Hilton tips

Hilton Worldwide is rolling out its first-ever hotel brand in the economy slice of the market, Spark by Hilton, taking on rivals such as Marriott International, Choice, and InterContinental Hotels Group in this competitive market segment.

Chris Nassetta, CEO of Hilton and incoming national chair of the U.S. Travel Association, called on Wednesday for U.S. government officials to cut visa wait times that he said were hurting the country’s domestic travel sector and U.S. federal revenues.

As other sectors deal with post-epidemic corrections, travel brands continue to grow as they make up for lost ground over the last three years. Earnings season continued this week and both Meta’s and Google’s results showed the strength of travel brands during the last quarter. Read on.

A research report found that Expedia Group has lost global hotel market share since the onset of the pandemic, and all of it has come from plunging business at non-core brands, such as Hotwire, eBookers, Orbitz and Travelocity.

A smart new campaign launched by Hilton, highlighting its connected rooms feature, for travelers looking for larger spaces when booking family or group travel. First in this “Connecting Room Concerts” series, a performance from Brandi Carlile, six-time Grammy-Awards winner – and nominated seven times for tonight’s 2023 Grammys Awards – from a pair of connected rooms at The Beverly Hilton.

“An Outstanding year,” “thrilled to report,” “record-breaking…” every U.S. hotel group CEO has been jubilant in their earnings calls these past days.

Curating a great guest experience comes easily for Larry Crosby. The general manager of The Foundry Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, spent many years as a Les Clefs d’Or-recognized concierge, after all.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, February 10. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, February 27. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

India could rank among the top three markets for outbound travel in the coming years, according to Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of online travel platform Agoda said while speaking to media in India during his recent visit to the country. Indian travellers are increasingly becoming more important to many countries and will become second to China in terms of spending in Asia, he said. An earlier Skift article had reported how the time is ripe for India — which already ticks most of the boxes as a suitable candidate to take over from China as the largest travel source market — to enter the dragon’s space. In India, online travel booking is growing at a faster pace after the pandemic in comparison to other global markets, outpacing the Asia Pacific market, said Morgenshtern. The total transaction value in travel almost hit pre-Covid levels in 2022. “Since 2019, the rank of importance of Indian tourists for Thailand for example has risen from 10th to 6th. I expect it to become more important in the coming years, not only to Thailand but to many countries in APAC,” he added. Morgenshtern also sees a lot of potential for inbound tourism in India. While India’s inbound is growing slower than outbound travel, he believes it is going to see fast growth in the coming years.

Environmental sustainability is becoming more important to companies, governments, and travelers alike. No news there. But how are hotel companies responding to the changing demands and increased scrutiny around environmental reporting and emission reduction requirements?

Over 14 years, hotel operator Hilton Worldwide has doubled its number of hotel and resort brands to 19 and more than doubled its number of rooms to 1.1 million. During the pandemic recovery, the McLean, Virginia-based hotel giant is looking to fine-tune its brands and portfolio, especially in light of its introduction in January of its first economy brand, Spark by Hilton.

Hilton transitioned its central reservations system into the cloud in 2020, enabling guests to book connected rooms, but it is testing several new features to more deeply personalize guest bookings and stays.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, March 30. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Reporting by hotel companies on their environmental targets and abatement efforts is improving.

U.S. hotel operators are expected to post a rise in first-quarter profit even as they pour in money to lure travelers to make bookings directly through their websites, instead of turning to travel agencies.

Marking the debut of Hilton’s luxury brand Waldorf Astoria in India, Chris Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, announced on Wednesday that Jaipur would be the first destination for the brand.

Hilton hopes to have 1,000 hotels operating in Asia Pacific by 2025 and sees opportunity at all tiers, but particularly in luxury brands and entry-level hotels.

Marriott plans to have 250 properties across India by 2025, including hotels that are open and in the pipeline. “We’re in 40 cities today, that should be 50 cities or more by 2025,” said Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano, adding that this would help create 10,000 new jobs in the country. Capuano, who was visiting India last week, spoke about his meeting with the Indian tourism minister during which they discussed the importance of continuing to tell the story about the rich and diverse set of experiences that the country offers. “And we want to make sure we have lodging options in all of those diverse destinations,” Capuano said. Reiterating Marriott’s “relatively simple” development strategy of providing the right product in every market the travelers want to visit for any type of trips, Capuano said the hotel group would continue to stay focused on India’s “strong and growing” domestic market. However, he did mention that the hotel group is a long way off as far as opportunity for luxury in India is concerned. “I think we’re in our infancy of growing our industry portfolio in luxury. That’s probably an area where we’ll continue to focus on,” Capuano said. True to Capuano’s statements, global hotels brands have been exploring the potential of India’s luxury market with Hilton’s last week announcement of the debut of the Waldorf Astoria brand in India and Radisson announcing the launch of its Radisson Collection in the country. Capuano also went to to talk about India witnessing a strong traction for branded residential properties, which Marriott launched in the country early this year. While 2020 and 2021 were the two most challenging years in the history of the hospitality business, interestingly, these were the two strongest years in the history of Marriott’s branded residential business, said Capuano. “The launch of Homes & Villas, allowed us to keep our customers within the Bonvoy ecosystem and it’s not coincidental that we saw our volume of listings grow more than 20-fold over the two years of the pandemic,” Capuano said. And when asked to choose his favorite India-based hotel brand, Capuano couldn’t resist naming the Taj. “Taj is an iconic brand on a global basis. They have generated some of the world’s most extraordinary leaders who have taken their expertise global,” Capuano said.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, April 13. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, April 27. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.