News Briefs

Stash Hotel Rewards, the loyalty program designed for independent hotels, has doubled its partner network in just two years, growing from 160 to over 320 properties. This rapid expansion reflects Stash’s ability to help independent hotels compete with large chains and reduce reliance on online travel agencies (OTAs), which cut into revenue.

As hotel chains strengthen and OTAs continue to dominate the booking landscape, independent hotels face increasing pressure to stay competitive. Stash provides a solution by offering a robust loyalty program designed to drive direct bookings and foster guest loyalty. “Stash provides independents with a chain-like loyalty program, just without the chain,” said Jeff Low, CEO of Stash Hotel Rewards.

Independent hotels, like Boston’s The Lenox, have seen remarkable success with Stash. “Stash gives guests a reason to book directly with us instead of through OTAs,” said Dan Donahue, President of Saunders Hotel Group, the owner of The Lenox. “Stash guests are our guests.”

Stash points are earned and redeemed across all partner hotels, which span the U.S., Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean. The program is flexible, with no blackout dates and points that never expire. Stash’s partner hotels maintain high standards, with over 90% receiving a 4.5 or 5.0 rating on TripAdvisor – a higher average rating than any set of hotels participating in a major loyalty program.  The network includes a diverse range of properties, from boutique hotels to luxury resorts, offering unique experiences.

Stash is also the only hotel loyalty program that’s been proven to work. A study from Cornell University revealed that Stash members stay 50% more often and spend $780 more annually at partner hotels compared to non-members. Another analysis showed that 82% of guests who initially booked through OTAs transitioned to direct bookings after joining Stash. By leveraging Stash’s loyalty program, independent hotels can reduce their dependence on OTAs, retaining more control over their pricing and guest relationships.

Additionally, Stash allows partner hotels to manage redemptions based on demand. Unlike chain loyalty programs, where hotels are typically reimbursed just a fraction of a room’s retail value, Stash partners are compensated in full during redemptions, regardless of occupancy rates. Hoteliers also appreciate Stash’s flexible agreement and the program’s low cost, typically less than 1% the ongoing fees charged by chains such as Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt.

With over 1.2 million members, Stash’s growing base of loyal travelers enjoys exclusive access to special deals, personalized experiences, and member-only rates. The platform provides insights to hotels, enabling them to cater to guest preferences and enhance the overall experience.

Fetch has partnered with ACT to facilitate the seamless implementation of its innovative guest experience app, tailored specifically for hospitality operators. This collaboration aims to equip them with effective implementation services and dedicated sales assistance. The partnership's first commercial offering will debut with Accor Hotels, where Fetch’s cutting-edge Pay and Order solutions will be integrated. This technology allows Accor guests to effortlessly earn and redeem their All-Accor Live Limitless loyalty points on food and beverage purchases, fostering greater engagement and satisfaction.
This alliance represents a commitment to not only enhance operational efficiencies but also innovate the way guests interact with hotel amenities, ensuring a premium experience during their stay.

"ACT has a long-standing track record of customer success, market reach, and a sharp focus on the Hospitality Industry, which will be a winning combination with Fetch," said Jason Jeffries, CEO of Fetch.

Fetch's unified guest experience technology is revolutionizing the hospitality sector by streamlining processes for ordering, payment, tipping, and feedback collection. With Fetch, guests enjoy a seamless, personalized experience, while venues gain valuable insights to enhance operations.

"We are excited to work with Fetch and grow our portfolio of great solutions for improved guest service with our joint customers," added Mohamed Tawfik, ACT Hospitality CEO. ACT International was founded as ACT's global subsidiary arm to venture into international markets. It was originally created to provide Oracle Hospitality (previously Micros-Fidelio) implementation and support services, but eventually expanded to serve as a one-stop shop for hospitality solutions and services.

Today, Hapi, a hospitality data and connectivity solutions provider, announced its partnership with Revinate, a direct booking platform transforming the hospitality industry by putting hoteliers in control of every step of their guests’ journeys. Revinate empowers hoteliers to shift share away from OTAs and maximize their direct bookings by leveraging their unique knowledge of their guests. Hapi’s role remains consistent as the connectivity layer, enabling agility at both enterprise and individual property levels. 

Hoteliers find it challenging to deploy technology quickly and easily. Legacy systems and software often disrupt technology platform integrations. Hapi works with partners like Revinate to ensure hoteliers can switch on connections quickly and securely. Its robust integration platform extends Revinate’s PMS integration capabilities so hoteliers can scale and reach their profitability goals faster. 

Jeff Bzdawka, president of Hapi, said: “Since 2016, Hapi has been diligently working in the background to provide hoteliers with solutions that seamlessly integrate systems. Hapi’s partnership with Revinate is a testament to the work we have done to simplify the complexity of this process. We aim to provide a better experience for both the customer and the hotelier. We look forward to working with the team at Revinate to ensure a seamless integration experience for its customers.”

Bryson Koehler, CEO, Revinate, said: “A key focus for Revinate is to ensure that hoteliers reach profitability and direct booking goals quickly and without impediments. This partnership showcases Revinate’s seriousness to support hoteliers reaching for these goals. We want hotels, at the individual property and enterprise level, to take charge of their direct booking revenue and be poised for success by scaling quickly and securely. We are thrilled to work with Hapi to ensure our customers can take advantage of our solutions quickly and seamlessly.”

LG Electronics (LG) has taken a significant step in advancing its robotics capabilities by securing a majority stake in Bear Robotics, a prominent Silicon Valley-based startup specializing in AI-driven autonomous service robots. This acquisition aligns with LG’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the robotics sector, a key growth area for the company.

On Jan. 22, LG’s board of directors exercised a call option to acquire an additional 30 percent stake in Bear Robotics. This follows an initial investment of $60 million in March 2024, which secured LG a 21 percent stake and a call option agreement for up to an additional 30 percent stake. Upon completion of the call option exercise, LG will hold a controlling 51 percent stake in Bear Robotics, effectively incorporating it as a subsidiary.

As part of this strategic move, LG’s commercial robot business, primarily centered around “LG CLOi Robots,” will be integrated with Bear Robotics. The key management team of Bear Robotics, including CEO John Ha, will remain in place to ensure stable business continuity and will continue to focus on creating synergies in LG’s commercial robot business.

Founded in 2017, Bear Robotics has gained recognition for its AI-powered indoor delivery robots, catering to markets in the United States, South Korea and Japan. The company is noted for its expertise in distributed multi-robot control, remote fleet management system and AI-powered robot platform.

LG aims to expand its presence in the commercial robot market through Bear Robotics. Concurrently, LG intends to leverage its AI and manufacturing expertise to reinforce its home and industrial robot businesses.

The home robot segment will be spearheaded by the LG Home Appliance Solution Company, a renowned industry leader. The company’s focus will be on delivering a holistic experience where home robots, powered by LG’s Affectionate Intelligence, can astutely discern the well-being of family members and seamlessly integrate with home appliances and services.

A prime illustration of this vision is the Self-driving AI Home Hub (project name: Q9), slated for release within the year. The Q9 harnesses multimodal sensing capabilities, encompassing voice, sound and image recognition, coupled with autonomous driving technology. This enables it to navigate the home effortlessly, precisely identify users’ status and respond to their needs effectively by seamlessly connecting and controlling home appliances and IoT devices. The Q9 adeptly navigates obstacles such as carpets and uneven surfaces, while its expressive display conveys emotions, fostering enhanced interaction and engagement.

The Q9 also features Microsoft’s voice recognition and synthesis technology, enabling natural and intuitive conversations with users. Its ability to understand diverse accents, pronunciations and colloquial expressions garnered the attention of attendees at CES 2025. To foster an open development ecosystem, LG has also introduced a software development kit for the Q9, encouraging developers to expand its capabilities further.

In the realm of industrial robots, a cornerstone of LG’s Smart Factory business, the company’s Production Engineering Research Institute is spearheading substantial revenue growth through the integration of AI and digital transformation. A key example is the “Autonomous Vertical Articulated Robot,” which employs sensors including cameras, radar and LiDAR to perceive its surroundings, navigate efficiently, supply materials and execute tasks such as assembly and defect inspection with its robotic arm. This innovation facilitates seamless automation across a range of operations.

LG Electronics CEO William Cho, speaking this month at CES^® 2025 in Las Vegas, emphasized the importance of this investment, stating, “Robots are a certain future,” and hinted at plans to expand beyond the current focus on hospitality and logistics delivery robots to include the Self-driving AI Home Hub and other home robots to achieve LG’s vision of the “Zero-labor Home.”

The acquisition of management control of Bear Robotics is expected to create synergies across LG’s entire robotics business, including commercial robots. As the robotics industry increasingly shifts towards AI-centric solutions, this collaboration is poised to significantly enhance LG’s overall robotics software capabilities.

LG intends to create an integrated software platform for commercial, industrial and home robots leveraging Bear Robotics’ technology. This platform aims to deliver consistent and high-quality user experience across various applications. By applying this integrated platform universally to the development of different types of robots, LG expects to shorten development cycles.

LG’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and supply chain management expertise are poised to enhance the operational efficiency and market responsiveness of its robotics business. Furthermore, the extensive global sales network developed through its B2B operations will facilitate broader product distribution. By integrating commercial robots with a range of B2B solutions, including hotel TVs, digital signage and IT devices, LG can achieve a competitive edge through a turnkey order approach, delivering tailored products that meet the specific needs of corporate clients.

“This additional investment underscores our dedication to positioning robots as a pivotal growth engine for the company, reflecting our belief in their inevitable role in the future,” said LG Electronics Chief Strategy Officer Sam-soo Lee. “We will persist in driving innovation across all sectors of robotics, encompassing commercial, industrial and home applications.”

A new report by SiteMinder, a hotel distribution and revenue platform, reveals that hotel websites outperformed all other booking sources in driving revenue per booking in 2024, by as much as 60%.

The report, SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends, based on more than 125 million reservations – the largest volume of hotel reservations from any single technology platform – shows that hotel websites produced an average of US$519 per booking for hotels last year. This figure was 8.5% higher than the prior year and more than 60% above the value-per-booking via OTAs (US$320); more than 35% above global distribution systems (US$380); and more than 15% above wholesalers, DMCs and tour operators combined (US$446).

The year-on-year rise in direct booking value saw hotel websites either hold or improve their position among every major travel destination’s top sources of total revenue, for the first time, including in the US, where hotel websites remained the third highest revenue-generating channel for hotels.

SiteMinder’s VP of ecosystem and strategic partnerships, James Bishop, says the findings show travelers are not only seeking out hotel websites in strengthening numbers, but spending more when they do.

“When booking directly, travelers are choosing higher-value rooms, staying longer and adding extras, and each of these factors represents a tremendous opportunity for hotels to provide those exclusive deals. This certainly doesn’t mean hoteliers should disregard third-party channels in 2025; they continue to offer unique and unmatched reach, as well as simplicity, as evidenced by their continued dominance in each one of the Top 12 lists of hotel booking revenue-makers worldwide. But what our findings highlight is the importance of hotels delivering an easy booking experience that comes with smooth payments and strong security, just as third-party channels do so well.”

The annual SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends report is the authority on hotel bookings across 20 of the world’s most established destinations. It is based on the booking data of SiteMinder’s more than 44,500 hotel customers, who in 2024 used SiteMinder’s platform to secure more than 125 million bookings valued at more than US$50 billion in revenue.
 

Further analysis of SiteMinder’s 2024 data shows:
 

• Booking.com was the top booking channel in terms of overall revenue generated for American hotels, for the third year running, while leading wholesaler Hotelbeds achieved its highest ranking in five years, reaching sixth place. Reflecting global trends, WebBeds jumped two spots to 8th, following its 2023 debut, while North America’s Hopper climbed to 10th after appearing for the first time in 2023.
  
  The Top 12 hotel booking sources which generated the most revenue for American properties in 2024 were:
  
  1. Booking.com 
  2. Expedia Group
  3. Hotel websites (direct bookings) 
  4. Agoda 
  5. Airbnb 
  6. Hotelbeds 
  7. Global distribution systems
  8. WebBeds 
  9. Hostelworld Group 
  10. Hopper 
  11. OTS Globe 
  12. HotelTonight
   

• International arrivals rose to around 25% of all stays, with travelers from key source markets like Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, China and Japan all arriving in solid numbers. And, with 75% of arrivals coming from  American travelers, the US retained one of the world’s strongest domestic markets. 

• Travelers booked earlier and cancelled less, driven in part by the ongoing growth of international travel as a percentage of all stays. Average lead times in the US increased to 31.5 days, surpassing 2019 levels, while the cancellation rate decreased to 19.21%, remaining below the country’s 2019 average. 

• Despite the average daily rate (ADR) in the US contracting by 2.5% in 2024 (from US$280 to US$273), the second half of the year was more promising for the sector, with room rates showing notable year-on-year growth from October through to December. July saw the highest monthly ADR, despite being narrowly surpassed by August as the busiest month for bookings. Globally, ADR increased in the majority (65%) of markets, again surpassing US$200.

• With Friday-night stays (the most expensive) generating an average of US$67 more than Sundays (the most affordable), the US’s occupied room rates had some of the most variation globally in 2024 and reflected the country’s leadership in dynamic revenue management.

• With over 22% of guests staying for two nights or more, stays at American properties were narrowly longer than the global average.
   

“As trends change to mirror today’s dynamic traveler, hotel businesses must remain flexible and responsive. SiteMinder’s report shows that traveler preferences are anything but fixed, so those who can adapt quickly will be best positioned to succeed,” says Bishop. “In 2025, the advantage will come from leveraging data-driven insights, building flexibility into strategies, and seizing new opportunities. Properties that embrace this approach will not just establish themselves as leaders within their markets; they will set a new standard for an industry undergoing transformative change.”

SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends report is available here.