Welcome to RemoteHotelier!
In today’s newsletter:
🚨 Marriott and Hilton just put AI platforms in their list of risks
💰 $400M on tech in 2026
🚀 Hyatt says AI is already boosting bookings
🏗️ IHG rebuilds its hotel data… and launches a new brand
⚡ Expedia's new aggressive strategy
🎟️ OTAs win in the experiences market too
🚀 + 8 new product updates
💼 + 3 new jobs in hotel tech
MAIN NEWS
#1 Marriott and Hilton just put AI platforms in their list of risks
Marriott and Hilton formally name AI platforms as a direct risk for the first time in their official annual reports.
They warn that large language models could steer guests away from direct channels and OTAs.
According to them, AI consolidation could increase distribution costs and weaken brand loyalty programs.
Currently, AI platforms don’t charge commissions, but the legal language clearly signals that both companies consider this is happening imminently.
The fact that both brands called out AI platforms as a distribution risk in the same week tells you where the biggest names in hospitality are pointing right now. The OTA fight took years to play out (still is). Seems like the AI fight might move a lot faster.
#2 $400M on tech in 2026
Speaking of Marriott, this week they announced an investment of nearly $400 million during 2026 on digital and tech transformation.
They're planning to replatform three core systems at once: PMS, central reservations, and loyalty (I don’t envy the first hotels going live with the new stack 🙂).
Whether the execution matches the ambition, we'll see. But the scale of the investment makes it hard to ignore.
#3 Hyatt says AI is already boosting bookings
Funny enough, while Marriott and Hilton are formally flagging AI as a risk, Hyatt says that the two years of AI investment is already delivering real benefits.
Hyatt rebuilt its website search so guests can search with natural language instead of just the classic city, date, and availability.
The company launched a ChatGPT app that has shown measurable improvements in booking conversion rates and total revenue.
AI tools in group sales improved sales force productivity by nearly 20% and boosted revenue per group booking.
Hyatt licenses and customizes multiple large language models inside its own private cloud rather than relying on a single vendor.
Hyatt's results show that hotels willing to test and iterate are already pulling ahead. The company also announced that it expects to be 90% asset-light in 2026.
New AI search integrated in Hyatt’s website
#4 IHG rebuilds its hotel data… and launches a new brand
Today's edition is full of big names, and IHG is no exception. The company is restructuring how its hotel data is organized, turning it into modular formats so AI agents can actually understand and recommend its properties.
In simple terms, they're making sure that when someone asks ChatGPT for a hotel in a specific location, their properties have the right data structure to show up in the answer.
By the way, IHG also launched a new brand this week, Noted Collection. It sits in the premium segment, and it'll target independent hotels that want access to IHG's distribution, loyalty program, and tech stack without giving up what makes them unique.
#5 Expedia's new aggressive strategy
Expedia is also experimenting with AI, but on their own words, more “aggressively”. The company is working with all major AI platforms to keep Expedia's brands visible in AI searches.
Expedia launched a ChatGPT app and is building toward full trip planning through natural language.
Internally, AI is already speeding up feature development, inventory onboarding, and customer service resolution.
"Experimenting aggressively" is the kind of language you use when you're not sure what's coming but you know you can't afford to miss it. OTAs built their value by sitting in the middle between guests and hotels. If AI chatbots become that middle layer instead, Expedia loses the thing that made it essential in the first place. So they're doing what any rational company would do: bet on both sides, and call it aggressive experimentation. It's smart, but it also tells you exactly how threatened they are. Maybe the recent layoffs were part of this new strategy?
#6 OTAs win in the experiences market too
There’s more about OTAs this week, because this report shows they're actually gaining ground in the experiences booking market, even as direct bookings from tour and activity operators decline.
This one’s a bit of a surprise for me because experiences already have established names dominating the space. And yet, OTAs are growing here anyway. The more experience bookings OTAs handle, the more useful they become to guests, and the harder it gets for operators to win direct. Ring any bells?
RESOURCES
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PRODUCT UPDATES
📊 Google starts testing new ad formats in Travel AI Mode. The test explores how to place sponsored options alongside AI answers, which could change how hotels and travel brands buy visibility.
📊 This isn’t the only news from Google this week because they also released a report predicting global travel demand will grow by $4.2 trillion by 2050, adding 1.9 billion trips versus 2025 and doubling international departures to about 3.5 billion a year.
🤝 Sabre, PayPal, and Mindtrip partner to build a new conversational AI booking product that moves users from trip ideas to booking without switching sites or apps.
🤝 Stayntouch partners with Regency Hotel Management to roll out its cloud PMS across their entire portfolio of more than 100 properties.
🤝 Cocoon & Eckelmann Hotels will migrate their entire portfolio of 9 properties to Apaleo PMS.
🔌 Radisson Hotel Group and Amadeus launch a direct API connectivity to replace legacy GDS style links with real time rates, availability, and booking updates.
🔌 Mews adds a new integration with SevenRooms that connects its PMS with SevenRooms, an F&B platform. The connection centralizes bookings, guest preferences, historical data, and supports real time reservation syncing, automated messaging, and analytics.
💰 Happyhotel raises €6.5M Series A to expand its revenue management platform across Europe. The German startup already manages pricing and distribution for more than 50,000 rooms across 12 countries.
JOB BOARD
That’s all for today, thank you for reading. If you found this useful, please forward it to someone who’d also benefit.
See you next week!
Jose