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Weekly Brief: Monday, May 4, 2026
Q1 Earnings Calls
Hospitality and Travel CEOS remained optimistic after Q1 Earnings calls last week and as they look forward through the second half of the year. One notable quote that stood out:
"I think the impressive statistic ... I would focus on is 18% growth in retail luxury spend, 12% growth in premium cabin on airlines, and global travel bookings being at a record high.” // American Express CEO, Stephen Squeri // Yahoo Finance
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Marketing Briefs
Did You Know?
Trending news, marketing news, and reports:
Hotel Rangá Crowned Most Instagrammable Hotel in the World for 2026 // Luxury Travel Advisor
Pinterest Wedding Trends Report 2026: Maximum romance, modern individuality // Pinterest
The 10 Most Influential Travel and Tourism Companies of 2026 // Time
LinkedIn expands Event Ads beyond its own platform // Search Engine Land
Classic Vacations Releases Summer 2026 Luxury Travel Trends Forecast // Travel Pulse
How to Build Location Pages That Rank, Convert, and Get Cited // Backlink.io
17 Content Types to Survive Google’s Zero-Click Future // Zyppy Signal
Brand USA Expands its Global Ambassador Program Following Success in Australia and New Zealand // The Brand USA
Life stage matters more than age for in-app brand promotions // Social Media Today
TikTok Has Entered the Chat: Metasearch // HFTP
Google Ads adds “Association” metric to Brand Lift Studies // Search Engine Land
Keep your eyes on:
Hospitality AI Initiatives:
Mews doubles down on their AI-first stance, writing a follow-up LinkedIn post that states: “We are updating every job description, adding the expectation of AI native skills, we make it a topic of conversation in every 1-on-1 and performance reviews. Every new hire needs to provide evidence of their AI skills.” // Mews LinkedIn
HFTP to launch “Workforce 20X: The AI Evolution” at HITEC // Hotel Management
AI Max Turns 1 with new ways to steer performance and expansion for Travel // Google
Uber is in the hotel business now, thanks in part to AI // Uber, TechCrunch
Booking Holdings says AI efforts are increasing efficiency // Travel Weekly
Hyatt opens up ChatGPT to employees // PhocusWire
Japan Airlines trials humanoid robots as ground handlers // BBC
Hospitality companies hiring more AI-focused roles:
Marriott // AI Enablement Role: Evolve the AI Enablement Toolkit—tools, templates, playbooks, training assets, and SOPs—to make it easy for teams across the enterprise to adopt and scale AI responsibly and efficiently.
Programming & Activations
What resorts are launching now, from brand collaborations to activations and revenue-generating experiences:
Spotify has partnered with a number of established wellness creators and the exercise equipment maker Peloton // TechCrunch
Pickleball courts pop up in Japan hotels and malls // Nikkei Asia
Upcoming Events
Q2 holidays, events, and conferences to keep on your radar:
Conferences & Travel
National Travel & Tourism Week // May 3 – 9, 2026
Expedia EXPLORE // May 19 - 20, 2026 // Las Vegas, NV
NEW: Google Marketing Live // May 20, 2026 // Online
SKIFT Data + AI Summit // June 3, 2026 // New York, NY
PRSA Travel & Tourism Conference // June 7 - 10, 2026 // Albuquergue, NM
Women Leading Travel Forum // June 8 -10, 2026 // New Orleans, LA
HITEC 2026 // June 15 - 18, 2026 // San Antonio, TX
HSMAI Commercial Strategy Conference // June 16 - 17, 2026 // San Antonio, TX
Awards Voting
Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards // April 1 - June 30, 2026
Holidays
Mother’s Day // May 10
Memorial Day // May 25
Pride Month // June
Father’s Day // June 21
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Industry Updates
Agency News
News from the agencies that hotel marketers trust and work with. If you have new client wins as an agency with a hospitality-focused client and want to share them here, email me at [email protected].
Honeycomb PR named agency of record for Hyatt Regency Chicago
Tambourine, in collaboration with Hyatt, launches Hyatt Wedding Guide, a one-stop, AI-enabled digital platform
Job Postings & Career News
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What is the 5.15
Leading luxury hotel marketing across resorts and task force marketing roles over the past 15+ years led me to launch The Hotel Marketing 5.15 in 2025 to help keep clients up to date on hospitality marketing news and activations. I am always available for coffee chats, networking, and to discuss project-based assignments.
Based on a communication method developed by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, the 5.15 is a weekly format designed to synthesize key insights in 15 minutes or less and be read in five minutes. This newsletter applies the same principle to hotel marketing: concise, actionable trends and opportunities curated for industry professionals.
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