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Their project-based nature and a lack of industry oversight make events a target for everything from bribery to fraud.

Demographic segmentation of Chinese outbound travelers is the wrong unit of analysis.

Allianz Partners' Vinay Surana rejected the framing that dominated earlier sessions, namely that brands should fight to “own” the customer relationship.

Accor's Andrew Langdon framed the shift toward branded hotels in Asia as structural, not cyclical — less a temporary response to cost pressures or market timing than the result of market maturity and generational change.

Asia's travel giants can scale globally. First they have to decide which parts of the China playbook get left behind.

Misconceptions about Asia all stem from treating it as a market that follows global trends rather than setting them.

The U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict didn't redirect travel demand toward Asia — it exposed a shift already underway.

Travel demand in Asia is holding up, but travelers are more careful than they let on — safety and price drive decisions more than the experiences they say they want.

Even for superapps, mindless growth at all costs can be a trap that's hard to defend, while strategic, careful expansion aligning with a travel company's mission is a moat.

Sometimes an asset owner wants to build a luxury or lifestyle hotel because the brand sounds prestigious. But this session argued that Hilton's first job as an operator is to tell them 'no' if the project won't pencil out as profitable.

The companies that will matter are those with proprietary data, not ChatGPT wrappers.

"High touch" used to come from a concierge or customer service agent. Today, it can stem from technology, so long as it gives the customer "what they want at that moment when they need it."