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🛒 Marriott International expands in Saudi Arabia, signing an agreement with Knowledge Economic City (KEC) to open three hotels in Madinah. Over 1,200 rooms will be added across Courtyard by Marriott (456 rooms), Four Points by Sheraton (558 rooms), and Residence Inn by Marriott (250 studios and apartments). The hotels will be part of KEC's 6.8 million square meters, featuring a museum, cultural center, and various amenities. This development aligns with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 initiative to enhance infrastructure and hospitality services.

💳 In January 2023, UK hotels processed 6.2 million card transactions. Visa and Mastercard typically charge about 1.5% per transaction, while virtual cards from OTAs like Booking.com can cost 3% or more. The UK saw a 326% increase in contactless payments, highlighting the need for PSPs to accommodate diverse payment methods. To avoid higher costs, negotiating with OTAs for bank transfers could reduce fees from 3% to 1.4%. The right PSP should integrate smoothly with existing systems, support flexible payment options, ensure security and compliance with PCI DSS standards, and avoid hidden fees, leading to improved customer experience and revenue optimization for hotels.

🏖️ In the Manche region, the 2024 tourist season saw varying attendance with notable peaks during events like the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. Despite a slow start in spring and a slightly lower summer compared to the previous year, overall attendance remained above pre-COVID levels. The off-season attracted cultural and heritage visits, with significant international tourists, especially from Europe and across the Atlantic. The total nights from April to All Saints' Day 2024 were down from 2023 but surpassed 2019 and 2022 levels. Extended weekends in May and a successful August contributed to maintaining overall attendance in line with the last two years.

🌿 Typology, a minimalist beauty brand founded in 2019 by Ning Li, partners with Groupe GM to launch a hotel amenities line. The products, made in France, boast up to 98% natural ingredients, vegan certification, no GMOs, gluten-free, and dermatologically tested. They are free from PEG, sulfates, and silicones. The line features a sophisticated hesperidia-green scent and eco-friendly packaging, including recycled plastic bottles, infinitely recyclable aluminum tubes, and Ecofill dispensers, aligning with Groupe GM's "Care About Earth" program.

📝 Thierry Marx opened the 72nd UMIH Congress on December 3, 2024, in Lyon with a "positive and combative" spirit. The event, themed "Ici on innove!", took place at the Centre des Congrès from December 3-5 and was hosted by journalist Vincent Ferniot. Lyon's mayor, Grégory Doucet, welcomed attendees, while UMIH Rhône president Thierry Fontaine highlighted the success of new legislation on tourist furnished apartments. Concerns were raised about the 2025 Finance Plan affecting low-wage support in the profession and the transformation of restaurant tickets into "shopping vouchers." Key issues discussed included rising energy costs, increasing public deficits, high corporate insolvencies, and an uptick in unemployment, with the CHR sector seeing 20 establishments close daily.

🏆 Sylvie Bergeret of MKG Consulting highlighted the impact of events like the Paris 2024 Olympics on destinations and hotel investment decisions. Paris saw a remarkable RevPAR increase of 2.51 times, a 120% rise in average prices, and higher occupancy rates during the games, benefiting local economies and transforming destinations.

📅 In the study "IA GÉNÉRATIVE: S’UNIR OU SUBIR," experts warn that AI generative growth heralds a major shift: agentification in tourism. Arno Pons, Secretary-General of Digital New Deal, emphasizes the importance of data-rich language models (LLMs) and advises tourism businesses to jointly develop a sector-specific LLM to avoid being squeezed by dominant "Big Tech" and "Big AI" firms. EONA-X is identified as a data-sharing initiative giving the tourism sector a competitive edge. A consortium called Gen4Travel, including Accor, ADP, Atout France, Themis-X, and Alltheway, is developing a travel assistant leveraging data portability from My Travel Connect service.

🏙 At the Aimsun Summit on December 3rd, experts envisioned urban and mobility development for 2050, focusing on societal and environmental challenges. In France, cars dominate as transport, yet the future emphasizes intermodality, like combining cycling with public transport. Paris faces issues with decarbonized mobility, health, environment, and noise. Milestones include the recent Metro Line 14 at Orly after a 60-year wait, with Line 18 upcoming. Achieving net-zero carbon by 2035 requires marrying intermodality with digital tools and data sharing, despite current data deficiencies, as noted by Paris's Cécile Guillou. Sanef seeks to optimize existing infrastructures for climate change, promoting reserved lanes and digital tools to streamline airport traffic. Collaboration and data usage are key for sustainable and tailored urban transport solutions.

🌱 Naturevolution received a €5,000 donation at the Hospitality Awards on November 28 at the InterContinental Paris - Le Grand. The association aims to enhance food security and protect biodiversity in Makay, Madagascar, with its Graines de changement project launched in 2019. Actions include creating educational gardens and rice fields, community granaries, free school canteens, and installing motorized rice hullers. A crowdfunding campaign seeks to raise €60,000 for these initiatives.

🏡 L'École de Savignac starts a new online training for hospitality professionals on sustainable transition, led by Johanna Wagner, Senior Advisor ESG at Extendam. The 21-hour course spans one month, with sessions twice a week: Tuesdays (16:30-18:30) and Fridays (13:30-15:30). Starting on January 31, 2025, and ending February 25, 2025, it includes 14 hours of virtual classes and 7 hours of independent work. Partnerships include Okko Hotels, Lightblue, and Clorofil.