TODAY: Why Asia leads the race in smart hotel technology, Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital acquires spanish boutique brand and How Could Amazon’s Entry in Hotel Bookings Play Out?.

Why Asia leads the race in smart hotel technology
Tuesday, 7th August 2018

Robots butlers, keyless entry and virtual reality-enhanced room bookings: Hotel guests are increasingly being greeted by these once futuristic tech features around the world.

But hotels in Asia have been upping the ante, with a younger hospitality industry – and many guests in their 20s and 30s – quickly taking to new innovations >>

Business travel trips on Airbnb tripled last year
7 Aug 2018 : A little more than a year ago, Airbnb revealed employees from more than 250,000 companies around the world had signed up to use Airbnb for Work. Today, that number has more than doubled — to date, nearly 700,000 companies have had employees sign up and book with Airbnb for Work >>

AccorHotels acquires 21c Museum Hotels
7 Aug 2018 : 21c combines a multi-venue contemporary art museum, boutique hotels and chef-driven restaurants, with 11 properties currently open and under development across the United States >>

Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital acquires spanish boutique brand
7 Aug 2018 : GCP Hospitality, a member of Gaw Capital Partners, expands its footprint in Europe through a joint venture with Omega Capital by acquiring Hospes Hotel Group in Spain >>

HIGHLIGHT ARTICLE

How Could Amazon’s Entry in Hotel Bookings Play Out?
Tuesday, 7th August 2018

Amazon’s entrance into travel booking has the potential to shake up distribution like no other. The company has tried to enter the space before but failed to get any real traction. Still, most experts think it’s just a matter of time before they’re back in the game.

But why didn’t it work the first go-round for Amazon? And when the e-commerce giant undoubtedly tries again, how will their entrance take shape? Will they be supplier friend or foe? >>

The True Cost of Payments
Some might say that for about 50 years the payments industry was a relatively uneventful place: a well-established ecosystem of banks, credit card schemes and others reliably ticked over in the background, helping us make day-to-day payments >>

Taking a Sneak Peek Into Restaurants of the Future
The past decade has fared well for the restaurant industry, especially the casual concepts, but with increased competition, can ‘good food, fast food’ really be enough? As we take a peek into the future, turns out, quality food and convenience will only get you so far >>

How Bonuses Can Help Independent Hotels Fight the Brands
If you have attended any hotel sector related conference this year, or kept up to date with industry press, you will have been unable to ignore the dialogue taking place around brands and the argument posited by some that we are reaching a point of brand oversaturation in the market >>