Catégorie : Hotel & Hospitality

Accor plans to implement AI-generated pricing for corporate bids starting in 2027, automating a process that has been manual until now. The program, as described by Accor’s chief sales and revenue officer Julien Houdebine, aims to save time for both account managers and buyers. While AI pricing recommendations will not be mandatory, they will influence…

In 2026, Marriott reported that 40% of its new hotel openings were conversions, up from a third in 2025. Hilton launched its 25th brand, Outset Collection, targeting unbranded independent hotels, with over 60 in development and plans for 500 more in North America. Marriott and Hilton leverage vast loyalty programs, with 295 million and 260…

On August 4, 2026, Onyx CenterSource introduced a Commission Payment Status Tool, allowing advisors to track commission payments through Onyx’s system for over 150,000 hotels and 200,000 travel booking providers. This tool provides transparency, showing whether a commission delay is due to the hotel or Onyx. The average commission wait is 39 days, with most…

On August 12, 2026, Markus Busch discusses the differences between Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS) in hotel bookings. OTAs use algorithms to adjust rates, cancellations, and rankings, often altering original terms, especially in the merchant model. Conversely, GDS maintains hotel-defined terms and directly connects with Google’s AI for agentic booking. While…

On July 28, 2026, HBX Group and Sabre announced a partnership in London, integrating 250,000 properties from HBX into Sabre Mosaic Marketplace, a major booking platform for corporate travel. This integration allows rates previously negotiated offline as part of bed bank agreements to appear alongside corporate rates, blurring traditional sales channels. HBX’s Q3 showed a…

In an earnings call on August 12, 2026, Booking Holdings’ CFO Ewout Steenbergen revealed participation in OpenAI’s cost-per-click (CPC) advertising test group. Initiated in April, with bids at $3-$5 per click, this initiative aims to diversify paid traffic channels, though it has yet to generate 1% of room nights. Ads first appeared in ChatGPT in…

As of August 10, 2026, Booking Holdings reported that traffic from large language models, both paid and unpaid, remains below 1% of their 325 million quarterly room nights, a figure unchanged for several quarters. Despite this low percentage, Booking’s brands frequently appear in AI-generated responses, and the company maintains a strong direct booking mix in…

As of September 30, 2026, Google will retire its feature that allowed hotels to advertise rates without directly providing them through a Google Hotel Center account. Hotels using third-party rates will no longer appear under their own names in Google’s hotel results unless they set up a price feed. This change affects hotels without a…

Google has initiated a limited test of its agentic hotel booking system in the U.S., collaborating with companies like Booking, Expedia, Marriott, Wyndham, and IHG. This system allows travelers to describe, compare, and book hotels directly within Google’s AI search interface. While the test involves only a fraction of traffic, it integrates with global distribution…

In early August 2026, three major travel companies—Booking, Expedia, and Airbnb—announced quarterly results surpassing estimates and raising their 2026 forecasts. Booking authorized a $3.7 billion buyback. Despite claims of AI-driven innovation, growth stemmed from traditional distribution channels, not AI. Booking reported AI-driven bookings at less than 1%. The quarter highlighted the unchanged importance of current…