Top News

🏨 ECO-ONE, sustainability leader in hospitality, launched a new platform for buying and selling second-hand furniture dedicated to the French hotel market, aiming to promote circular economy. With over two years in France and a robust catalog of French products, the platform connects hotels for secure and efficient transactions. After six months in Spain, over 400 hotels joined, and 1,000 products were sold.

🏦 Christoph Mares joined Boutique Group as CEO in January 2025, succeeding former CEO Mark De Cocinis. With over 25 years in the hotel industry, Mares previously served as COO at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Emaar Hospitality Group LLC. Boutique Group aims to showcase Saudi hospitality and culture through iconic palaces, starting with The Red Palace, set to open in April 2026. Mares expresses eagerness to share Saudi Arabia's evolving hospitality legacy with the world.

📖 The GHR Department of Social Affairs is hosting a webinar titled "Employee Inaptitude: Steps to Follow" on January 30, 2025, from 10 am to 11 am. The webinar will discuss the procedures employers must follow after determining an employee's inaptitude. Partnering with Klesia and Malakoff Humanis, registration is available online.

🏨 In the hospitality industry, multidisciplinary teams, consisting of members from diverse departments like management, catering, marketing, and client services, enhance decision-making through creativity and innovation. They address complex issues such as customer satisfaction and operation optimization. Clear communication and defined common goals are vital to overcoming challenges like misunderstandings and decision-making delays. Effective leadership, collaborative tools, and team-building activities are recommended for maximizing efficiency and competitiveness in the dynamic market. Hospitality entities can succeed by adopting collaborative mindsets and creating environments of psychological safety.

📈 MKG Consulting annually predicts the evolution of key European hotel markets. France and the UK, the "pioneer" markets, recovered post-Covid but showed a relative activity slowdown in 2024. They are expected to perform better in 2025, though growth rates of KPIs are predicted to be below historic standards. Germany, DACH region, and Benelux anticipate an "alternating slowdown" with expansion and contraction phases. Despite a positive 2019/2024 growth, recent months have shown a slowdown and reduced occupancy rates. Southern Europe, with strong growth and occupancy rate increases in 2024, is expected to support prices in 2025 amidst moderate supply growth.

🌏 Radisson Blu Hotel, Bengaluru Outer Ring Road, awarded the LEED Net Zero Carbon certification by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), is the first in Radisson Hotel Group's global portfolio to reach this milestone. This achievement follows the hotel's LEED 4.1 O+M Existing Buildings Platinum certification earned last year. To obtain the Net Zero status, the hotel offset its annual carbon emissions of 4,038 metric tons through renewable energy investments and other environmental innovations.

🧐 Skyscanner identified the "Wanderlost" affecting 82% of French travelers, with 79% dreaming of travel but struggling with planning due to mental fatigue and indecision. Budget is a key factor for 94% of respondents, hindering decision-making for half. Despite challenges, 54% aim to travel more in 2025. Cheapest 2025 destinations include Amman (€69), Essaouira (€83), and Porto (€97), with Skyscanner advising flexibility and price alerts for better deals.

💡 Businesses aiming to attract local customers must create and optimize their Google My Business (GMB) listing. Maintaining a well-optimized GMB profile is essential for local visibility and should be the first step in a marketing strategy. To create a perfect Google establishment listing, follow these steps: 1. Visit Google Business Profile (formerly GMB) and click "Manage". 2. Enter your business name; create a new listing if necessary. 3. Select your type of activity: online commerce, local store, or service provider. 4. Choose your Google My Business activity category. 5. Provide your postal address and contact details (phone number and website, if available). 6. Validate your Google establishment listing, which can be done through SMS, email, video, live video call, postal mail, or Google Search Console. 7. Set your opening hours accurately. 8. Enable Google My Business messages to converse with clients. 9. Write a GMB description using relevant keywords. 10. You've created your Google Business Profile. Optimize your GMB listing by collecting Google reviews with a minimum rating of 4/5, obtaining them in large numbers, and ensuring they are recent (less than one month old). Choose the right activity category for better visibility in Google's Local Pack, where over 90% of internet users click on one of the three displayed listings. Additionally, structure your business title as "Company Name +

💰 The 4-star Hôtel l’Élysée Val d’Europe near Disneyland Paris recorded an additional 1,648 direct overnight stays between May and December 2023, equivalent to filling nearly 7 extra rooms nightly, after adopting HiJiffy's AI solution. The hotel's first campaign, "Offre de printemps," launched in April 2024, resulted in 3.5 times more direct bookings and nearly 4 times the revenue compared to a similar period without the campaign.

📱 Over half of the luxury hotels examined offer Wi-Fi with median download speeds of at least 50 Mbps. The study by Ookla® analyzed Wi-Fi performance in the Middle East and North Africa's top-rated 22 five-star hotels and resorts, focusing on Riyadh and Dubai. The data from October 2023 to October 2024 indicated these hotels set new benchmarks for high-speed internet connectivity, which is increasingly essential for traveler satisfaction and loyalty.