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1. Canadians deliver win to Liberal Party
Canadians voted to keep the Liberal Party in power, a shocking turnaround from when the Conservative Party was poised just months ago to take the election, the Associated Press reports. Liberal Party leader and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ran on a platform that opposed U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made countless comments on annexing Canada and has announced tariffs on the country. According to the Associated Press, a record 7.3 million voters cast ballots before election day.
“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” Carney said in his victory speech. “As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never ... ever happen. But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed.”
Trump's comments have greatly affected Canadian travelers and their intent to visit the U.S. CoStar's Jan Freitag reported that "the number of Canadian air passengers to the U.S. dropped by 6.6% in March, and the passenger count from the main four airports dropped by 7.1%."
2. Hilton CEO shares muted outlook amid uncertainty
Hilton's first-quarter 2025 earnings call reported 2.5% growth in systemwide revenue per available room, but macro uncertainty dimmed expectations for the rest of the year beginning late in the quarter, CoStar Hotels' Bryan Wroten reported.
The company expects RevPAR growth for the second quarter to be approximately flat compared to last year and expects full-year systemwide RevPAR growth to be flat to up 2%, President and CEO Chris Nassetta said on the Tuesday call.
“Weaker trends have continued into the second quarter, with short-term bookings roughly flat year over year,” Nassetta said. “We believe travelers are largely in a wait-and-see mode as the rapidly changing macro environment continues to unfold.”
3. LA County workers strike begins
Over 50,000 people who work for Los Angeles County began their two-day strike on Monday evening, the Associated Press reports. It's the first time all members of the union, Service Employees International Union Local 721, have gone on strike at once. The action is in response to failed contract negotiations with the county.
The strike is expected to affect some clinics, libraries, beach restrooms and public service counters. LA County officials are navigating “unprecedented stresses” on its budget while the union accuses the county of 44 labor law violations — from surveillance and retaliation against union workers — during contract negotiations.
“This is the workforce that got LA County through emergency after emergency: the January wildfires, public health emergencies, mental health emergencies, social service emergencies and more,” said union leader David Green in a statement. “That’s why we have had it with the labor law violations and demand respect for our workers.”
4. Hospitality software platform to be sold in $1.1 billion deal
Sabre Corp. will sell its hospitality software platform used by 40% of leading hotel brands is for $1.1 billion, according to a news release. The buyer, TPG Capital, which is global alternative asset management firm TPG's U.S. and European private equity platform, will spin off the platform as a standalone business called Hospitality Solutions.
The software-as-a-service platform provides users record for reservation and guest information. The system operates separately from Sabre's hotel B2B distribution business, which Sabre will maintain as a business line.
"The hospitality industry continues to evolve rapidly. Hospitality Solutions' tailored offering is enabling hotels of all types to meet guests where they are and truly prioritize their needs," said Paul Hackwell, partner at TPG, in the news release. "The transaction brings together our decades of investing experience across the travel and software sectors, and we look forward to working with the team to build the platform into a comprehensive technology provider for the hospitality industry."
5. Power restored in Europe, investigation into outage ongoing
With power almost completely restored in Spain and Portugal, officials are investigating the cause of what is being considered to be one of the most severe power outages in Europe, the AP reported. The outage affected millions of people, grounded flights and stalled train stations.
Officials have ruled out weather-related and cybersecurity causes.
“This has never happened before,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said at a press conference Monday evening, Politico reported. “And what caused it is something that the experts have not yet established — but they will.”