Hotel News

Hyatt wants investors to place more value on its premium guests. The catch: much of its growth pipeline depends on its easier-to-scale Essentials brands.

Billionaire Tilman Fertitta is buying a debt pile with a casino company attached. His firm is assuming $11.9 billion of debt from Caesars while putting up $5.7 billion to acquire it. Expect asset sales as an endgame.

Ten years after Hilton, Marriott, and other chains began coaxing travelers to book directly, online travel agencies still control roughly the same slice of the pie. Yet the chains have won the economics: lower commissions, better contract terms, and stronger loyalty programs.

On this week's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast: Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk break down a week where three big stories all pointed at the same shift:…

Accor had a retirement policy. So the news here is CEO Sébastien Bazin saying a “succession search” is underway and that he may leave sooner if the board “finds the right person.” More than 40% of shareholders voted against his pay.

Hotels have long treated the room as the only thing worth selling. Marriott's deal with ResortPass signals a growing sideline to boost margins: selling empty pool chairs and spa slots to locals who show up for the day.

These may read as bets on new Texas wealth. They’re also real estate plays, with branded residential as the anchor that makes the hotels financeable.

The hotel leadership shuffle represents somewhat of an about-face for Airbnb as it opts for a leader with online travel agency experience rather than a hotel brand track record. Still, these are early days for Airbnb hotels, and there is plenty of time to get things right.

The competitors to Musk's Starlink will eventually up their game. It's never healthy for customers and end-users to be dependent on a single vendor, regardless of the Starlink's competitive advantage at this moment.

Boutique brands love to talk about authenticity and consistency. Surviving the majors’ loyalty programs is a different conversation.