On 6 October 2026, IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the appointment of Leanne Harwood as Senior Vice President, Global Sales. Based in Atlanta, the executive, who has spent more than twenty years with the group, takes the helm of its worldwide sales organisation, with a mandate to strengthen customer partnerships across the corporate, group and meetings and events segments.

Marketplace METRO published its "Restaurant Launch Report" in Düsseldorf on 7 October 2026. The study compares 20 European Union markets on demand, costs, administrative constraints, recruitment and real estate pressure. Spain comes out on top, while France ranks 6th. The gaps identified in energy, purchasing and labour give operators and investors a useful benchmark when weighing up F&B locations.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH) announced on 5 October 2026 the opening of Everhome Suites Denver Airport, the 600th hotel in its extended stay portfolio. The milestone strengthens the group's position as the leading multi-brand franchise network in economy and midscale extended stay. It comes as the segment posts its twelfth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth at the US franchisor.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced on 3 October 2026 the opening of Hyatt Centric Sapporo, the brand's first property in Hokkaido. The hotel offers 216 rooms and suites on the upper floors of a mixed-use tower in central Sapporo. It brings the group's lifestyle brand to the island's capital, the gateway to the ski resorts, hot springs and national parks of northern Japan.

On 5 October 2026, Hyatt Hotels Corporation presented three levers to help owners open hotels under its brands: a dedicated Hyatt Studios loan programme with HALL Structured Finance, lower-cost new-build prototypes and conversion brands. The group is targeting more than 300 U.S. submarkets where it does not yet have a presence, against a backdrop of high construction and financing costs.

JW Marriott has announced the opening of the JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort & Spa on Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast. With 415 rooms and operations entrusted to Mullen Hospitality Management, it is the brand's first all-inclusive resort anywhere in the world. The opening marks the entry of Marriott's luxury segment into a category the group now positions around experience and wellbeing rather than the all-inclusive formula alone.

Accor has opened Mercure Perth Aurea Kings Park, a 70-room hotel located between Kings Park and Perth's business district. The property marks a second partnership with Capital Bay Management, following The Sebel West Perth, and becomes the third Mercure in the Western Australian capital.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (Accor) has opened reservations for Fairmont New Orleans, which will welcome its first guests on 2 November 2026 in the city's Central Business District. Developed by Kailas Companies within a tower designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 250-key hotel marks the brand's return to Louisiana after two decades away. It brings the number of Fairmont properties in the United States to 19.

🔎 Trend of the day: upscale hospitality is being reshaped. A Michelin selection that redraws the European map, Airelles' arrival in the Caribbean, a new general manager at Silversands Grenada and Le Beaumanoir in Biarritz up for sale: the luxury segment confirms its momentum, between recognition, expansion and asset rotation.

Six Senses, the wellness brand in IHG Hotels & Resorts' Luxury & Lifestyle portfolio, has unveiled its five openings scheduled for 2027, in Milan, at Quexigal near Madrid, in Tel Aviv, in the Loire Valley and at Wadi Safar in Saudi Arabia. The timetable confirms a strategy divided between heritage urban addresses and large destination estates, with several of these projects already pushed back from their originally announced dates.

In a study published on 3 July 2026, the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) finds that a cruise stay in Europe carries 40% less tax than a night in a hotel. The study covers France, Italy and Spain. The organisation is calling for tax reform that would bring cruise ships into line with the tourist accommodation regime. The debate goes to the heart of competitive fairness between the hotel industry and "floating hotels".

The Board of Directors of Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the United States, has appointed Caroline Beteta Interim President & CEO, effective 9 November 2026. The former head of Visit California, who led the organisation for nearly three decades, will make securing Brand USA's reauthorisation her overriding priority, at a time when international visitor numbers to the country are falling.