Hospitality & Tourism

✈️ Airport Baggage Handling Has Quietly Gotten Smarter — Thanks to AI. What do you think? Remember the days of delayed or lost luggage being the norm. That’s changing — fast. With AI, IoT, and automation transforming ground operations, the baggage handling system at modern airports is becoming a case study in quiet efficiency. Here’s how technology is making a difference: ✅ RFID & real-time tracking – No more guessing where your bag is. ✅ AI-powered sorting & routing – Faster, more accurate handling. ✅ Predictive analytics – Less congestion, fewer delays. ✅ Robotics & automation – Smarter, safer workflows. ✅ Passenger apps – Transparency right in your pocket. 🔍 Fun fact: Since 2007, global mishandled baggage rates have dropped by over 70%. Airports like Changi, Heathrow, and Schiphol are leading the way — and passengers are noticing. Sometimes the best tech transformations are the ones we don’t even realize are happening. #AI #AirportTech #Logistics #SmartTravel #DigitalTransformation #BaggageHandling #Innovation #IoT #Automation video by @theasybag

We’ve called efficiency the unsung hero of the energy transition in the past. While the energy transition will happen first through the transition of energy usages, like the shift with transport, from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, or from fuel or gas boilers to heat pumps, we cannot ignore the utmost priority of the energy transition: efficiency. Efficiency is the greatest path to reduce our energy use, our impact on the world’s climate through CO2 emission reduction, and very importantly, the best way to make solid and practical savings. In its most historical form, energy efficiency is about better insulation, to reduce heating (or cooling) loss in buildings like family homes, warehouses, office high rises, and shopping malls. This is useful, but expensive and tedious to realize on existing installations. Digitizing home, buildings, industries and infrastructure brings similar benefits at a much lower cost and a much higher economic return. The combination of IoT, big data, software and AI can significantly reduce energy use and waste by detecting leaky valves, or automatically adjusting heating, lighting, processes and other systems to the number of people present at any given time, using real-time data analysis. It also allows owners to measure precisely progress, report automatically on their energy and sustainability parameters, and benefit from new services through smart grid interaction. And this is just the energy benefit. Automation and digital tools also optimize the processes, safety, reliability, and uptime leading to greater productivity and performance.

Mass Tourism is dead. Hilton 2026 trend report says what's next for the industry. For decades, the tourism industry was built on volume. Crowded resorts. All-inclusive packages. Selfie sticks and bucket lists made on Instagram. But that era is fading fast. The next wave of travel isn’t about where people go, it’s about why. According to Hilton’s new 2026 Trends Report, travellers around the world are making a radical shift: from mass tourism to meaningful tourism seeking connection, calm, and authenticity instead of crowds and checklists. Here are the key trends reshaping the future of travel: 1. “Hushpitality”: Seeking Silence and Stillness In an overstimulated world, travellers crave peace. Hilton found that almost half of travellers now add extra days to disconnect before or after family trips and many are choosing destinations where they can simply breathe. Wellness, mental clarity, and calm have become new luxury. 2. Home Comforts Are the New Carry-On The modern traveller wants familiarity. From favourite streaming shows to pet-friendly rooms, people are bringing their routines with them. Even abroad, 77% of travellers enjoy browsing grocery stores, proof that comfort and local discovery can coexist beautifully. This is also why long-stay travel and remote-work destinations are booming: people want a “home away from home” they can trust. 3. Generation Remix - Families Are Redefining Travel Family vacations aren’t what they used to be. Children help plan itineraries. Grandparents take grandkids on “skip-gen” trips. Families are seeking shared play, not screens. Travel is becoming a tool for bonding and shared growth across generations. 4. Inheritourism: Travel With Legacy and Meaning People no longer travel to escape their lives, they travel to understand them. More than half of families now plan trips to connect with their roots and local traditions. “Cultural immersion” isn’t a buzzword anymore — it’s a priority. 5. Purposeful Journeys: The Rise of the “Whycation” The biggest transformation is philosophical Travellers are asking why they travel. To rest. To reconnect. To grow. This emotional motivation — rather than location — is now the foundation of modern tourism. And This Is Why We’re Transforming Roatán At the Roatán Tourism Bureau, we see these shifts as a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We’re helping local businesses evolve from mass tourism to meaningful tourism, from quick visits on cruiseships to long-term value. That means: - Supporting hotels and hosts to create spaces that feel like home. - Training local operators to attract digital nomads and wellness travellers. - Promoting authentic cultural experiences that connect visitors with the island’s people and traditions. - Partnering with communities to ensure growth benefits everyone. Travel is changing — fast. And Roatán is getting ready to lead this new chapter: quieter, deeper, and more intentional.

In this second post in our biofuels series, I’ll be focusing on renewable diesel. It’s a fuel known by many names, including HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) and HEFA (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids), and can be used as a 'drop in' fuel for diesel – meaning it can act as a complete replacement for fossil diesel or be blended into fossil diesel at any ratio. The terms HVO and HEFA can be used to refer to the production processes, and end products, that use vegetable oil, waste oils, lipids and animal fats as feedstocks to produce hydrocarbon fuels. These resulting fuels are nearly chemically identical, and hence interchangeable with diesel (renewable diesel) and jet fuel (sustainable aviation fuel or ‘SAF’). Renewable diesel can be used for a wide range of applications including road, rail and marine transport. In addition to meeting common industry standards, using it with waste feedstocks results in far fewer GHG emissions when compared to its traditional counterpart. In fact, in Europe, Shell Renewable Diesel produces up to 90% less CO2e [1] emissions compared to B7 diesel [2] on a life cycle basis [3]. It is already available for heavy-duty transport customers at 13 Shell Truck retail locations in the Netherlands, and our commercial road transport team is exploring opportunities to expand the supply of pure and blended renewable diesel to several other countries in Europe. Investing in renewable diesel can allow industry operators and energy producers alike to decarbonise their businesses and comply with ever-tightening energy legislation (such as RED II in Europe). The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts “robust growth” in transport biofuels over the next five years and we anticipate renewable diesel will play an important role in heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) supporting mobility’s energy transition [4]. Alongside other low-carbon solutions, such as bio-LNG (liquified biomethane) for HDVs and SAF for air travel, renewable diesel can help our customers reduce their climate footprint, achieve their sustainability goals, and accelerate society towards a net-zero future. In my next post in this series, I will take a closer look at another biofuel set to play a vital part in the world’s future fuels mosaic. In the meantime, you can visit our website to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dZUpPYPv *See comments section for references. #EnergyTransition #biofuels #RenewableDiesel 

Everyone seems to be talking about AI agents. The biggest problem not enough people are talking about: how to monetize & capture the value of them. Manny Medina, the founder of Outreach (last valued at $4.4B), just took his new startup (called Paid) out of stealth — and announced €10M in pre-seed funding — to tackle this very problem. After analyzing patterns from 60+ AI agent companies, Manny has put together a new framework for AI agent pricing. It's 🔥 — and here's the TL;DR. There are 4 AI agent pricing models dominating the market. Many companies are using just 1 of the 4; others take a hybrid approach. 1️⃣ Price per agent, aka the FTE replacement model See: 11x, Harvey, Vivun Why folks like it: You get to draw from the headcount budget which is at least 10x larger than the tech tools budget. Biggest challenge: Low competitive differentiation. This pricing leaves you exposed to “I-do-the-same-but-cheaper” competitors. 2️⃣ Price per agent action, aka the consumption model See: Bland, Parloa, HappyRobot Why folks like it: It is fairly easy to go after the BPO budget as well as other freelancing agencies with a higher performing offer with better SLAs and lower costs. Biggest challenge: Pricing per activity essentially makes you a commodity and prices only go down. 3️⃣ Price per agent workflow, aka the process automation model See: Rox, Salesforce, Artisan Why folks like it: It strikes a balance between consumption-based and outcome-based pricing, making it ideal for complex but standardized processes. Biggest challenge: If the workflow is complex, it will be hard to price and you may end up upside down with negative margin for a workflow that ran longer and you couldn’t charge for it. 4️⃣ Price per agent outcome, aka the results-based model See: Zendesk, Intercom, Airhelp, Chargeflow Why folks like it: This model creates the clearest value proposition for customers, as they only pay when they receive tangible results. Biggest challenge:  Outcomes may be highly customized which may lead to proliferation of bespoke contracts. And you need a clear path to attribute results to your agent. --- Get the full framework, including an epic decision tree, in today's Growth Unhinged newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ed8g68wh Can't wait to hear what you think 🙏 #ai #aiagent #monetization

Hate doing Competitor Analysis? Here is how to do it, without overwhelming yourself 👇🏽 While competitor analysis is a super critical part of any market research and differentiation strategy, most folks don't know how to do it rightly. I have seen people filling up a gazillion of slides and pages with every detail of the competitors, this leads to a popular PM disease called: "Analysis Paralysis" This also demotivates a lot of professionals from pursuing market research, because it gets overwhelming quickly. Here are the 4 questions (+ tools) I would suggest you start with in your next competitive research: 1. What problems do they solve, are they relevant for our users? 2. What are their strengths? (Check their website lingo, check their ads from Facebook/Google/Linkedin Ads Library, use the product by yourself, and observe customers to find this). 3. What are their weaknesses? (Check their social media, and customer conversations, use the product by yourself, and make a quick need-gap analysis). 4. How do they acquire and retain users? (This will help you identify channels, communication, and product strategy). Start with these basics, and then build upon this foundation. The best resources for competitor analysis: 1. Google keyword tool: Find your keywords, and Discover who else ranks on your keywords. 2. Google/Facebook/Linkedin ads library: To understand their communication strategy and maybe star features. 3. Quora, Reddit, and Google reviews: For understanding customer voice and experiences. 4. Website: Probably the best resource. Will help you understand How they position themselves, who are top customers, and benefits. Always remember: Customer Obsession >> Competitor Obsession. Work backward from customer needs. Which is your favorite tool for competitive analysis? P.S. This is a slide from our detailed module on GTM strategy at HelloPM. Check out https://hellopm.co to find what we have in store to supercharge your Product Career ⚡️ #productmanagement #competitor

Did you know that airlines damage 29 wheelchairs a day? Disability Rights California (DRC) just announced some encouraging news for accessible air travel. DRC has submitted a comprehensive public comment letter to the Department of Transportation, advocating for safe, dignified, and equitable air travel for disabled people and nondisabled people. This is a crucial milestone towards ensuring that air travel is accessible. DRC’s advocacy is driven by alarming statistics. According to DRC, “the most recent disability data in air travel found 42,306 disability discrimination complaints.” These complaints highlight serious issues, including: - Refusing to allow disabled people to board an airplane - Refusing to let a disabled person travel without an attendant - Refusing a service animal - Failing to provide the assistance required by law - Damage to mobility devices like wheelchairs, canes, and walkers - Other barriers that impede disabled individuals from traveling safely and comfortably This has to stop! Discrimination against disabled travelers is unacceptable, and it’s heartening to see DRC taking action to address these systemic issues. As a disabled woman, I’m thrilled to see DRC’s proactive approach. It’s essential that we continue to hold airlines accountable for their actions and advocate for our right to travel without discrimination. We deserve to travel and have the same experience as nondisabled people What are your thoughts on this topic? #DisabilityRights #AccessibleTravel #Advocacy

I recently shared an op-ed explaining Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq)’s development philosophy for #Sharjah, which is not about speed or scale, but identity, purpose and meaningful impact. As a nation, we’re driving Sharjah’s progress using heritage, sustainability and community as lodestars. Our destinations are designed to be experienced, not just seen. They’re places that connect people to nature, culture and our emirate’s own lifestory. We prioritize environmental responsibility and long-term resilience while supporting local talent and small businesses to ensure economic growth reinforces our social fabric. As international interest in Sharjah grows, we believe it’s because people seek exactly what we offer: destinations with authenticity, depth and a clear sense of place. For Shurooq, development is a responsibility that allows us to build meaning, create possibilities and live by the values that matter to our future. https://lnkd.in/d82xevDj

I’ve been paying close attention to where hospitality is actually moving, not in trend reports but on the ground, in conversations with operators, investors, and landowners. A few patterns are becoming hard to ignore as we move into 2026: 1. Farm stays will outperform “destination hotels.” Not because they’re novel, but because people want context again. Where food comes from. How land is managed. What regeneration actually looks like. Hospitality is becoming educational, whether operators plan for it or not. 2. Small, nature-integrated units beat scale. Tiny cabins, dispersed rooms, low visual impact. Guests increasingly value privacy, silence, and Nature immersion over amenities stacked on top of each other. 3. Single-function hospitality is fragile. Projects that combine lodging with wellness, farming, workshops, movement, learning or other experiences are less seasonal and more resilient. They give guests reasons to return, not just places to sleep. 4. Outdoors is no longer a “nice extra.” Landscapes are becoming the main asset, not the backdrop. Trails, productive gardens, orchards, water systems, farms, wild edges, these now drive experience, not just aesthetics. 5. Local food is shifting from branding to infrastructure. Guests don’t just want to eat local. They want to see it, walk through it, understand it. That requires land literacy, not just a supplier list. One of the clearest real-world examples of this approach is Babylonstoren in the Western Cape of South Africa. What’s often missed is why it works so well. They didn’t start with a hotel. They started by rebuilding a fully operational farm and winery. Only once that system worked did they add a 4-hectare vegetable garden, orchards, and eventually hospitality on top of it. The land came first. Hospitality followed. That sequencing is the lesson. The opportunity I see for 2026 isn’t about adding more rooms. It’s about designing land that works harder than buildings do. Operators who understand how to build functioning land systems first (and hospitality second) will quietly outperform those who don’t. The shift is already underway. #hospitalitytrends #regenerativedesign #agrotourism #boutiquehotels #landbasedbusiness #longtermvalue Picture credit: Babylonstoren

🧃 THE “ORANGE JUICE TEST PRINCIPLE” How a Small Hotel Discovered a Multi-Million Dollar Customer Insight by Watching Guests Pour Breakfast Juice A boutique hotel in California once ran into a strange problem. They upgraded the rooms. They upgraded the lobby. They upgraded the staff training. They upgraded everything. But guest satisfaction scores barely moved. The general manager was frustrated. He felt like nothing worked. So he did something odd: He spent an entire week standing in the breakfast area just watching people pour orange juice. And he noticed something bizarre. Every single morning the same micro-frustration happened: People grabbed the heavy glass pitcher tilted it and the juice came out too fast. It splashed. It spilled on hands. It dripped on the counter. It made a mess. Guests didn’t complain. They didn’t tell anyone. They didn’t leave reviews about it. But their faces showed a tiny moment of annoyance every single time they poured a glass. That tiny annoyance was affecting how they felt about the entire hotel. The manager replaced the pitchers with smaller, lighter, slow-pour containers. The next month, guest satisfaction shot up. Not because the rooms changed. Not because the amenities changed. Not because the service changed. Because guests’ day started with a smooth moment instead of a frustrating one. The hotel realized something huge: Customers judge your entire business based on the first tiny moment they experience. And if that moment feels frustrating everything afterward feels less valuable. 💡 THE MARKETING LESSON Your business has “orange juice moments” everywhere: • the first 3 seconds of your website • your checkout process • your DM reply time • your onboarding friction • the tone of your confirmation email • your follow-up pace • how easy it is to get help • the first 10 seconds of your video Small annoyances create big emotional withdrawals. Small delights create big emotional deposits. Fix the tiny frustrations and customers will feel like your entire brand improved. 🧠 THE NERDY TAKEAWAY The “Orange Juice Test Principle” teaches this: People do not remember experiences accurately. They remember how you made them feel in the tiny moments. You can fix your entire business by improving the first ten seconds of the customer experience. Because emotions created in small moments shape decisions about big purchases. Paul Getter on FB