Daily reporting on brand launches, management changes, labor disputes.
STR/CoStar data put March 2026 US RevPAR at $108.99, up 5.9% year over year, on occupancy of 64.9% and ADR of $168.06 — the strongest reading since the 2025 slowdown began.
Booking and Expedia apps inside ChatGPT, plus agentic trip planning in Google's AI Mode, moved from demos to live channels in late 2025 — pushing hotels to check how their inventory and rates read to machine intermediaries.
A year after paying up to €291.5 million for Ruby as its 20th brand, IHG expects all 20 open Ruby hotels on its systems by March 31, 2026 — the checkpoint that determines whether small-brand acquisitions pay off.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association's 2026 State of the Industry report projects direct hotel operations employment reaching about 2.2 million this year, even as more than half of surveyed properties report being somewhat or severely understaffed.
Full-year occupancy fell to 62.3% and RevPAR slipped year over year for the first time since 2020, per STR/CoStar, tightening the revenue math operators carry into 2026 budgets.