🛎️ Hyatt grows loyalty with tech and data standards return

Happy Thursday! I am aware that many of you are returning from holiday. Hopefully you’re having an easy week (and not too much post-vacation syndrome 🙃). We’ve got a few announcements planned for next month. Until then, I hope you like today’s edition. Let’s get started!

In today’s newsletter:

🚀 Hyatt boosts loyalty perks through fresh tech collaboration

🍵 The British hospitality industry is running out of workers

🗺️ A new travel data standard: leap forward or same old?

🔦 4 hotel companies in the top 15 best workplaces in Asia

🏨 + 4 deals & updates

🗞️ + 3 hotel tech extra news

#1 Hyatt boosts loyalty perks through fresh tech collaboration.

Hyatt partners with Way to enhance its digital ecosystem, letting loyalty members earn and use points on curated experiences and personalized offerings directly through Hyatt’s digital channels.

• Hyatt’s loyalty membership base has grown 27% each year since 2017.

• This integration enables Hyatt guests to access exclusive events and wellness activities through the app and website.

• Several Hyatt properties using Way’s platform are reporting notable revenue growth from ancillaries.

Why this matters: Great example of how a loyalty program can have many purposes. Think about it: you reward guests with your own services. You collect data to learn what guests like. On top of that, you bring extra revenue. Brilliant. A growth in loyalty like this doesn’t happen by chance.

#2 The British hospitality industry is running out of workers.

Since the last Autumn Budget, the UK hospitality sector lost 89,000 jobs, making up more than half of all UK job losses.

• 1 in every 25 UK hospitality jobs disappeared.

• Job losses are 3 times worse than first expected after the autumn Budget was announced.

• UKHospitality urges the government to lower business rates, reduce VAT, and amend national insurance contributions soon.

• If there’s no intervention, further layoffs could happen.

Why this matters: Tech helps, but only up to a point. More hotels are leaning on automations and smart tools, but not every hotel has the resources to implement these. At the end of the day, and especially in hospitality, humans have to do the human work. Otherwise, we’ll keep seeing more cases like the viral check-in from two weeks ago.

#3 A new travel data standard: leap forward or same old?

The OpenTravel Alliance teams up with Overture Maps Foundation to create standardized travel infrastructure that unlocks faster integration for new travel services.

• OTA’s data models will merge with Overture’s datasets that now have over 60 million places.

• This could reduce integration time dramatically, making new travel offerings quicker to develop.

• The move could spark a wave of smarter solutions across the entire travel industry.

Why this matters: In theory, this could mean more reliable tech for hotels. In practice, the hospitality industry has been chasing standards for so long (hello HTNG👋) that it feels a bit like Esperanto. The idea is good, but it comes way too late.

THE RESOURCE HUB

• 📍 Next Event: Skift Global Forum (16–18 September 2025).

• 📅 2025/2026 hotel tech event calendar.

• 💼 Hotel tech companies offering remote jobs.

• 💲 RMS comparison spreadsheet.

• 💻 Cloud PMS comparison spreadsheet.

🏨 DEALS & UPDATES

• Shiji Daylight PMS now integrates with Right Revenue.

• Rate Yield integrates its RMS with StayNTouch PMS.

• LodgIQ integrates its revenue management system with Host Hotel System’s PMS.

• RateTiger, a hotel management platform, earns Favoured Connectivity Partner status with Trip.com.

🔦 IN THE SPOTLIGHT

According to Great Place To Work, four hotel companies are on the list of best workplaces in Asia for 2025: Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Cappella Hotels.

This has many takes, but the most important for me is the context. When organizations don’t take advantage of countries where labor rights aren’t a top priority, people tend to respond in a positive way.

Contrast that with the UK, where we’re seeing massive staff shortages. Also a trend in many parts of the world. Well, after looking at the list above, you can guess what hotels of which continent don’t have to worry about this problem.

Do you know what these hotel companies have in common? They stopped seeing IT as an expense and started treating it as an investment.

(Quick side note: I worked in hotel tech in London post-Brexit and saw the effects of staff shortage in hotels first-hand. Let’s just say it wasn’t fun).

🗞️ HOTEL TECH EXTRAS

• Tambourine presents Encore, a redesigned hotel booking engine with a sleek interface, faster performance, enhanced mobile optimization, and intuitive features aimed at raising conversion rates and user satisfaction.

• EventPipe launches Presto, a new hotel platform offering live inventory, flexible booking, no hotel contracts, and better rates. They also have a partnership with Expedia for real-time event reporting.

• HomeToGo will complete its €160 million Interhome acquisition this week, and aims to boost B2B software services and smart vacation rental solutions across Europe.

That’s all for today, thank you for reading. If you’ve got feedback or you just want to say something, feel free to reply to this email or send me a message.

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See you next week!
Jose