Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending April 28, 2023, is below. It was another relatively quiet week in the online travel industry, with Hyatt garnering much of the attention with its end of week announcement regarding its planned purchase of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Enjoy.
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- Hyatt Acquires Booking Platform – Mr. and Mrs. Smith. On Friday, Hyatt announced that it has reached agreement to purchase boutique hotel booking platform, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The platform provides direct booking access to over 1500 independent, boutique hotels around the world, including hotels in 20 countries where Hyatt currently has no presence. With its purchase, Hyatt will ultimately be able to add 1500 hotels to its existing booking channels and thereby offer its loyalty program members (and those 1 million plus members of Mr. and Mrs. Smith) even more destination alternatives. The purchase is expected to close in the second quarter.
- Washington State Passes Privacy Legislation. Just another state setting out on its own until federal legislators step in to finally get serious about national data privacy? Not exactly. As many of you know, privacy and data security play a prominent role in just about every online relationship, which is why we are covering this new legislation here. While the title of Washington’s recently enacted “My Health My Data Act” might suggest that it applies exclusively to sensitive to health information, Erin Snodgrass (our newest hospitality industry team member) explains why such an interpretation is likely wrong.
- Choice Hotels Join Groups360’s GroupSync Marketplace. Add Choice to the list of major brands to endorse Group360’s online group booking tool – GroupSync Instant Booking.