🏨 $2.5 BILLION AI Agent Says It Ignores OTA Ads

Planning your 2027 hotel marketing budget without accounting for AI search, rising acquisition costs, and changing traveler behavior? Cendyn’s 2027 Hotel Marketing Budget Planning Guide helps hotel marketers prioritize the investments that can strengthen visibility, direct revenue, and guest acquisition.

The guide also helps hotel teams challenge legacy investments and identify the capabilities worth prioritizing before 2027 budgets are finalized.

👉 Download the 2027 Hotel Marketing Budget Planning Guide

Glenn Fogel says building an AI travel agent "wouldn't be that hard," which is easy to say when agents drive under 1% of Booking's room nights. OTAs are selling ad placement anyway: Vrbo pilot partners saw 40% booking growth, and Airbnb's Brian Chesky sees $1 billion in high-margin revenue. Instinct, reportedly worth $2.5 billion, says it ignores paid placement and books direct with hotels. Hilton's Chris Nassetta plans to make that easy... OTA ad teams, take note. Read more

Seattle's hotel strike ended a week ago after 85 days, and Chicago would apparently like a turn. More than 7,000 Unite Here Local 1 members at hotels including Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott voted 85% to authorize a strike after contracts expired Aug. 31. The union says it would be the largest hotel strike in city history. The state hotel association says properties have contingency plans and will stay open... guests may be making their own beds. Read More →

Turns out a guest's stay dates can be more useful to scammers than their card number. Gen Digital found reservation-hijack scams at more than 350 properties in over 50 countries, using real booking data to send messages that looked like they came from the hotel. Experts say attackers usually get in through the weakest of a hotel's dozen vendors, and one estimates 90% to 95% of incidents trace back to basics like weak passwords... no hoodie required. Read more

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

✅ Click Maint: Resolve maintenance requests faster and keep critical equipment running.

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

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

✅ Eleanor: Manage your resort’s daily guest service related tasks.

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

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

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 Loyalty Reimagined: How Hotels Turn Guest Relationships Into Revenue

What makes a guest return – and when does that loyalty actually pay off? This white paper explores how hotels can connect stronger guest relationships with profitability and sustainability.

🏨 Sloan Dean's $7.5M AI operator hires 60 agents

🤖 Accor's AI concierge moves into your WhatsApp

🧳 Stasher raises $4M for hotel luggage lockers: bellhops optional

✈️ Sabre calls NDC yesterday's news, moving to distribution to MCP structure

🔐 dormakaba buys Alliants to sell more than door locks

MARA uses AI to generate personalized guest review responses, learn your hotel’s brand voice, and automate routine replies while keeping you in control.

👉 Automate guest replies with MARA

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 happens when the biggest threat to hotel owners isn't brands, OTAs, or labor costs—but AI? In this episode, Sloan Dean, former CEO of one of the largest hotel management companies in the United States, shares why he believes the hospitality industry's incentives are fundamentally broken, which hotel technologies actually move the needle, and why many operators may be underestimating the disruptive force of AI.

👉🏼 Check out the episode with Sloan Dean

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