Marco Benvenuti, co-founder of Duetto and creator of the Open Pricing method, passed away on 28 August 2026 in San Francisco following a three-year battle with cancer. He founded the company in 2010 with Patrick Bosworth before helping build it into one of the leading revenue management software providers for the global hotel industry.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Tourism has opened public consultation on draft regulations setting minimum staff-to-room ratios by property category, rising to three employees per room for luxury hotels. Due to take effect on 1 January 2027, the text goes well beyond service quality alone: it forms part of the Kingdom's strategy to build a national middle class and grow the domestic labour market.

The catering and facilities group plans to eliminate 963 positions, or 4% of its French workforce, along with a further 134 head office roles, amid intensifying competition.

A decree published on 7 May 2026 substantially overhauls the rules governing compensation for victims of workplace accidents and occupational illnesses from 1 November 2026. For hospitality HR directors, a sector particularly exposed to physical strain linked to maintenance, housekeeping and kitchen roles, this reform represents a major regulatory issue.

Fifty years after staffing the front desk of the Hong Kong Hilton, Terence Ronson, Rajeev Ratti and Niale McLoughlin have published their memoir, "The Lobby Boys". The book recounts a five-star hotel run entirely on paper, and asks what AI-driven hospitality still owes to human judgement.

In a ruling dated 8 July 2026, the labour division of the Cour de cassation has confirmed that an employee can be a victim of moral harassment purely as a result of degrading management methods imposed on their team, without having been personally targeted by the conduct in question. Handed down in a case brought by a former HR director against her employer, the Centrale d'approvisionnement des Landes, the decision significantly widens the scope of moral harassment as previously defined by lower courts. For HR leadership teams, it means rethinking how a degraded managerial climate can, on its own, expose an employer to liability.

Led by Ira Vouk and backed by San Diego State University, the initiative offers eight online workshops to guide industry professionals from beginner level through to operational mastery of AI tools.

Evelyne Chabrot, who devoted more than four decades to Accor, including more than twenty years in senior human resources roles, passed away on Saturday 8 August 2026. Having joined the group in 1974, she accompanied its major transformations before embarking on a second career in coaching and personal development.

Ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, Marriott International brought together travel industry players, associations and survivors to strengthen the hospitality sector's response to this scourge. The Group highlights its training, emergency shelter and workforce integration programmes for victims.

A bill tabled on 7 July 2026 in the National Assembly by MP Arthur Delaporte could, if passed, profoundly transform the way hotel groups organise their use of subcontracting, particularly for room cleaning, security and technical maintenance. The text, numbered 3042, seeks to hold principal contractors accountable towards their subcontractors, employees and local areas.