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🏡 Revier Hospitality Group is launching a new pricing model in Switzerland with the opening of Revier Mountain Lodge Saas Fee, offering an "All You Can Sleep" flatrate for CHF 999 per season. This rate allows unlimited stays in a Smart Cabin throughout the season, averaging at CHF 50 per night for bookings of at least 10 nights from January to April 2025. Bookings can be made up to two days before arrival for a maximum of seven consecutive nights, with a required two-day break before rebooking. The hotel features 82 rooms, including Family and Team Cabins, a music bar, casual dining, co-working spaces, seminar rooms, a modern gym, and a cinema. CEO Daniel Renggli may extend this model to other group hotels depending on the success at Saas-Fee.

📍 KAYAK, the world-leading travel search engine, predicts travel trends up to 2030 in a report with The Future Laboratory. Drawing from social and cultural research, interviews, a survey of 9,100 people across 9 countries including France, and user behavior analysis, the report forecasts multi-city adventures, spiritual quests, and social media bookings. Modern travelers prefer flexible (38%), personalized itineraries (37%) and AI planning tools (17%).

🍫 Barry Callebaut's market study involved 11,700 consumers across 29 countries, focusing on the chocolate sector's evolution by 2025 and beyond. The research highlights consumer trends toward pleasure, health, and ethics in confectionery. The global chocolate confectionery market, leading in sales, is expected to exceed $130 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% through 2029. The study captures the significant shift towards conscious living, where consumers demand products balancing indulgence with responsibility.

🏂 Val Thorens, Europe's highest ski resort, saw a record attendance over the Christmas 2024 holiday with an average occupancy rate of 93% from December 21, 2024, to January 4, 2025. This marks a 3.1-point increase from the previous year. The New Year's week peaked at 97.6% occupancy. The positive trend is confirmed with reservations already mounting for the 2025/2026 Christmas and New Year holidays. Vincent Lalanne, Director of Val Thorens Tourism Office, highlights the early booking trend for future vacations.

🏖 Four Indigenous nations from Québec—the Naskapis of Kawawachikamach, the Micmacs of Gespe’gewa’gi, the Hurons-Wendats, and the Crees—formed the consortium Atenro ("friendship" in Wendat) and acquired the iconic Hilton Québec hotel. Investing $85.6 million, they became the majority owners of the 569-room hotel after a $70 million renovation in 2020. InnVest Hotels, the previous owner and a major player in Canada's hotel industry, will continue to manage the property. Minister Ian Lafrenière praised the initiative as a model for future economic projects.

🏨 Atream, with 16 years of experience in the tourism industry, completed the acquisition of 3 strategic assets in December 2024, totaling €38M, located in Germany and France. These expanded the SCPI Atream Hôtels portfolio to 21 real estate assets and 2 participations, including brands like Center Parcs, Radisson, and B&B, with 2,453 rooms and a 100% occupancy rate (4Q2024). Portfolio distribution: 28% Germany, 18% Netherlands, 21% Belgium, 33% France.

🎨 During 2022-2023, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Musées de Reims led AI experiments, introducing Anna, a conversational AI developed by DAVI The Humanizers, to enhance visitor experience. Anna uses natural language processing and deep learning to simplify museum data for guests. The Louvre Abu Dhabi's "From Kalīla wa Dimna to La Fontaine" exhibition, held from March to June 2024, included an AI-assisted interactive screen enabling visitors to create personalized fables with pre-programmed prompts and images, in English, French, and Arabic, while safeguarding narrative consistency and sensitivity.

🏨 Investors and operators are favoring highly automated hotels with minimal staffing and luxury hotels for their profitability despite rising management costs. Over recent decades, one million luxury rooms have been added to the market, accelerating growth. By 2024, around 1,500 5-star establishments will constitute approximately 7.5% of the global supply (MKG Consulting).

🏦 Hospitality-ON's bimonthly magazine analyzes the luxury hospitality market, highlighting a growing clientele and changes due to new generations and traditional practices. Despite variances in figures, experts agree that the number of wealthy individuals and their cumulative billions in assets are rising. This wealth influx is driving high-end service offerings and luxury real estate developments. Approximately 75% of the affluent are successful entrepreneurs, contrasting with the 20% who have inherited their wealth.

💰 Minor Hotels Europe & Amériques (formerly NH Hotel Group) reported a 10% revenue increase to roughly €2.4 billion. New CEO Gonzalo Aguilar, from Marriott, aims to continue growth and sees potential for price increases despite hotel occupancy below pre-pandemic levels. The group plans to add 50 hotels by 2027, reaching about 700 properties, and expand in key markets, including the UK, France, Greece, Eastern Europe, Brazil, and the US. In 2024, the group forecasts a record EBITDA growth of 15%-20%, between €375 and €390 million.