Hotel experts pick the word of 2025

What word best describes the vibe of '25? Hoteliers and industry experts share some choices that show a mix of optimism and the challenges of a difficult year.

CDL's David Ling and STR's Jesper Palmqvist join the podcast for the monthly look across the Asia Pacific region, with Ling discussing how Singapore-based CDL is finding hotel investment opportunities across the globe.

Herterlier founder and editor in chief Emily Goldfischer joins CoStar News Hotels' Stephanie Ricca to choose their top hotel industry trends for 2026. From traveling with purpose to choosing "skillcations," Ricca and Goldfischer give a lighthearted yet informed take on the industry trends they think have lasting power, and the ones that are just noise. 

Just over a year after Bunkhouse Hotels became a part of Hyatt Hotels Corp. through its acquisition of Standard International, CoStar News' Natalie Harms sits down with Lisa Bonifacio is managing director, The Lifestyle Group, Hyatt, to talk about Bunkhouse's newest hotel: Hotel Daphne in Houston.

Hotel companies, and more specifically their commercial strategy teams, will succeed or fail based on the strength of their talent, according to Horwath HTL's Dorothy Dowling. So Dowling and HSMAI President and CEO Brian Hicks join the podcast to discuss the major challenges facing talent development and how leadership and artificial intelligence are both key.

In this interview, PM Hotel Group Chief Growth and Development Officer Paul Sacco said hotel owners are looking for transparency and leadership accessibility in a third-party operator, among other important factors.

Strong demand and cheap debt are a potent combination for both domestic and international investors looking to grow their presence in Japan's hotel industry. This month's check in on the Asia Pacific region is a conversation with STR's Jesper Palmqvist and CBRE's Steve Carroll focusing on that topic, along with the rebound in Hong Kong and Australia's recent cricket success against England.

In this episode of the CoStar News Hotels Podcast, CoStar Analyst Didio Pequeno shares the latest hotel performance climate and downgraded forecast while five hoteliers weigh in on what they are grateful for in a year marked by uncertainty.

Paul Eckert, executive vice president of operations and business intelligence at Davidson Hospitality, which manages 11 properties in its portfolio that are nearly or over a century old, joins the show to share what goes into maintaining a historic hotel portfolio.

Anna Abelson, adjunct instructor at the NYU SPS Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, joins the podcast to talk about the 2025 U.S. Family Travel Survey, which sees strong intent to travel and spend but some worrying underlying numbers for hoteliers.