Applications open until June 15, 2026, with the winner receiving board seat, PTM sponsorship, and global mentorship opportunities.

U.S. Travel Association brought 400 advocates to Capitol Hill pushing for TSA/ATC pay protection, ESTA changes, and $160M in Brand USA funding.

Hotel Communication Network (HCN), the global leader in guestroom tablets for hotels, is offering a new whitepaper titled Unlocking the Power of In-Room Tablet

Omni Hotels & Resorts today announced an exclusive lifestyle partnership with Peter Millar, the renowned luxury lifestyle brand known for its classic American style

Reading Time: 2 minutesUAE: Hospitality and leisure advisory firm RLA Global has appointed Henning Matthiesen as non-executive director as of 15 April 2026.
The post RLA Global appoints Matthiesen as non-executive director appeared first on Boutique Hotel News.

Reading Time: < 1 minuteUS: Curator Hotel & Resort Collection has added Cincinnati's Fidelity Hotel as its latest member ahead of the hotel’s opening in summer 2026.
The post Curator Hotel & Resort Collection adds Cincinnati’s Fidelity Hotel appeared first on Boutique Hotel News.

LAGUNA BEACH, California—AvantStay announced the expansion of its hotel portfolio with the opening of The Mara Laguna Beach, a newly managed and reimagined boutique property in Laguna Beach, California. The 66-room hotel marks AvantStay’s ninth takeover of a former Sonder-operated property. “The Mara represents the next step in AvantStay’s growth as we continue to expand our brand,” said Reuben Doetsch, co-founder of AvantStay. “AvantStay aims to redefine what travelers come to expect from boutique hotels, […]
The post AvantStay Expands Its Portfolio With New Opening in Laguna Beach, California appeared first on LODGING Magazine.

ATLANTA, Georgia—The influence of women in the hotel and lodging industry took center stage as the AHLA Foundation brought its annual leadership event back to Atlanta for FORWARD/26, convening hospitality professionals from across the country at the Signia by Hilton. With a theme centered on influence, the two days included conversations, practical leadership insights, and programming for executives and leaders, as well as early- to mid-career professionals across different business functions. While women continue to […]
The post FORWARD/26 Returns to Atlanta With Record-Breaking Attendance and Highlights Hospitality Leadership appeared first on LODGING Magazine.

Hotel industry coverage today points to a market increasingly shaped by domestic leisure demand, rising competitive pressure and tighter margins. Affluent travelers are favoring U.S. resort and experiential destinations, helping some leisure markets outperform even as overall occupancy softens and the country’s share of international demand faces challenges. At the same time, operators are focusing more closely on costs and using loyalty programs to steer bookings toward lower-cost channels and support profitability.

As travelers increasingly prioritize benefits and rewards, hotel loyalty programs are emerging as a significant factor influencing accommodation selection and reservation patterns.

India, 21st April 2026: RateGain Travel Technologies Limited (NSE: RATEGAIN, a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality, today announced a strategic partnership with Easebuzz, a leading digital payments platform in India, as a Gold Partner for RG Pay. Through this partnership, Easebuzz’s payment gateway and local acquiring capabilities will be integrated with RG Pay to enable travel and hospitality brands to better serve Indian travelers. Brands will be able to offer widely used domestic payment methods such as UPI, cards, net banking, and wallets, helping improve payment acceptance, reduce friction at checkout, and drive higher booking completion rates. With India emerging as one of the fastest-growing travel markets globally, payment behavior continues to be shaped by real-time systems like UPI and a strong preference for local payment options. This partnership enables travel brands to align their checkout experience with these evolving preferences, while improving reliability and performance for domestic transactions. “At Easebuzz, we are focused on offering verticalized payment solutions, with travel being one of the key segments we are building for. Along with simplifying digital payments for travel brands across India, we offer competitive features such as EMI and BNPL payment options, as well as an offer engine on the checkout page to improve conversion rates and drive repeat purchases. Partnering with RateGain enables us to extend our capabilities to global travel brands looking to serve Indian consumers more effectively. Together, we aim to deliver seamless, reliable, and locally optimized payment experiences,” said Amit Kumar, CTO & Director, Easebuzz. “India is a high-growth market where payment preferences are evolving rapidly, led by UPI and alternative payment methods. Through our partnership with Easebuzz, we are strengthening our ability to help travel brands capture this demand with more relevant and high-performing checkout experiences. This collaboration is focused on enabling better conversion outcomes in India,” said Parijat Tiwari, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Distribution, RateGain. RG Pay enables travel and hospitality companies to improve checkout performance by integrating localized payment capabilities and affordability options into a unified layer. Through partnerships with leading payment providers, RG Pay helps brands adapt to market-specific payment behaviors while maintaining a consistent and scalable checkout experience. About Easebuzz Easebuzz is RBI-authorised full-stack payment solutions platform serving more than 2,50,000 Indian businesses, ranging from startups and SMEs to large-scale enterprises. With a mission to become a one-stop Financial Operating System for businesses, Easebuzz offers a comprehensive suite of software solutions embedded with payments infrastructure that help companies digitize and automate end-to-end workflows around payment acceptance, payout disbursals, connected banking, split payments, automated reconciliation, vendor payments, sub-merchant management, refund management, etc. The platform offers solutions across diverse sectors including education, e-commerce, retail, NBFCs, insurance, government, and travel & tourism. Some of the marquee clients of Easebuzz include Zepto, BigBasket, Bajaj Finserv, Star Health Insurance, Symbiosis University, Parul University, DLF, Lodha, and many more About RateGain RateGain Travel Technologies Limited is a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality, working with 13,000+ customers and 700+ partners across 160+ countries. RateGain helps travel and hospitality businesses accelerate revenue generation through acquisition, retention, and wallet share expansion. Today, RateGain is one of the world’s largest processors of electronic transactions, price points, and travel intent data, enabling revenue management, distribution, and marketing teams across hotels, airlines, destination marketing organizations, online travel agents, metasearch companies, package providers, car rentals, travel management companies, cruises, and ferries to drive better business outcomes. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in India, RateGain works with 33 of the Top 40 Hotel Chains, 4 of the Top 5 Airlines, 7 of the Top 10 Car Rental companies, and all leading DMOs, OTAs, and metasearch platforms, including 25 Global Fortune 500 companies, unlocking new revenue every day. Media Contact: Aastha Khurana: media@rategain.com
The post RateGain Partners with Easebuzz as a Gold Partner for RG Pay to Strengthen Payment Capabilities in India appeared first on RateGain.

India, 17th April 2026: RateGain Travel Technologies Limited (NSE: RATEGAIN), a global leader in AI-powered SaaS solutions for the travel and hospitality industry, today announced that MIAT Mongolian Airlines, the national flag carrier of Mongolia, has selected AirGain, RateGain’s pricing intelligence platform for airlines, to enhance its rate shopping and competitive pricing capabilities. Founded in 1956, MIAT Mongolian Airlines operates a growing network connecting Mongolia with key destinations across Asia and Europe. As the airline expands in an increasingly competitive market, access to timely and accurate market intelligence is essential for smarter pricing decisions. Through this partnership, MIAT will leverage AirGain to track competitive fares across both direct and indirect channels, enabling faster, data-driven pricing decisions across its network. As part of this collaboration, MIAT will benefit from AirGain’s AI-powered Route Performance Digest, which delivers daily automated route-level insights to detect pricing gaps and performance shifts. By surfacing actionable intelligence in a clear, structured format, the Digest helps revenue teams quickly identify where intervention is needed. These capabilities streamline how teams’ access and act on market insights, enabling quicker and more confident pricing decisions. Operating in a dynamic and price-sensitive market, MIAT aims to remain competitive while protecting profitability and ensuring consistent pricing across channels. With AirGain’s high-frequency rate shopping and intuitive analytics, the airline can track fare movements, detect market shifts early, and respond swiftly through a single interface. This real-time visibility is powered by competitive intelligence across 300+ airlines, 170+ OTAs, and 50+ meta-search platforms, supported by enterprise-grade reliability and 99.95% uptime. Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Erdene-Ochir Bat-Unen, Senior Marketing Officer at MIAT Mongolian Airlines, said, “Effective pricing decisions depend on having clear visibility into the competitive landscape. The insights we get from AirGain’s dashboard give our revenue team immediate clarity on fare positioning, demand shifts, and competitor movements. As we continue to grow our international footprint, AirGain gives us the confidence to act quickly on market changes and ensure our fares remain competitive across channels.” Vinay Varma, Senior Vice President and General Manager at AirGain, added, “We are excited to welcome MIAT Mongolian Airlines to the AirGain community. In markets where demand patterns shift quickly and competition spans multiple regions, having clear, consolidated insights is critical. AirGain surfaces the signals that matter — fare movements, positioning gaps, and route-level trends — enabling revenue teams to act decisively rather than reactively.” With this partnership, MIAT joins a growing community of airlines, modernizing how revenue teams consume and act on competitive intelligence. As part of its AI-led product evolution, AirGain will soon introduce Smart Search — an industry-first natural-language capability in pricing intelligence. Instead of navigating multiple dashboards and static reports, revenue managers will be able to ask pricing questions directly and receive instant, contextual insights. This shift moves AirGain beyond traditional monitoring tools toward an AI-powered decision assistant, reinforcing its competitive differentiation and long-term strategic advantage. About MIAT Mongolian Airlines MIAT Mongolian Airlines is the national carrier of Mongolia, headquartered in Ulaanbaatar. The airline operates domestic and international services, connecting Mongolia to major destinations across Asia and beyond, with a strong focus on supporting tourism, trade, and economic growth. About RateGain RateGain Travel Technologies Limited is a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality, working with 13,000+ customers and 700+ partners across 160+ countries. RateGain helps travel and hospitality businesses accelerate revenue generation through acquisition, retention, and wallet share expansion. Today, RateGain is one of the world’s largest processors of electronic transactions, price points, and travel intent data, enabling revenue management, distribution, and marketing teams across hotels, airlines, destination marketing organizations, online travel agents, metasearch companies, package providers, car rentals, travel management companies, cruises, and ferries to drive better business outcomes. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in India, RateGain works with 33 of the Top 40 Hotel Chains, 4 of the Top 5 Airlines, 7 of the Top 10 Car Rental companies, and all leading DMOs, OTAs, and metasearch platforms, including 25 Global Fortune 500 companies, unlocking new revenue every day. Media Contact: Aastha Khurana: media@rategain.com
The post MIAT Mongolian Airlines Strengthens Pricing Agility with AI-Led Capabilities from RateGain appeared first on RateGain.

Hotel Designs
Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo appoints new General Manager
Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo appoints new General Manager
Pauline Brettell.

Hotel Designs
Accor collection brands – a pipeline reflecting the evolving trends in hospitality development
Accor collection brands – a pipeline reflecting the evolving trends in hospitality development
Pauline Brettell.

Join SiteMinder and hotel industry experts for part three of our series, delving into how hoteliers and travellers are navigating the rise of AI.

Sydney, Australia – SiteMinder, the world’s leading hotel commerce platform, today announced new platform capabilities and partnerships designed to extend hotel distribution into the AI era. Connecting 53,000 hotels across 150 countries to the channels where travellers search and book accommodation, SiteMinder is expanding its platform to support AI-driven direct booking and AI-powered online travel […]

CHICAGO (April 16, 2026) – Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center proudly announces the completion of its comprehensive $70 million transformation, coinciding with the hotel’s...

CHICAGO, IL (April 13, 2026): A bold new chapter in Old Town Scottsdale hospitality is set to unfold this spring as Hotel Solaya has officially opened its doors, joining the JdV by Hyatt brand...

Global hotel groups shift from brand control to flexible platform models to capture conversion-driven expansion

Hotels are using loyalty to drive direct bookings, increase guest value, and reduce reliance on third-party channels

Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity to show appreciation with meaningful experiences, thoughtful gestures, and quality time. Whether you’re planning a relaxing daycation, a special outing, or a heartfelt surprise, there are many ways to make your mom feel truly loved. To make the day memorable, focus on personal touches and quality time that reflect […]

A long layover at Honolulu airport doesn’t have to be wasted time. During an HNL airport layover, you can rest at a nearby hotel, grab a shower, explore Waikiki, or just find a quiet place to recharge before your next flight. The problem with a long layover at Honolulu airport is that HNL itself doesn’t […]