Bottom Line

The CEO consensus is not “AI replaces hotels.” It is “AI changes who answers the phone, who gets retrained, and who shows up when a guest shops through an assistant.” Operators should steal Wyndham’s call metrics, Accor’s labor honesty, and Hilton/Hyatt’s distribution anxiety—and ignore any vendor pitch that skips all three.

HyperGuest just raised more capital for the second race. On September 29, 2026, PhocusWire reported that the hotel distribution specialist secured a $25 million investment from private equity firm Apax. The money is earmarked to accelerate international growth and to deepen the technology platform as artificial intelligence reshapes how travel is searched, packaged, and sold.

What HyperGuest sells – and why PE cares

HyperGuest enables hotels to connect directly with travel distributors – online travel agencies, tour operators, travel management companies, and bedbanks. The pitch is simple on paper: hotels and travel companies should work together directly, quickly, and at scale. Co-founder and CEO Nir Yaron framed the round as a milestone toward transforming hotel commerce globally.

Apax is not a tourist in travel tech. The firm has scaled technology businesses globally, invested in Guesty, and acquired a majority stake in IBS Software in 2023.

Zehavit Cohen, partner at Apax Partners, called HyperGuest’s approach differentiated technology aimed at one of hospitality’s fundamental challenges.

Founded in 2020, HyperGuest said it recently crossed $1 billion in total transaction value. A Series A of $23 million in 2023 funded earlier growth. The company also landed on PhocusWire’s Hot 25 Travel Startup list for 2025 – useful brand equity when selling to skeptical hoteliers who have seen connectivity platforms come and go.

Why this round lands in an AI distribution year

2026 has been loud on agentic booking: brand agents inside LLMs, Google AI Mode checkout experiments, and OTA portfolio bets. Those stories pull guest demand into new front doors. HyperGuest’s bet sits one layer down – ensuring hotels can still push accurate rates, inventory, and product into the distributor mesh when those front doors multiply.

If AI agents reshop and rebook until departure, query volume rises faster than completed stays. That puts pressure on every hop in the connectivity chain.

Platforms that reduce hops – or make remaining hops more reliable – become infrastructure, not nice-to-have middleware. Apax’s check is a vote that direct hotel-to-distributor plumbing still matters when chat interfaces steal the spotlight.

For independent hotels and regional groups, the strategic question is leverage. Direct connectivity can cut dependency on opaque wholesale paths, but only if the hotel’s content, restrictions, and rate logic are clean enough for machines to trust. Capital that funds international expansion also funds the unglamorous work of integrations, mapping, and support – the work that decides whether “direct” is real or aspirational.

Stakes for hoteliers and distributors

• Independents and soft brands: Evaluate whether HyperGuest (or peers) expands which high-quality demand partners you can reach without stacking another OTA-only strategy.
• Franchisees inside big brands: Brand CRS paths still dominate; watch whether third-party connectivity platforms become complements for wholesale, group, and tour flows your brand stack under-serves.
• Tour operators and bedbanks: PE-backed scale on the hotel side can mean faster onboarding – and tougher commercial terms as the network densifies.
• AI product teams: Distribution partners with clean APIs and reliable inventory become table stakes for any agent that promises “bookable” answers.

Key Takeaways

• HyperGuest raised $25M from Apax (reported Sept 29, 2026) to fund international growth and platform investment amid AI-driven distribution change.
• The company connects hotels directly to OTAs, tour operators, TMCs, and bedbanks; it reports crossing $1B in total transaction value.
• Prior Series A was $23M in 2023; Apax’s travel-tech footprint includes Guesty and IBS Software.
• Strategic context: as AI front ends multiply, reliable direct connectivity becomes infrastructure for accurate, machine-readable hotel commerce.
• Hoteliers should judge the round by onboarding speed, partner quality, and inventory fidelity–not by funding headlines alone.

Bottom Line

HyperGuest’s Apax round is a reminder that distribution still has a pipes layer underneath the AI demos. Hotels that win the next cycle will pair sharp guest-facing agents with boring, reliable connectivity. Twenty-five million dollars will not rewrite OTA economics overnight–but it can widen the set of hotels that sell direct into the wholesale and agency universe without drowning in custom integrations.

The announcement was made at the Euronews Travel & Tourism Summit 2026 in Brussels on 29 September, placing easier transatlantic travel at the centre of discussions about tourism, business travel and connections between Europe and the United States. If the arrangement is completed, eligible Belgian travellers would gain access to a trusted-traveller system designed to make US arrivals faster and more predictable.

Global Entry Could Transform US Arrivals

Global Entry, operated by US Customs and Border Protection, allows approved, low-risk international travellers to use an expedited arrival process when entering the United States. The programme is designed to reduce the time spent in conventional immigration processing at participating US airports.

For Belgian travellers who regularly visit the United States for holidays, business, family visits or events, participation could make a noticeable difference. Instead of facing the same standard arrival process on every trip, approved members would have access to the programme’s dedicated procedures.

Belgium and US Officials Working on Final Steps

Ambassador White said he had received approval from President Donald Trump to move forward with plans to allow Belgian citizens to apply for Global Entry. He also said that the US and Belgian governments are now working through the necessary paperwork, with Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot involved in the process.

However, the announcement does not mean that Belgian citizens can immediately apply. The bilateral arrangements and administrative procedures still need to be completed before eligibility officially takes effect. White indicated that the process could be finalised as soon as the end of 2026. Until then, Belgium does not appear on US Customs and Border Protection’s list of Global Entry partner countries, and no official start date has been confirmed.

What Global Entry Means for Travellers

Global Entry is intended for pre-approved international travellers who meet the programme’s eligibility and screening requirements. Once enrolled, members receive expedited processing when arriving in the United States through participating airports.

The programme can be particularly valuable for frequent travellers because it reduces reliance on traditional immigration queues. US authorities note that processing times for applications can vary significantly, and applicants must complete the required screening and interview process before receiving membership. Global Entry, which carries a US$120 application fee and runs for five years, also does not replace existing entry rules: Belgian visitors, who travel under the Visa Waiver Program, would still need a valid ESTA or visa.

The proposed Belgian participation would therefore represent an expansion of trusted-traveller access rather than an automatic fast-track system for every Belgian passenger.

A Boost for Transatlantic Tourism

The potential change comes as travel between Europe and the United States remains an important part of the global tourism market. Easier arrival procedures can improve the overall travel experience, particularly for repeat visitors who make multiple US trips each year.

The initiative could also benefit business travel, where lengthy airport processing can add considerable time to already short international trips. Faster border procedures may make US travel more convenient for Belgian companies, professionals and event attendees.

Beyond New York and Washington

The announcement also highlighted a broader opportunity for Belgian visitors to explore more of the United States. Ambassador White encouraged travellers to look beyond the country’s most familiar destinations, including New York, Washington and Los Angeles, and discover less-visited regions and outdoor attractions.

This could support the wider US tourism strategy of encouraging international visitors to distribute their trips across more destinations rather than concentrating entirely on major gateway cities. National parks, smaller cities, cultural destinations and regional tourism experiences could all benefit from increased international exposure.

A Convenient Development Ahead of Future Major Events

The potential expansion comes at a time when the United States is preparing for another period of major international travel. The country recently co-hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Canada and Mexico, while Los Angeles is scheduled to host the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Large international events typically create additional demand for flights, hotels, ground transportation and visitor services. Trusted-traveller programmes such as Global Entry could become particularly relevant as international visitor flows continue to grow around major events and business activity.

Belgium Could Join a Wider Trusted-Traveller Network

The US Global Entry programme already covers US citizens, lawful permanent residents and citizens of a range of participating countries, subject to country-specific requirements.

If Belgium is formally added, Belgian travellers would become part of this wider network of approved international visitors. The development would also strengthen the practical side of the US-Belgium travel relationship, complementing existing tourism, business and people-to-people connections.

Key Takeaways

• Belgian citizens could gain access to US Global Entry by the end of 2026, according to US Ambassador Bill White.
• The announcement was made at the Euronews Travel & Tourism Summit 2026 in Brussels.
• Global Entry provides expedited processing for pre-approved, low-risk international travellers arriving in the United States.
• US and Belgian officials are still completing the necessary administrative and bilateral arrangements.
• The programme could benefit Belgian leisure travellers, frequent flyers and business travellers in particular.
• Participation would not be automatic; travellers would still need to meet Global Entry eligibility and screening requirements.
• Easier arrival procedures could strengthen US-Belgium tourism and business connections.
• The development comes ahead of major international travel periods, including the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Bottom Line

The possible addition of Belgium to the US Global Entry programme could mark an important improvement for transatlantic travel. While Belgian travellers cannot yet assume immediate access, US officials say the process is advancing and could be completed by the end of 2026. If implemented, the programme would give eligible Belgian visitors a faster arrival option at participating US airports while supporting broader tourism and business links between the two countries.

Skift (Sept 14, 2026) details Booking Holdings’ five AI bets: trip tools at Priceline, Agoda, and Booking.com, plus two internal startups. Priceline’s Penny has shown early CSAT, engagement, and conversion gains—on a small sample. Expedia, meanwhile, dropped its end-to-end Romie approach in favor of specialized multi-agents.

Two giants. Two strategies. One clear message for hotels: the way trips get planned is being rewritten in public.

The story

One company, five experiments. That is how a scaled travel platform hedges model risk, UX risk, and brand risk. Brand-level trip tools keep learning close to the consumer at Priceline, Agoda, and Booking.com. Internal startups keep optionality when core apps move slower than the lab.

Penny’s early lift on CSAT, engagement, and conversion is directionally encouraging—and honestly framed as a small sample. That caveat is useful. Travel AI is full of demos that die in production. Early metrics with honesty beat silent rollouts that hide failure.

Expedia’s pivot is equally instructive. An end-to-end assistant (Romie) gave way to specialized multi-agents. The industry takeaway writes itself: monolithic “do everything” travel agents may lose to focused agents that cooperate on pieces of the trip. Skift’s coverage also flags why Agoda’s experiment is next to watch inside Booking’s portfolio—another reminder that this is a multi-brand race, not a single product launch.

Stakes for hotels

Hotels do not control OTA AI roadmaps. They live with the outcomes. When Booking and Expedia reshape how travelers plan and book, hotel visibility, content quality, packaging, and direct-channel competitiveness all move.

Implications for USA hotels and brands:

• Content readiness — AI trip tools will surface properties that are structured, accurate, and differentiated—not just discounted.
• Direct channel pressure — OTA AI that converts better raises the bar for brand.com, apps, and call centers.
• Partner strategy — Know which Booking brand’s AI your demand flows through, and what that agent optimizes for.
• Architecture lesson — Specialized multi-agents (Expedia’s direction) may change how recommendations and add-ons get assembled around your hotel.

What it means

Booking is diversifying bets. Expedia is specializing agents. Both paths admit the same truth: the first generation of all-in-one travel AI was a hypothesis, not a finished product. Hotels that treat OTA AI as “someone else’s roadmap” will wake up to share shifts they never modeled.

Commercial teams should brief owners on both plays: five experiments at Booking Holdings, and a multi-agent pivot at Expedia. Then stress-test direct offers against agent-assisted OTA flows before the gap widens.

Takeaway

Watch the experiments, not the slogans. Soft CTA: brief your commercial team on which OTA AI surfaces your inventory—tighten content and direct offers before specialized agents get better at closing the trip without you in the conversation.

PhocusWire (Sept 29, 2026) reports a $6.7 million seed round for Dextr AI, led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Foundation Capital. The company is building agentic hotel tools across voice, guest, back office, staff, and sales/marketing—plus Doss Gen 1 for natural-language control.

That is a wide surface area on purpose. The next wave of hotel tech is not another siloed chatbot. It is software that can act across the property’s commercial and operational life.

The story

“Agentic” is the new hospitality buzzword. The useful version means systems that take multi-step actions—not just answer prompts in a pretty window. Dextr’s pitch spans guest-facing and internal work, front-of-house and back office, service and sales. Natural-language control via Doss Gen 1 aims to let teams steer systems the way they talk, not the way they click through nested menus after a three-hour training.

Investor mix matters. Elevation Capital leading, Foundation Capital joining, signals conviction that hotel operations are a durable AI vertical—not a side feature of generic enterprise chat. Seed capital at $6.7M will not finish the category. It will accelerate product cycles and force legacy vendors to answer harder questions in RFPs.

Stakes for operators and buyers

USA hotels and global chains evaluating vendors should separate three layers clearly:

1. Chat wrappers — Answer FAQs. Limited scope. High churn risk.
2. Workflow copilots — Draft, suggest, assist. Humans still drive every click.
3. Agentic systems — Execute across voice, guest, back office, staff, and commercial motions—with oversight.

Dextr is pitching the third. Buyers should demand integration depth with PMS and CRM, audit trails for every action, and clear human override—especially where voice and guest messaging touch brand risk and compliance.

Independents may see agentic suites as a way to compress a bloated stack. Brands will care more about governance, brand voice, and who is liable when an agent books, messages, or prices wrong.

What it means for the market

Funding does not equal product-market fit. It does equal more competition for legacy PMS add-ons and single-point solutions. Expect faster iteration in staff tools, sales and marketing agents, and natural-language ops interfaces. Expect more noise, too—so diligence gets more important, not less.

Watch whether agentic tools stay narrow (one department) or truly span guest, staff, and commercial flows as Dextr describes. Cross-functional agents are harder to build and more valuable when they work.

Takeaway

The hotel tech endgame is less “another portal” and more “tell the system what to do.” Soft CTA: when you next RFP a guest or ops AI vendor, ask whether it is agentic across functions—or a chatbot with a hospitality skin. Then ask who is funding the category, why now, and how Doss-style natural-language control is governed before you hand it the keys.

According to Skift (Sept 25, 2026), Wyndham is deploying a Salesforce Agentforce voice AI Concierge that answers every call at participating hotels. Roughly 85% of callers stay with the bot. When calls transfer to a human, booking conversion rises about 15% and ADR rises about 16%. The missed-call context is stark: typically ~25% of roughly 4,000 calls per year get dropped.

Those are not vanity metrics. They are P&L metrics.

The story behind the numbers

Front desks were never designed as 24/7 sales floors. Peak arrivals, night audits, and short staffing mean phones ring into voicemail—or nowhere. Guests who need a room tonight do not wait politely. They dial the next brand on the list.

Wyndham’s approach flips the default: the AI answers first. Most callers stay in the automated flow. The ones who need a person arrive warmer—and convert better, at higher rates, per the reported transfer metrics.

That combination is the hard part of voice AI in hospitality. High containment (~85%) without tanking guest trust is rare. Lift on both conversion and ADR on the handoff suggests the bot is qualifying intent, capturing preferences, and preparing the agent—not just deflecting volume into a dead end.

Skift framed the broader conversation around hotels, AI, and building for long-term economic value. Wyndham’s voice play fits that thesis: technology that protects demand you already paid to attract.

Stakes for hotels and operators

For USA hotels especially, voice remains a primary booking path for late arrivals, group overflow, loyalty members who prefer to talk, and travelers who will not fight a mobile form at midnight. If a quarter of annual call volume is typically lost, the math is simple. AI that answers every ring protects occupancy and rate you are otherwise gifting to competitors.

Operators evaluating voice AI should watch three things Wyndham’s case highlights:

• Containment rate — Can the bot handle most asks without guest rage-quit?
• Transfer quality — Do human agents get better-qualified callers with clearer intent?
• Revenue on handoff — Conversion and ADR on transfers, not just “calls answered” as a vanity KPI.

Add a fourth for owners: compare missed-call leakage to your actual annual call volume. The ~25% of ~4,000 calls/year context is a benchmark. Your number may be worse.

What it means for the industry

Voice AI will not replace hospitality. It will replace silence on the line.

Brands that treat the phone as a cost center will keep funding someone else’s occupancy. Brands that treat every ring as a sales opportunity—and staff it with an agent that never sleeps—will compound small lifts into meaningful revenue. Fifteen percent conversion and sixteen percent ADR on transfers add up when the alternative was a dropped call and a guest who never returns.

Participating hotels get the immediate benefit. The rest of the industry gets a case study worth copying with eyes open: measure containment, handoff quality, and revenue—not just “we have AI.”

Takeaway

If your property still treats the phone as background noise, you are subsidizing competitors. Answer every call—or let a voice agent that never sleeps do it. Soft CTA: benchmark your missed-call rate this month against Wyndham’s published leakage context, then decide if Salesforce-class voice AI belongs in your 2026 stack before peak season writes the answer for you.

On September 24, 2026, Accor announced a full-scale rollout of ALL Concierge: a conversational travel companion available across app, web, WhatsApp, and iMessage, in 11 languages. The move follows a pilot that logged more than one million interactions. Staff behind the experience are known as “The Butler.” Coverage from Accor’s press channel and PhocusWire (Sept 23, 2026) frames it as hospitality’s first end-to-end conversational travel companion deployed at scale.

That framing matters. Plenty of hotel brands have shipped chat widgets. Few have wired the same companion across the four surfaces guests actually open—and then declared victory after a seven-figure interaction pilot.

Why this matters now

Guests do not live in hotel apps. They live in chat threads. WhatsApp and iMessage are where trips get planned, changed, and rescued at 11 p.m. Meeting them there—in their language—is not a novelty feature. It is distribution for service.

Accor’s bet is end-to-end: not a FAQ bot bolted onto a booking engine, but a companion that spans channels guests already use. The pilot volume (1M+ interactions) is the proof point operators will watch. Volume alone does not equal delight. Scale after that volume is the signal that Accor believes the experience holds up under load, across languages, and across messy real-world asks.

For USA hotels competing for international travelers—and for global portfolios chasing consistency—the 11-language footprint is a quiet competitive wedge. Service that only speaks English loses loyalty before check-in.

Stakes for hotel operators

Independent and branded hotels face the same guest expectation: fast answers, few friction points, and continuity from pre-stay through on-property asks. Brands that ignore messaging channels risk leaking loyalty to whoever replies first—OTAs, aggregators, or competitors with a sharper AI stack.

Accor’s launch raises the bar on four fronts:

• Channel coverage — App plus web is table stakes. WhatsApp and iMessage are the new front-desk hours.
• Language reach — Eleven languages turn the concierge into a demand magnet for cross-border trips.
• Staff model — Naming “The Butler” keeps humans in the story. Guests still want a human path when the ask gets complex.
• Trust at scale — A million-plus pilot interactions set a credibility threshold other brands will be measured against.

What it means in practice

If you run revenue or guest experience, treat Accor’s launch as a checklist, not a press release:

1. Map every guest question that today dies in email or voicemail.
2. Decide which channels you will own—and staff—in 2026–27.
3. Pilot conversational AI with clear handoff rules to humans.
4. Measure interaction volume and resolution quality—not vanity chat counts.
5. Align brand voice so WhatsApp does not feel like a different company from the lobby.

Accor did not invent chat. It committed to chat as a primary service surface—and shipped it across the places guests already are. That is the difference between a demo and a deployment.

Takeaway

The winners in hotel tech will not be the brands with the flashiest demo reel. They will be the ones who make conversational service boringly reliable across every channel guests open before they open the door. Accor just raised that standard. Soft CTA: audit your guest messaging stack this quarter—before your competitors copy the playbook and your guests stop waiting for you to reply.

The transformation is part of a wider shift across European tourism. At ITB Berlin 2026, industry leaders highlighted the rise of AI and agentic commerce, where intelligent systems can move beyond recommending hotels to helping travellers plan, compare and eventually book parts of their journeys.

AI Is Changing How Travelers Find Hotels

The traditional hotel search is increasingly being replaced by conversational travel planning. Instead of entering a destination, dates and room requirements into a conventional booking engine, travellers can increasingly ask AI systems for recommendations based on budget, interests, location, travel style and specific preferences.

This creates a major opportunity for hotels. Properties that are accurately represented across digital platforms and have strong, structured information can become easier for AI systems to discover and recommend.

Recent AI hotel recommendation data illustrates this emerging behaviour. In Berlin, AI assistants are already being tested across prompts covering business travel, couples, families, solo travel, luxury, budget accommodation and specific neighbourhoods.

Berlin Builds A Strong Digital Tourism Ecosystem

Berlin is particularly well positioned for this transition because the city’s tourism organisation is already investing heavily in data and AI-supported visitor services.

VisitBerlin operates a tourism data hub containing approximately 240,000 data records, while its website uses the AI-supported Berlynn chatbot to help visitors discover information. The city’s Convention Finder also uses AI search to connect conference and congress organisers with suitable providers.

The strategy goes beyond simply adding a chatbot. Berlin is attempting to create a more connected tourism ecosystem in which data can help distribute visitor flows, improve recommendations and make the visitor experience more personalised.

That could become increasingly important as cities try to balance growing tourism with residents’ quality of life.

Rome Benefits From AI-Powered Travel Discovery

Rome has an equally powerful advantage: enormous global demand combined with a huge and diverse hotel market.

For travellers, Rome presents thousands of possible combinations of accommodation, attractions, restaurants, neighbourhoods and experiences. AI can help simplify that complexity by matching hotels with individual traveller preferences.

A family looking for accommodation close to attractions may receive completely different recommendations from a business traveller seeking conference facilities or a luxury traveller searching for historic properties with premium services.

This shift makes personalisation one of the biggest potential benefits of AI for hotels.

Hotels Can Use AI Beyond The Booking Stage

The AI revolution is not limited to marketing and hotel discovery.

Hotels are increasingly exploring AI for guest communication, operational management, marketing, pricing, demand forecasting and personalised services. ITB Berlin’s 2026 innovation programme specifically highlighted AI applications in hotel operations, guest communication, quotations, marketing and sustainability.

For hotel operators, the attraction is clear. AI can process large amounts of information quickly and help staff identify patterns that would otherwise require significant manual work.

That could include predicting demand, identifying booking trends, responding to common guest questions or creating personalised recommendations.

Berlin’s Expanding Hotel Market Creates A Test Bed

Berlin’s hotel market provides a particularly interesting environment for this technological transition.

The city had more than 700 accommodation establishments in 2025, and its current hotel pipeline includes 56 projects, giving Berlin the largest hotel development pipeline in the DACH region, according to visitBerlin.

New properties and major renovations are arriving alongside technology-driven changes in the wider tourism ecosystem. Projects range from the 522-room Estrel Tower to new lifestyle and long-stay hotels, while established properties are investing in upgraded rooms, restaurants, event facilities and guest experiences.

A growing and increasingly diverse hotel market gives technology companies and operators more opportunities to test new approaches.

The Estrel Tower Symbolises Berlin’s Next Hotel Era

One of Berlin’s most significant upcoming developments is the Estrel Tower, which is scheduled for a soft opening in December 2026.

The 176-metre, 45-storey development will include 522 rooms, suites and serviced apartments, alongside co-working areas, a gallery, spa, restaurants, a skybar and substantial event space.

Although the tower is not simply an “AI hotel,” its combination of hospitality, business, events and digital infrastructure reflects the direction in which large urban properties are evolving.

The modern hotel is increasingly becoming a connected platform rather than simply a building containing rooms.

AI Could Make Hotels More Personal

One of the strongest arguments for AI in hospitality is its ability to make large-scale hotel operations feel more personalised.

A returning guest could potentially receive recommendations based on previous preferences, while a first-time visitor could be offered suggestions based on their itinerary, interests and available time.

For international cities such as Rome and Berlin, this could be especially useful. Visitors often arrive with limited time and enormous numbers of possible attractions.

AI can help turn that complexity into a more manageable itinerary while simultaneously directing spending toward restaurants, museums, neighbourhood businesses and hotel services.

The Rise Of Agentic Travel

The next stage may go further than recommendation engines.

The travel industry is increasingly discussing agentic AI, where AI systems can potentially take actions on behalf of travellers rather than simply provide information.

ITB Berlin’s 2026 discussions described a future in which AI agents could act as a traveller’s personal concierge, negotiator and logistics manager, potentially changing how accommodation and other travel services are discovered and purchased.

For hotels, this could fundamentally change digital marketing. Instead of competing only for visibility on traditional search engines and booking platforms, properties may increasingly need to become visible and attractive to AI agents.

Tourism Organisations Are Also Using AI

The change is not limited to hotel companies.

Destination management organisations are also adopting AI and advanced data systems to understand visitor behaviour and improve tourism planning.

Berlin’s use of its data hub, AI chatbot and AI-powered convention search demonstrates how destination organisations can use technology to connect travellers with relevant experiences while collecting and organising information about the city’s tourism ecosystem.

This could eventually help destinations address issues such as overcrowding by directing visitors toward less-visited neighbourhoods and attractions.

The Human Element Remains Important

Despite the rapid adoption of AI, the technology is unlikely to eliminate the importance of human hospitality.

Hotels still depend on service, cleanliness, atmosphere, staff interaction and trust. AI may help a traveller choose a property, but the actual stay determines whether that traveller returns or recommends it.

The most successful hotels may therefore be those that use AI to remove repetitive administrative work while allowing employees to spend more time on meaningful guest interactions.

That balance could become one of the defining challenges of the European hotel industry’s digital transformation.

Europe Enters A New Hotel Competition

The emergence of AI is creating a new competitive layer for European destinations.

Rome brings enormous cultural demand and a globally recognised hospitality market. Berlin combines a rapidly evolving hotel sector with one of Europe’s most advanced tourism-data strategies.

Together, they illustrate how the future hotel competition may no longer be based solely on location, price and room quality. Digital visibility, personalisation, data infrastructure and the ability to work with AI travel systems could increasingly influence where travellers stay.

Key Takeaways

• AI is reshaping European hospitality, moving from simple chatbots toward personalised recommendations, operational tools and agentic travel systems.
• Berlin is emerging as a major AI-driven tourism market, with an extensive tourism data hub, AI-supported Berlynn chatbot and AI-powered convention search.
• Berlin had more than 700 accommodation establishments in 2025 and currently leads the DACH hotel pipeline with 56 projects.
• AI hotel recommendations are increasingly being tailored around families, couples, business travellers, solo visitors, budgets and neighbourhood preferences.
• Rome’s enormous global tourism demand gives hotels a major opportunity to use AI for personalised discovery and visitor planning.
• AI is expanding beyond booking into guest communication, operations, marketing, pricing, sustainability and demand forecasting.
• The upcoming Estrel Tower in Berlin demonstrates the scale of investment taking place in the city’s evolving hotel market.
• The next phase of the transformation could involve AI agents planning and executing more parts of a traveller’s journey, potentially changing hotel distribution and marketing.

Bottom Line

Rome and Berlin represent two powerful sides of Europe’s emerging AI hotel revolution. Rome brings immense international tourism demand and a vast hospitality ecosystem, while Berlin is combining hotel investment with sophisticated tourism data and AI-powered visitor services. As travellers increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to discover, compare and plan accommodation, hotels that can combine technology with genuine human hospitality are likely to gain an important competitive advantage in Europe’s next generation of tourism.

Visitor spending also crossed a major milestone. Travelers spent $50.2 billion in Illinois during 2025, an increase of 3.5% from the previous year and the first time the state has exceeded the $50 billion mark in visitor spending.

115 Million Visitors Put Illinois in a New Tourism Era

The scale of Illinois’ tourism economy is becoming increasingly difficult to overlook. More than 115 million people visited the state in 2025, creating demand for hotels, restaurants, attractions, transportation, entertainment, retail and outdoor experiences.

The economic effect extends far beyond Chicago. While the state’s largest city remains a major international gateway, tourism growth is reaching destinations throughout Illinois, helping smaller communities benefit from travelers looking for historic sites, scenic landscapes, outdoor recreation, festivals and road-trip experiences.

State officials say the record performance demonstrates how tourism can serve as an economic-development strategy rather than simply a marketing activity.

$50.2 Billion in Visitor Spending Drives $88 Billion Impact

The $50.2 billion in direct visitor spending represents only part of tourism’s economic contribution. Once the wider effects of visitor activity are included, Illinois’ total tourism-related economic impact reached approximately $88 billion in 2025.

Tourism spending also generated nearly $5 billion in direct state and local tax revenue, while the state’s lodging sector produced a record $372 million in hotel tax revenue. These revenues provide communities with additional resources while demonstrating the financial importance of maintaining a strong visitor economy.

The numbers also show why destinations are increasingly competing for longer stays and higher visitor spending. Every additional hotel night, restaurant visit, attraction ticket or shopping trip can contribute to a much wider network of local businesses.

Middle of Everything” Campaign Delivers More Travelers

Illinois’ “Middle of Everything” tourism campaign has played an important role in promoting the state beyond its traditional attractions.

According to state figures, the campaign generated an additional 2.78 million trips and $904 million in visitor spending during 2025. The strategy emphasizes Illinois’ combination of food, culture, architecture, history, entertainment, natural landscapes and outdoor recreation.

The campaign is particularly useful for encouraging visitors to explore beyond Chicago. By presenting Illinois as a collection of diverse destinations rather than a single-city vacation, tourism officials are attempting to distribute visitor spending across more communities.

Chicago Remains a Major Gateway, But the Story Is Getting Bigger

Chicago continues to provide Illinois with one of its strongest tourism advantages. The city’s international connections, architecture, museums, restaurants, sports, entertainment and waterfront attractions give travelers a powerful reason to visit the state.

However, the record statewide numbers reveal a much broader tourism story. From Lake Michigan beaches to Southern Illinois forests and scenic byways, the state offers experiences that appeal to different types of travelers throughout the year.

Southern Illinois, for example, has been attracting visitors through Shawnee National Forest, hiking, cycling, rock climbing, ziplining and wine trails. This growing interest in outdoor experiences is encouraging the state to place greater emphasis on nature-based tourism.

Outdoor Tourism Gets a Bigger Role

Illinois is now expanding its focus on outdoor recreation through a dedicated unit within the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s tourism office.

The initiative is designed to help communities make better use of their natural assets and develop tourism products capable of attracting visitors for longer stays. That could include hiking destinations, cycling routes, waterways, scenic areas, adventure activities and rural tourism.

The strategy is significant because outdoor tourism can spread visitor spending into areas that may not have the same large-scale attractions or convention infrastructure as Chicago.

Route 66 Centennial Adds Another Tourism Opportunity

The record tourism performance arrives during an especially important period for Illinois. 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66, creating another major opportunity to attract domestic and international travelers.

Illinois is one of the states most closely associated with the historic Mother Road, and communities along the route are using the centennial to promote roadside attractions, historic towns, restaurants, museums and cultural experiences.

State tourism investments are helping communities prepare for the Route 66 Centennial as well as America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Illinois awarded more than $3.3 million in tourism grants during fiscal year 2025 to support attractions, community projects and efforts designed to encourage overnight stays.

Tourism Growth Is Supporting Communities Across Illinois

The importance of the tourism boom is especially visible outside the state’s largest metropolitan areas.

Recent figures from southwest Illinois, for example, show that tourism generated approximately $1.48 billion in economic impact across six counties in 2025, supporting nearly 9,800 jobs and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in labor income.

That regional performance illustrates how statewide tourism can create a multiplier effect. Visitors may arrive for a major attraction or road trip, but their spending can flow into hotels, restaurants, gas stations, retailers, entertainment venues and local service businesses across surrounding communities.

Illinois Prepares for the Next Stage of Tourism Growth

The challenge now is maintaining momentum after a record year. Illinois tourism officials are continuing to invest in destination development, international tourism, major events and outdoor recreation while preparing communities for the increased attention surrounding Route 66.

The state’s tourism industry also has an opportunity to turn first-time visitors into repeat travelers by encouraging them to explore more destinations and stay longer.

With 115 million visitors already recorded in 2025, even modest increases in average trip duration or visitor spending could create substantial additional economic value for communities throughout Illinois.

Key Takeaways

• Illinois welcomed approximately 115 million domestic and international visitors in 2025, setting a new tourism record.
• Travelers spent a record $50.2 billion, marking the first year Illinois surpassed $50 billion in visitor spending.
• Tourism generated approximately $88 billion in total economic impact across the state.
• Visitor activity produced nearly $5 billion in direct state and local tax revenue, while hotel taxes reached a record $372 million.
• The “Middle of Everything” campaign generated 2.78 million additional trips and $904 million in visitor spending during 2025.
• Illinois is increasing its focus on outdoor recreation, particularly in destinations such as Southern Illinois and the Shawnee National Forest.
• The Route 66 Centennial in 2026 is providing another major opportunity to attract domestic and international travelers.
• More than $3.3 million in tourism grants were awarded in fiscal year 2025 to strengthen attractions, communities and overnight tourism.

Bottom Line

Illinois has entered a new era of tourism growth. With 115 million visitors, $50.2 billion in visitor spending and an $88 billion economic impact in 2025, tourism is proving to be one of the state’s most important economic engines. Chicago remains a powerful international gateway, but the expanding focus on outdoor recreation, Route 66, cultural attractions and destinations across Southern Illinois is helping spread the benefits far beyond the state’s largest city. As Illinois moves through the Route 66 Centennial year, the record-breaking 2025

Canadian travel to the U.S. fell sharply in 2025, with Canadians spending C$3.3 billion less on travel to the United States than the previous year. The decline has continued into 2026, as political tensions, tariffs, and uncertainty encourage more Canadian travelers to choose domestic holidays or destinations in Europe and Asia instead.

Michigan Feels the Border Tourism Impact

Michigan has been among the states most exposed to the decline because of its close economic and geographic connection with Ontario. Tourism officials in Detroit and Southeast Michigan have reported that Canadian visitor numbers have fallen by around 30%, affecting hotels, restaurants, attractions, and major events.

The impact extends beyond tourism businesses. Border communities depend heavily on frequent Canadian visitors for shopping, dining, entertainment, sporting events, and short weekend trips. A sustained reduction in crossings therefore removes spending from multiple parts of the local economy.

California Also Losing Canadian Visitors

Although California is thousands of miles from the Canadian border, the state has also been affected because Canada is one of its most important international tourism markets.

Canadian visitors generated approximately $3.7 billion in tourism spending in California, making Canada the state’s second-largest international source market after Mexico. California subsequently launched efforts to rebuild Canadian demand, including a campaign offering discounts on hotels, attractions, and experiences.

The challenge is significant because Canadian travelers traditionally contribute substantial spending across Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Palm Springs, and other destinations, supporting both large tourism operators and smaller hospitality businesses.

The 35% Decline Shows the Scale of the Problem

Canadian automobile travel to the U.S. has fallen by approximately 35% over the past two years, illustrating how dramatically cross-border travel behavior has changed. Michigan’s border crossings have been particularly affected, while the wider decline has also reached major leisure destinations far from the Canadian border.

The reduction is not simply a result of Canadians traveling less overall. Many travelers have redirected their spending toward Canada itself, Europe, Asia, and other international destinations. Canadian visits to Europe increased by nearly 14% in 2025, while travel to Asia rose almost 17%.

Hospitality Businesses Face the Fallout

Hotels, restaurants, attractions, retailers, and tour operators are among the businesses most exposed to the change in travel patterns. Canadian visitors frequently contribute spending across several categories during a single trip, meaning fewer arrivals can affect an entire local tourism ecosystem.

Border destinations face an additional challenge because Canadian travelers often make short, repeat visits, particularly by car. When those trips disappear, businesses lose a steady stream of customers rather than only occasional long-haul visitors.

Political Tensions Are Changing Travel Decisions

The tourism decline has developed alongside escalating political and trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa. The latest dispute has included new U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods and planned Canadian retaliation, adding another layer of uncertainty to an already strained relationship.

For the tourism industry, the problem is not limited to tariffs themselves. Traveler sentiment and perceptions of welcome and safety can influence destination decisions, particularly when alternative destinations are readily available.

U.S. Destinations Try to Win Travelers Back

Tourism organizations are increasingly responding with targeted campaigns designed to remind Canadians that U.S. destinations remain accessible and welcoming.

California’s promotional campaign is one example, while other states and cities are developing their own incentives and partnerships aimed at rebuilding Canadian demand. The competition is becoming more important as destinations recognize that travelers who establish new holiday habits may not immediately return to their previous destinations.

Key Takeaways

• Canadian travel to the U.S. has fallen sharply, with Canadian spending on U.S. trips down C$3.3 billion in 2025.
• Michigan and Southeast Michigan have reported around a 30% decline in Canadian visitors, affecting hotels, restaurants, attractions, and events.
• California is also exposed, with Canadian visitors historically generating around $3.7 billion in tourism spending for the state.
• Canadian automobile travel to the U.S. has fallen by approximately 35% over two years, demonstrating the scale of the behavioral shift.
• Canadians are increasingly redirecting travel spending toward domestic destinations, Europe, Asia, and other international markets.
• Political tensions, tariffs, and changing traveler sentiment are adding pressure to U.S. tourism businesses that depend on Canadian visitors.
• Tourism destinations are responding with discounts, targeted marketing campaigns, and incentives designed to bring Canadian travelers back.

Bottom Line

The Canada-U.S. tourism relationship is facing one of its most significant disruptions in decades, with the impact reaching far beyond traditional border communities. Michigan is feeling the effects directly through reduced crossings, while California demonstrates how the decline can affect major leisure destinations thousands of miles from the border. With Canadian travelers increasingly choosing alternative destinations, U.S. tourism markets will need to rebuild traveler confidence and demonstrate strong value if they want to recover the billions of dollars in spending that have shifted elsewhere.