) point redemptions with property-wide indoor navigation. The app allows loyalty members to view point balances instantly, track tier progression, and execute direct point-to-comp conversions. It features blue-dot indoor wayfinding across the property's multi-million-square-foot footprint, guiding guests to casino floor, restaurants, meeting spaces, and entertainment venues. The app also includes gamification elements and mobile check-in/check-out workflows.