Good Morning Hospitality

GMH Hotels: Why an Airline Just Bought a Hotel Company for $843 Million.

On this week's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/goodmorninghospitality/]: Hotels Edition, Steve Turk [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevelturk/] and guest host Katie Cline [https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiecline13/] break down a week where consolidation is happening at every layer of the hotel industry at once. The conversation opens with NORWEGIAN AIR UK LIMITED [https://www.linkedin.com/company/norwegian-air-uk-limited/]'s $843 million bet to acquire Nordic Leisure Travel Group AB [https://www.linkedin.com/company/nordic-leisure-travel-group-ab/] Group and own the entire travel value chain from flights to hotels. The number that explains the deal: NLTG's owned hotels are 25% of its holiday volume but 60% of its gross profit. From there, Steve and Katie dig into IHG Hotels & [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ihghotels&resorts/]Resorts [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ihghotels&resorts/]' CEO, making the case that eight years of tech investment is finally showing up in franchisee margins, and close with RealTime Reservation [https://www.linkedin.com/company/realtimereservation/]'s acquisition of STAY and what unified ancillary revenue tech actually means for total RevPAR. This episode is presented by ⁠⁠⁠Cloudbeds⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudbeds/] & ⁠⁠⁠Bilt⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/biltrewards/]. Visit ⁠⁠⁠cloudbeds.com/gmh⁠⁠⁠ [http://cloudbeds.com/gmh] to learn more. And for hotels with restaurants and restaurant owners, Bilt Hospitality is finally here. Go to ⁠⁠⁠joinbilt.com/gmh⁠⁠⁠ [http://joinbilt.com/gmh] to learn more. And if you're leaving direct bookings on the table, StayFi turns your wifi into a guest relationship engine. Visit ⁠⁠https://stayfi.com/goodmorninghospitality/⁠⁠ [https://lnkd.in/gFzCttsg] to learn more.

The World Cup Surge Isn't Here Yet. Here's What STR Operators Need to Know.

On Monday's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/goodmorninghospitality/], Brandreth Canaley [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandrethcanaley/], Michael Goldin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgoldin1/], and Jamie Lane [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiehlane/] break down where STR demand is actually coming from right now and who controls the guest relationship as platforms make their next big bets. The conversation opens with the FIFA World Cup 2026™ - Canada, Mexico and the United States [https://www.linkedin.com/company/fifa-world-cup-2026-united-north-america-canada-usa-mexico/] booking story every operator in a host market needs to hear. Hotels priced up and set minimums and the surge has not arrived the way anyone expected. Short-term rental bookings tell a different story, with host market reservations more than doubling since April. From there, the team digs into Vrbo [https://www.linkedin.com/company/vrbo/]'s launch of sponsored listings and what a paid visibility layer means for independent hosts, and closes with Brian Chesky [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/]'s bet that creators are Airbnb [https://www.linkedin.com/company/airbnb/]'s next big Experiences opportunity and what that means for the operators already building businesses on the platform. This episode is presented by ⁠⁠⁠Cloudbeds⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudbeds/] & ⁠⁠⁠Bilt⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/biltrewards/]. Visit ⁠⁠⁠cloudbeds.com/gmh⁠⁠⁠ [http://cloudbeds.com/gmh] to learn more. And for hotels with restaurants and restaurant owners, Bilt Hospitality is finally here. Go to ⁠⁠⁠joinbilt.com/gmh⁠⁠⁠ [http://joinbilt.com/gmh] to learn more. And if you're leaving direct bookings on the table, StayFi turns your wifi into a guest relationship engine. Visit ⁠⁠https://stayfi.com/goodmorninghospitality/⁠⁠ [https://lnkd.in/gFzCttsg] to learn more.

GMH Hotels: Hotel AI Is Cutting Costs. It Should Be Making Money.

On this week's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/goodmorninghospitality/]: Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdandashy/] and Steve Turk [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevelturk/] break down why hotel AI is stuck on the wrong side of the ledger and what it will take to flip it. The conversation opens with Mews [https://www.linkedin.com/company/mewssystems/] founder Richard Valtr [https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-valtr-79541410/] making the case at Skift's Data and AI Summit that fragmented hotel data is the reason AI keeps cutting costs instead of driving revenue. From there Sarah and Steve dig into what Apple [https://www.linkedin.com/company/apple/]'s rebuilt Siri means for how guests will find and interact with travel, Alaska Airlines [https://www.linkedin.com/company/alaska-airlines/]' bet that Starlink wifi is a better loyalty driver than points for basic economy travelers, and why Delta Air Lines [https://www.linkedin.com/company/delta-air-lines/] is expanding American Express [https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-express/] card benefits without raising fees while every competitor goes the other direction. This episode is presented by ⁠⁠Cloudbeds⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudbeds/] & ⁠⁠Bilt⁠⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/biltrewards/]. Visit ⁠⁠cloudbeds.com/gmh⁠⁠ [http://cloudbeds.com/gmh] to learn more. And for hotels with restaurants and restaurant owners, Bilt Hospitality is finally here. Go to ⁠⁠joinbilt.com/gmh⁠⁠ [http://joinbilt.com/gmh] to learn more. And if you're leaving direct bookings on the table, StayFi turns your wifi into a guest relationship engine. Visit ⁠https://stayfi.com/goodmorninghospitality/⁠ [https://lnkd.in/gFzCttsg] to learn more.

Your Hotel's AI Problem Is Actually a Data Problem

Independent hoteliers are under pressure from every direction, and now there's an AI mandate on top of it all. Wil sits down with Adam Harris [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambharris/], Co-Founder and CEO of Cloudbeds, to cut through the noise. Adam's argument: most operators aren't failing because they lack effort or the right tools. They're failing because they haven't defined the problem, and they're sitting on fragmented data that makes even the best AI useless. The takeaway: AI isn't the strategy. Better questions, better data, and better decisions are. This episode is presented by ⁠⁠Cloudbeds [https://www.cloudbeds.com/gmh]. Connect with Cloudbeds at https://www.cloudbeds.com/gmh [https://www.cloudbeds.com/gmh], and you can subscribe to Adam's newsletter here: https://www.cloudbeds.com/newsletter/ [https://www.cloudbeds.com/newsletter/] 00:00 Meet Adam Harris 01:37 The Operator Squeeze 04:04 When Tech Becomes a Burden 07:25 AI Starts With Questions 08:37 Deterministic vs Probabilistic 12:24 Cleaning Up Hotel Data 13:49 Cloudbeds Signals In Action 16:35 Autonomous Coding And Caution 18:21 Future Of Hospitality Systems 21:55 Closing Takeaway

AI Is Breaking Travel's Search Economics.

On Monday's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/goodmorninghospitality/], Brandreth Canaley [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandrethcanaley/], Michael Goldin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgoldin1/], and Jamie Lane [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiehlane/] break down what AI is actually doing to travel economics and operations right now. The conversation opens with a story that stops you in your tracks: one traveler used Claude [https://www.linkedin.com/company/claude/] to run 881,076 searches on Etihad [https://www.linkedin.com/company/etihadairways/] Airways to find one flight. The infrastructure cost of that search exceeded the commission. From there, the team digs into Brian Chesky [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/]'s move to build an AI lab outside of Airbnb [https://www.linkedin.com/company/airbnb/] and what it signals about the platform's AI strategy, before closing with a look at what real AI adoption looks like at scale through Evolve [https://www.linkedin.com/company/evolve-vacation-rental/]'s playbook of deflecting 60% of guest inquiries without human intervention. This episode is presented by ⁠Cloudbeds⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudbeds/] & ⁠Bilt⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/biltrewards/]. Visit ⁠cloudbeds.com/gmh⁠ [http://cloudbeds.com/gmh] to learn more. And for hotels with restaurants and restaurant owners, Bilt Hospitality is finally here. Go to ⁠joinbilt.com/gmh⁠ [http://joinbilt.com/gmh] to learn more. And if you're leaving direct bookings on the table, StayFi turns your wifi into a guest relationship engine. Visit https://stayfi.com/goodmorninghospitality/ [https://lnkd.in/gFzCttsg] to learn more.