IHG's new UK debit card with Revolut requires customers to open an entirely new bank account just to earn hotel points. The loyalty play generated over a billion dollars last year, but the friction built into this product tells you everything about who this card is actually designed for.
European hotel investment volumes surged 30% in 2025 to their highest level since 2019, with investors pricing in growth assumptions that only work if RevPAR keeps climbing. With CoStar projecting 0.7% global RevPAR growth for 2026, someone's basis is about to look very expensive.
European hotel deals hit €27 billion, Pebblebrook's CEO says U.S. buyers and sellers still can't agree on price, a cartel killing reshapes a Tuesday in Puerto Vallarta, and the Trump Organization bets a billion on Australia's Gold Coast. The common thread is one nobody's talking about.
A 189-key Hilton in the UK needs 14,000 exterior panel fixes barely a year after opening, and the contractor is eating the cost. If you think this is just a British construction story, you haven't looked at your own building envelope lately.
The post-Grenfell building safety regime was supposed to be about residential towers. Turns out, if your hotel shares a wall with apartments, has serviced units, or houses staff on upper floors... you're in the crosshairs too. And 74% of high-rises assessed so far are failing.
IHG just handed their biggest European market to someone who spent seven years on the ownership side. That's not an accident. That's a signal.
The UK government is investigating whether Hilton, IHG, Marriott, and CoStar used STR benchmarking data to coordinate hotel pricing. If you've ever pulled a comp set report, this one's about you.
