Travel

Choice Hotels reduced its net U.S. room count last year, pruning underperforming hotels while adding properties it said were of higher average quality. In the fourth quarter, the company kicked out of its system “about 20 hotels” more than it usually does in a quarter, said president and CEO Pat Pacious during a Thursday earnings

Indian online travel companies are accelerating their AI strategies: MakeMyTrip and Ixigo each announced partnerships with OpenAI on Wednesday.   MakeMyTrip said it will use OpenAI’s APIs to introduce features that let users move from conversational inspiration to booking through its Myra chatbot. “Our collaboration with OpenAI ensures that when travelers start their journey through

As Navan navigates stock pressure in its first months as a public company, the board has tapped a finance leader from Lyft as chief financial officer. Navan appointed Aurélien Nolf as chief financial officer, effective March 2, four months after its IPO. Anne Giviskos has been serving as interim CFO. Nolf serves as vice president

South African Tourism is aiming to attract 100,000 Indian visitors this year — a return to pre-Covid levels. That’s an ambitious goal: Indian arrivals slipped to just 69,700 last year, down from 79,000 in 2023. “Yes, there has been a dip in travel, which is why we’re trying to sort of better ourselves,” Mitalee Karmarkar,

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) executives say they are restructuring the company’s technology systems as artificial intelligence reshapes how travelers search and book hotels. The shift from blue links to synthesized, conversational answers, they say, changes not just marketing tactics but how hotel content must be structured and surfaced. “Everything in between, the distribution, how you get

Indian airport and lounge operator Travel Food Services is planning to expand its presence outside India. The company is “actively pursuing lounge opportunities” in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, Managing Director and CEO Varun Kapur said in its latest earnings call. These are the markets where the company sees “significant long-term potential,” he added.

At the recent inauguration of Air India’s new Maharaja Lounge at its Delhi hub, Campbell Wilson used a distinctly South Asian metaphor to describe where the airline stands in its ambitious transformation. “We’re maybe in the morning session, on the fifth day,” said the CEO, likening Air India’s overhaul to the closing stretch of a

Aspen One has opened two of the largest all-electric hotels in the United States, eliminating on-site fossil fuel use from hundreds of guest rooms and large-scale banquet kitchens. Limelight Mammoth opened in December 2025 with 149 guestrooms, including 25 suites. Limelight Boulder opened in October 2025 on the University of Colorado campus and includes 252

Terminal BTG Pactual in São Paulo isn’t just another VIP lounge with better snacks. It’s a complete parallel universe to commercial aviation — a standalone 2,400-square-meter building with its own inverted wing roofs, native Brazilian gardens, and a 40-year concession from Guarulhos International Airport.  Its rapid success suggests the LatAm premium travel market was waiting

The largest U.S. hospitality workers union said Thursday that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is depressing tourism, with a knock-on effect of reducing jobs across the hotel sector. “We’re trying to lift up attention to this story about the broader noise that is discouraging domestic and international tourism,” said Gwen Mills, president of Unite Here,

Casago said Friday that founder Steve Schwab would hand off the CEO title to president Joe Riley in October, a seemingly orderly transition that masks underlying friction within company leadership and among franchisees.  When the transition is complete, a company statement said, Schwab will “focus more deeply on long-term strategy, industry advocacy and direct engagement

Indian online travel company Ixigo is making its first major international acquisition with a deal to acquire a 60% stake in Spain’s Online Travel Solutions, the company that runs online train ticket booking platform Trenes.com. The deal, valued at €11.70 million ($14 million), will also mark Ixigo’s entry into Europe. When completed, Trenes will become

Despite disruptions from trade and politics, the global travel industry remained resilient last year. According to the latest Skift Travel Health Index: 2025 In Review, the industry closed the year at 102, a modest but steady 2% rise over 2024. While the numbers suggest stability, the underlying data reveal a shift in how, where, and

Oyo parent Prism is stepping up its European expansion by using its vacation rental brand Belvilla to enter the hotel market. The company has launched three hotels in Germany — Sunday Hotel Schwarzbachtal Hideaway in Saxony, Bernsteinsee Hotel & Ferien by Palette Resorts in Sassenburg, and Belvilla Kaiserhof Feldberg in Baden-Württemberg — marking Belvilla’s debut

Key Points Spirit Airlines is recalling 500 furloughed flight attendants and selling 20 Airbus aircraft as part of ongoing restructuring. The airline continues to face uncertainty amid its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy, having cut jobs, furloughed staff, and trimmed its fleet. Spirit has explored potential mergers and takeovers, but no deals have been finalized, and

Comcast and Adara, a RateGain company acquired in 2023, have launched a service that connects TV and streaming ad exposure to actual travel bookings. The partnership pairs household viewing data from Comcast’s advertising unit with Adara’s booking data, which spans more than 270 airline, hotel, and online travel agency partners. The goal: Advertisers will be

Hilton’s 2025 results provided the latest snapshot of a travel sector that had been undermined by economic uncertainty. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose by only 0.4%, below the 2% to 3% range the hotel group had forecast a year ago. “Liberation Day was a pretty big deal, and the biggest government shutdown in American

A suite that usually costs about INR 200,000 ($2,200) a night at the Taj Palace hotel in New Delhi was listed at more than INR 3 million ($33,000) per night, for the February 16-20 period. The jump is linked to the 2026 AI Impact Summit being held at Bharat Mandapam during the same dates. The