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1. Accor adds 17 hotels in the Americas
French hotel firm has added 17 hotels across the Americas by acquiring hotel management contracts from Royal Holiday Group, according to a news release. Accor will pay a total consideration of $79 million in phases, and the capital will go toward partially funding the $130 million renovation plans of these properties over the next 30 months.
The portfolio includes 3,200 keys, with six existing all-inclusive resorts in Mexico (1,660 keys) to be managed by Ennismore, and 11 resorts and city hotels in Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. (1,540 keys) to be managed by Accor PM&E Americas.
Accor will reflag three properties in Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta as Rixos Hotels after their renovations. Another three resorts in Cancun, Acapulco, Ixtapa will remain under the existing brand. The remaining 11 properties will be rebranded post-renovation under the Swissôtel, Mercure, Mercure Living or ibis flags.
2. Judge finds Google has advertising monopoly
A U.S. federal judge found Google illegally maintained a monopoly with some of its online advertising technology, the New York Times reports. The U.S. Department of Justice and several states sued Google in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, arguing its ad technology monopoly let Google charge higher prices and take bigger shares of the sales.
“In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web,” Judge Leonie Brinkema said.
3. Hoteliers adapt to travelers using AI for trip research
A growing number of travelers are turning to artificial intelligence to help them plan their trip itineraries, so hotel digital marketers have been adapting their strategies, CoStar News Hotels reports. These large language models, or LLMs, scour the internet for information, so having accurate and up-to-date hotel websites helps the hotels appear in the search results.
David Solomito, senior vice president of marketing at Sage Hospitality, said something as simple as having a frequently asked questions section that addresses provided amenities helps because it provides authoritative information about the hotel.
“Just that simple tweak like that can be the difference of being one of the recommended hotels or places to stop on an itinerary versus not,” he said.
4. US weekly hotel results flat thanks to 2024 eclipse
The solar eclipse that captivated people across the U.S. April 8, 2024, created tough year-over-year comparisons for hotel performance for the week ending April 12, 2025, writes STR's Isaac Collazo and Chris Klauda. Revenue per available room grew just 0.2% across the U.S. Excluding the 16 markets in the eclipse's path, RevPAR grew by 2.8% as average daily rate grew by 2%.
Ongoing spring break demand helped multiple markets across the U.S. The top 25 U.S. markets — excluding Dallas as it was in the eclipse's path — saw RevPAR grow by 2.9%.
Additionally, the Easter/Passover calendar shift gave hotels a boost as meeting planners were able to fit in another week of meetings and conferences before the holiday observances started.
5. US initial weekly jobless claims fall by 9,000
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims for the week ending April 12 fell by 9,000 to 215,000, the Associated Press reports. Analysts forecast weekly jobless claims to reach 225,000.
The four-week average of applications, used to account for volatility, fell by 2,500 to 220,750.
The Labor Department reported earlier this month that employers added 228,000 jobs in March while the unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.2%.