Greetings, hoteliers! Just six months ago, voice-activated bookings and AI-driven staff training sounded like Tomorrowland. Today, Booking Holdings is pushing travelers toward Penny and Kayak.ai, while OpenAI’s new “Study Mode” turns ChatGPT into a pocket-sized hotel school. Meanwhile, the short-term rental hype is cooling—loyalty points and round-the-clock service are luring guests back to hotel lobbies.
Insights brought to you by Lights On.
Actionable Insights
1. Booking Holdings doubles down on AI as U.S. demand cools: Booking’s Q2 earnings show U.S. spending slipping, but Asian and European room nights growing high single digits fueled by AI assistants like Penny (voice), Kayak.ai (trip planning), and OpenTable Concierge (dining). International travelers are still spending; AI-powered meta and voice channels are how they’ll find you.
💡 Audit whether your property appears on Penny for “boutique hotel near [city]” this week.
2. Hotels claw share back from short-term rentals: New analysis finds short-term rental demand rose to 15.4% of global lodging in 2024 but plateaued in key business-leisure hubs as hotels regained traction on service, loyalty perks, and flexible workspace. Combine that with looming regulatory caps, and the hotel value proposition is quietly strengthening.
💡 Showcase your amenities and 24/7 staff advantages in your advertising channels.
3. ChatGPT Study Mode becomes a 24/7 staff trainer: OpenAI’s new Study Mode tutors users with Socratic questions and quizzes instead of spoon-feeding answers. For hotel GMs, that’s an always-on learning coach for a night auditor who needs to grasp yield math or a concierge brushing up on Japanese before Golden Week. The feature is free and works on mobile.
💡 Try using ChatGPT’s study mode with an upcoming training of your team member.
Everything else in hospitality this week
CoStar reported lower-income travelers propping up economy brands despite overall soft demand.
STR flags RevPAR down 3% for 13-19 Jul, led by Vegas & Orlando pullbacks.
Similarweb reported AI referrals hit 1.13 B in June, up 357% YoY—search habits are shifting fast.
TSA screened 2.93 M fliers on 28 Jul—2025’s second-busiest day—signalling sustained leisure demand.
Lodging Econometrics ranked Dallas the #1 U.S. pipeline with 199 hotel projects and a record 24,497 rooms in the build queue.
Improve your AI skill today
AI chatbots are now a daily essential. Learn a few prompting techniques, and you’ll get better results for work and life.
Key takeaway: The prompt below sets the writer’s role, property context, and output format, so ChatGPT spits out copy you can drop straight into a pre-arrival email with minimal edits.
You are a guest-experience copywriter for a 75-room boutique hotel in Hawaii.
Goal: create three pre-arrival upsell messages (≤40 words each) that feel personal, not pushy.
Include: a warm greeting using {GUEST FIRST NAME}, one clear benefit, and the add-on price.
Return as a numbered list.That’s it for this week.
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