📈 AI usage up & travel jobs down

Falling behind in digital visibility while OTAs eat into your margins? In 2026, standing out online means more than basic SEO—it demands an AI-optimized, hospitality-specific strategy.

Cendyn’s 2026 Hotel Digital Marketing Buyer’s Guide breaks down the key trends, tools, and tactics you need to compete—and win—in today’s AI-driven hospitality landscape.

👉 Download the guide to future-proof your digital marketing strategy for 2026 and beyond.

Marriott CFO Leeny Oberg warned that Q4 global RevPAR will likely land at the low end of forecasts due to a sluggish U.S. market hit by the federal shutdown. While U.S. RevPAR fell in October, international markets surged 7%, and 2026 is shaping up stronger with macroeconomic tailwinds and major events like the World Cup.

🎯 Why it matters: Hotel demand remains tightly linked to economic sentiment—uncertainty around government funding and small business margins weighed on late-2025 group and corporate bookings. But Marriott sees signs of recovery in stable group demand, strong luxury travel, and development momentum aided by falling interest rates.

🔑 Key takeaway: Hotel operators should brace for near-term softness in U.S. business and group travel but prepare for a rebound in 2026. Investments in development, loyalty, and direct booking strategies now could position properties to capture demand from rising wealth and global events. Read More →

The European Commission has kicked off a formal antitrust investigation into Meta over its new policy that blocks third-party AI chatbot providers from using WhatsApp’s business API. Meta’s strategy effectively gives Meta’s own AI assistant an exclusive channel to users across Europe.

🎯 Why it matters: This regulatory move signals rising scrutiny over how large tech platforms control access to AI-driven customer interactions. For hotels, many of which are increasingly reliant on third-party messaging and AI-based guest engagement, it underscores a growing risk: what if the channels you depend on get shut off, restricted, or re-regulated? As hotel distribution increasingly moves into AI-mediated and chat-based environments, the stability and openness of those platforms becomes just as important as reach or convenience.

🔑 Key takeaway: Hoteliers should double down on building direct, flexible, and multi-channel guest engagement infrastructure, including owned apps, website chatbots, and integrations that don’t depend on a single big-tech platform. Diversify your tech stack now: ensure your property management, booking, and guest-communication systems can operate independently and integrate with multiple AI or messaging providers. That way, you’re prepared whether platforms stay open, close down, or get regulated heavily. Read More →

According to Skift, around 50,000 U.S. travel-industry jobs have been eliminated in 2025 as companies increasingly adopt AI and automation to streamline operations. Many layoffs hit corporate, administrative and entry-level roles at airlines, travel platforms and support functions, citing AI efficiency and restructuring as key drivers.

🎯 Why it matters: This trend isn’t limited to OTAs and travel-service providers — hotels are part of the same ecosystem and could soon feel pressure on their own support, back-office and centralized functions. As AI reduces the need for manual tasks (reservations processing, basic guest queries, data entry), hotels relying on legacy staffing models may face cost and talent pressures. The structural shift could reshape how hotels balance human workforce and automation.

🔑 Key takeaway: Hotels have been stuck in a labor shortage ever since COVID so in a sense we’re shielded since we’re already understaffed. Hoteliers should act proactively: audit which roles in your hotel operations or back-office are repetitive or data-intensive, and consider where AI or automation could boost efficiency, but also invest in upskilling and redeploying staff for higher-value, guest-facing or creative tasks that AI can’t replicate. The hotels that successfully combine tech and human touch (rather than simply cutting staff!) will be better positioned to maintain service quality while controlling costs. Read More →

✅ Cendyn: Digital marketing partner that helps boost AI visibility with GEO-driven content strategy

✅ Cloudbeds: All-in-one hotel management software at the speed of AI.

✅ Tripleseat: Manage hotel group bookings, catering and event sales with AI.

✅ Clickmaint: Simplify maintenance tasks with user-friendly software for hotel operations.

✅ Mews: A smarter PMS that cuts daily work across check-ins, payments, and rooms.

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

✅ ROH: Automate sales and finance to save time and capture more revenue.

✅ Plusgrade: Unlock new revenue by automating targeted guest upgrade offers.

✅ EntryReady: Guests unlock rooms with phones—no cards, lines, or front desk delays.

✅ M1: Purpose-built sales platform to help your hotel close more deals.

✅ Otelier: Optimize hotel budgets and forecasts with precise, data-driven insights.

1️⃣ How AI is Revolutionizing Hotel Searches

Learn how ChatGPT and similar tools are fundamentally changing the way guests plan their trips and discover hotels and how you can secure visibility and bookings today.

2️⃣ The New Era of Hospitality Metrics for General Managers

Discover 11 must-track metrics for any General Manager looking to bring sustained success to their business in the new era of hospitality.

3️⃣ See How Linchris Hotels Transformed Hospitality Operations with Canary

To keep pace with changing guest needs and expectations, Linchris implemented Canary, transforming their operations to deliver exceptional guest experiences, increase revenue, boost employee satisfaction and much more.

🎙️ Canary and Wyndham roll out AI voice globally ushering in a new era for customer support

🌱 The U.S. travel sector is expanding even as industry emissions decline thanks to cleaner operations and tech efficiencies.

👩‍💼 What 24 hotel tech leaders just revealed about AI in 2026

🔮 Global travel trends point to a 64% increase in AI usage and shifting consumer values in Amadeus’ new research.

🤝 Uber is hiring specialists to refine its AI travel solutions as it expands deeper into trip planning.

🥘 AI food-waste systems like Winnow are helping hotels cut costs and emissions through real-time tracking tools.

💼 B2B travel leaders say AI is reshaping rate parity and value as distribution grows more dynamic.

🏨 Hotel distribution is entering a new phase as AI reshapes booking economics and consumer funnels shift.

📊 Young workers are increasingly anxious about AI’s threat to jobs, according to new polling.

⚖️ A sweeping policy overhauls oversight of AI under a new executive order, with major implications for tech companies.

⚽ Hoteliers gain clarity as the World Cup group draw helps forecast demand surges.

💰 Duve’s latest round raises momentum for AI-enabled guest experience tools across hotels and short-term rentals.

💵 DC voters will weigh a tip credit and wage proposal that could reshape restaurant economics.

📈 New profit trends show evolving labor pressures and cost structures in 2026 hotel performance.

🎨 “Skillcations” are rising as travelers book hotels offering hands-on learning experiences during their stays.

🏨 Wyndham reinvents the motel through design-forward upgrades and modern guest expectations.

🚫 Australia’s new rule implements a world-first social media ban for offenders to curb online harm.

What happens when a boutique hotel director builds a fully personalized “signature tech stack” from the ground up—and proves you don’t need to be a tech native to run one of the most digitally advanced 70-key properties in Berlin? In this episode, Tini Deikmann, Hotel Director at the acclaimed Hotel Oderberger, reveals the real-world tools, workflows, and mindsets that transformed her operations.

This episode is designed for experienced hoteliers, GMs, and department heads who have lived through multiple system overhauls, survived legacy tech, and are looking for practical, proven strategies to modernize their operations without the chaos.

Key Takeaways:

👉🏼 Check out the interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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