🏨 67% of Rooms Now Book Inside 30 Days

Selling upgrades shouldn’t depend on which front-desk agent happens to be working. With FPG’s IN-Gauge, hotels can turn frontline teams into measurable revenue drivers by combining performance tracking, incentives, coaching, and real-time goals.

FPG combines hotel technology with decades of frontline sales-training expertise, helping operators turn employee performance into a repeatable revenue engine. Published customer examples include properties reporting 3%–7%+ RevPAR impact and significant improvements in upsell revenue.

👉 See how FPG can turn your frontline team into a revenue growth engine.

Every major branded operator reported RevPAR gains in Q2 2026, helped by the FIFA World Cup and luxury demand, and several raised full-year outlooks on the strength of the quarter. Growth on the development side came disproportionately from conversions at IHG, Choice, Marriott and Wyndham rather than new construction, and IHG opened nearly 200 hotels in the first half alone. Owners weighing a flag change now have four majors actively competing for existing assets, and casino ownership is consolidating into private hands at the same time.

🔑 Key takeaway: Conversions carried growth at four of the largest franchisors simultaneously. That means brand companies are competing hard for existing rooms right now, which gives owners of unflagged or underperforming assets leverage on key money, PIP scope and ramp terms that did not exist two years ago.

Booking windows have compressed to the point that two thirds of all rooms are sold inside the last month and nearly a third inside the last week, while demand growth concentrates on Thursdays and Sundays at roughly double the rate of other days. Revenue teams building forecasts on historical pace and segmenting by business versus leisure are working from labels that no longer describe how guests actually book. Properties that reprice shoulder days independently and forecast against local demand events will capture rate that competitors leave on the table in the final week.

🔑 Key takeaway: Thursday and Sunday are growing at roughly 3% and 3.5% while other days grow 1.5% to 2.5%. Most properties still price those two days as spillover from the weekday or weekend rate, which means the fastest-growing demand is being sold at the slowest-moving price. Read more

Quest disclosed on August 19 that guest records were accessed through a vulnerability at an unnamed third-party service provider, affecting a franchised network of more than 160 properties across three countries. The breach lands as operators add AI vendors faster than they add governance, with one industry study cited by PhocusWire finding 78% of chains running AI systems against 7% with a comprehensive strategy. Every supplier holding guest data or sitting between a hotel and a foundation model is a liability the franchisee carries and the brand explains.

🔑 Key takeaway: Build a list of every third party that touches guest data or provides AI functionality, including the ones reached through another vendor's product. For each, confirm who notifies whom when something breaks and what the contractual notification window actually is. Oh yeah, and make sure you are working with best in breed - anyone can get breached but working with second rate vendors is more dangerous than ever. Read more

✅ Canary Technologies: Powerful but simple AI powered digital guest journey platform.

✅ Sojern: Pay-for-performance hotel ads that drive direct bookings.

✅ Hireology: Find and hire reliable staff faster to fill key hotel roles.

✅ Siteminder: Capture direct bookings, syncs rate and reduce OTA commissions.

✅ Upriser AI: Automated voice, video, text & chat communication for hotels.

1️⃣ How to Bring AI Into Your Hotel Organization

To keep up with changing guest needs and rising expectations, hotels are adopting AI at scale. Dive into Canary’s research to see how AI is driving revenue growth, operational efficiency, improved guest experiences, and much more.

2️⃣ How Your Property Can Win on Google Hotel Ads

Learn how to turn Google Hotel Ads into a high-performing direct booking channel. This ebook breaks down how hotel metasearch works, the metrics that matter most, and the strategies hotels use to reduce OTA dependence and grow profitable direct revenue.

3️⃣ The Modern Guide to Hotel Upselling

Discover how leading hotels are transforming upselling into a seamless revenue driver. This free 10-page eBook covers the common pitfalls of manual upsell programs, effective modern strategies and examples that deliver results.

🤖 Perk's MCP server moved from insight tool to action engine.

📉 FIU dean says AI's biggest wins are forecasting and scheduling, not guests.

🛡️ A free app claims 684 trafficking victims recovered in three months.

💻 OpenAI cut model costs 80%, and Replit made it the default.

🍽️ CAMO raised $4M to help hotels win back room service revenue from delivery apps.

Use Siteminder’s AI-powered insights to forecast demand, surface pricing opportunities, and turn live booking and market data into clear recommendations.

👉 Make smarter commercial decisions with SiteMinder

The best operators don’t just keep up they stay curious. They demo new tools, test ideas in real workflows, and talk to peers to see what’s actually working. That’s how you find the small changes that compound into meaningful results. Pick your department below and commit to trying at least one new tool this week. Even a single demo can spark an idea that improves performance, saves time, or unlocks new revenue.

What if the biggest opportunity in hotel technology isn’t making your team more efficient - but removing entire workflows from the equation? Kurien Jacob (KJ) of Highgate Technology Ventures argues that nearly every major hotel software category is now vulnerable to AI-driven disruption.

This episode also explores what the next hotel tech stack may actually look like. Rather than 20 or 30 disconnected systems, KJ expects the market to consolidate around a smaller number of powerful operating, commercial, financial, and marketing platforms - while still leaving room for a handful of exceptional best-of-breed products.

Few people have had a better vantage point on that shift. Before helping lead Highgate Technology Ventures, KJ spent roughly 15 years building Highgate’s revenue management capabilities and ultimately served as Chief Revenue Officer.

👉🏼 Check out our interview with Kurien Jacob on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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