At the crossroads of finance, technology and quality

Dear Insider,

A ranking of hotel chains has piqued our curiosity: India’s OYO has moved up three places in terms of the number of rooms, placing it between IHG and Accor. OYO has grown by around 350,000 rooms year-on-year in 2025/26. How do you grow so quickly? Through takeovers, yes. But in this case, it's also due to a franchise model that is considerably less rigorous than the American one. Whilst Wyndham and Choice also place importance on room quality, this seems to be less of a priority for OYO. Our author, Macy Marvel, has uncovered this and many more figures on the subject. I’m sure we're all keen to see how a tech company can become a competitive hotel operator in the European market.

A lively discussion on technology and AI lasted two and a half hours at our HITT Think Tank in May. We learnt: AI is not a strategy, but a toolbox. And that the big chains are not neutral players in the data debate. Franchisees therefore find it difficult to familiarise themselves with the entire AI toolkit. Details like these is the spice in the data lake soup.

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Wishes and dreams, in front and behind the scenes

19.6.2026

Dear Insider,

Bold aspirations, shattered dreams, green buildings, a windfall, the courts, AI and mega-projects are the focus of today's edition. Marriott's management in Bethesda is unhappy that 51 Marriott owners, who own nearly 1,000 hotels, want a larger share of Bonvoy’s revenue and are also demanding transparency. Sarah Douag has taken a look behind the scenes.

Saudi Arabia has lost face. The colossal NEOM project is scaling back, and with it, its financial clout. There is a shortfall of $16 billion needed to terminate the contracts that are still in force. The damage this project has caused to nature, the environment and people is incalculable. Sarah – who was in the mood for writing this week – was on the hunt for figures.

The architects at the renowned Japanese firm Kengo Kuma & Associates quarried the material for the façades of the new Silk Towers from a tuff quarry – right on their doorstep in Batumi, Georgia. Local resources, wood and precise wind measurements, for example, point the way to the future of urban life. This is about the harmony between nature, living and social. Susanne Stauss reports: The presentation and discussion were part of our HITT Think Tank in Brussels.