The two defining priorities for American travelers in 2026, according to Amadeus
The two defining priorities for American travelers in 2026, according to Amadeus
https://hotelsmag.com/news/the-two-defining-priorities-for-american-travelers-in-2026-according-to-amadeus/
Mental well-being and personalized experiences are emerging as the defining priorities for American travelers, according to new findings from Amadeus’ Travel Dreams 2026 research.
Based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. travelers, the report reveals that 42% prioritize achieving a refreshed mindset and a calmer nervous system from their vacations—far outpacing interest in activity-focused travel such as learning a new hobby (6%) or capturing social media content (4%).
Technology and Human Touch
As AI and automation become more embedded in travel, most Americans expect a balance between technology and human interaction. Around 70% of travelers prefer room service and luggage handling to remain primarily human-led, while 63% say the same for service requests. Check-in and concierge support are also expected to retain a human element.
At the same time, AI is playing a growing role in trip planning. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of U.S. travelers say AI-generated summaries provide enough information to make booking decisions without further research. Travelers are now more than twice as likely to seek trip inspiration from a chatbot than they were five years ago, surpassing both influencers and newspapers in impact.
Personalization Drives Revenue
Seventy-eight percent of U.S. travelers indicated that tailored itineraries are important to them. Leisure travelers’ top paid amenities include preferred room view (+9% on ADR), early check-in or late check-out (+8.4%), and curated local experience kits (+7.7%).
Business travelers show a stronger spending appetite across similar priorities: early check-in or late check-out (+12.8%), preferred room view (+12.6%), and sleep enhancement amenities (+12.3%).
“What we’re seeing is a shift in how people think about travel. It’s no longer just about where you go, but how the experience makes you feel. As data management and hospitality technology evolve to allow more sophisticated retailing, hoteliers, destinations, and travel companies will be able to unleash their creativity to meet the needs of travelers in ways never before possible,” said Jill Boegel, SVP of commercial, Americas, Amadeus.
A Fuel Shortage Is About to Hit European Airports and Travelers Will Feel It Fast
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/europe-jet-fuel-shortage-could-disrupt-flights-and-raise-airfares
European airports warn of a looming jet fuel shortage that could trigger flight cancellations and higher ticket prices as supply disruptions continue.
European airports are just weeks away from a jet fuel shortage that could result in flight cancellations if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen, Airports Council International (ACI) Europe said in a letter to the EU’s energy and transport commissioners late last week.
Since the Iran War began in late February, closing the Strait of Hormuz in March, jet fuel prices have skyrocketed, sending airlines around the world scrambling to increase revenues to offset the higher costs of flying. Now, regulators are saying some flights will instead be cancelled because airports—particularly those in Europe—will have difficulty sourcing fuel if the Gulf region supply chain remains disrupted by the war.
“If the passage through the Strait of Hormuz does not resume in any significant and stable way within the next three weeks, systemic jet fuel shortage is set to become a reality for the EU,” was a passage from the letter reported by The Guardian.
Jet fuel prices in Europe are up 138% year-over-year, making the region somewhat less hit than Asia, which is more dependent on Gulf region oil supplies and has seen a 163% year-over-year increase in jet fuel prices.
Airlines worldwide have already taken some flights off their schedules because of the increase in fuel costs, which rendered some routes unsustainable. Airlines, including Qantas, Air New Zealand, Vietnam Airlines, SAS, and Delta Air Lines, have reduced some flying as a result of the spike in jet fuel costs. Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, has said they’re considering a 10% decrease in flights this summer.
A spokesperson for Ryanair told The Times of London that their fuel suppliers have only been able to guarantee supply until mid-May, and that a lengthy closure of the Strait of Hormuz could have significant impacts on the availability of fuel at airports in its European network.
Four airports in Italy have already implemented restrictions on jet fuel deliveries because of low stocks, saying that priority would be given to ambulance and government flights, and for flights of more than three hours in duration. Airport officials at the four airports in the north of the country downplayed the situation, saying there were no restrictions on fuel deliveries at all for long-haul flights, which would eliminate any possibility for disruption on flights to and from North America.
The last tankers that left the Gulf region before the closure of the Strait of Hormuz are just now arriving at ports in Europe. Europe derives more than 60% of its jet fuel from the Gulf Region; some 40% of the total supply is shipped through the now-shuttered Strait. Jet fuel is uniquely sensitive to shipping disruptions because refined fuels have fewer alternative transport methods (like pipelines) available.
ACI Europe encouraged the EU commissioners to temporarily lift some restrictions on jet fuel imports and implement a bloc-wide collective for buying jet fuel. “There is, for now, no EU-wide mapping/assessment and monitoring of jet fuel production and availability,” said the ACI Europe letter, as reported by the Financial Times.
The EU has had sanctions on Russian petroleum products since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has already weakened the supply reliability of jet fuel for European airports, and made those airports even more dependent on supplies shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
Airlines that have maintained their schedules have raised fares or added fuel surcharges to their flights. U.S. airports and airlines are less dependent on fuel supplies from the Gulf Region, but shortages at airports in Europe could still impact U.S. airlines that serve those airports. With demand for air travel remaining strong into the summer months, fewer flights could ultimately mean higher airfares for travelers who have not yet bought their tickets.
Haunted Jungles Are the Surprising Reason to Visit This Country
Galyna Andrushko/Shutterstock
https://www.fodors.com/world/mexico-and-central-america/costa-rica/experiences/news/the-haunted-rainforests-of-costa-rica-jungle-legends-ghost-stories-and-natural-mysteries
Go ahead, grab your machete, and let’s go for a jungle jaunt.
The Costa Rican jungle is one of the lushest, most biodiverse places on earth. It teems with life and energy, with rhythm and movement, with plants and animals. It’s also … kinda eerie.
The jungles of Costa Rica have long occupied a strange space between the natural and the supernatural. Even today, it still feels mysterious. For centuries, explorers, settlers, and Indigenous communities have told stories about the strange sounds, lights, and spirits that seem to inhabit the deep green interior of Costa Rica. The result is a landscape where folklore and ecology intertwine so closely that it can be difficult to tell where myth ends and reality begins.
Eerie Nature
Part of the mystery comes from the jungle itself. Costa Rica’s rainforests are among the most biologically dense ecosystems on Earth. In protected areas such as Corcovado National Park, scientists estimate that thousands of species occupy a single square mile. Inside, there’s an orchestra of strange sounds: insects buzz, frogs chirp, birds shriek, and unseen animals rustle through the leaves. Waterfalls churn and rivers babble in the distance. Early explorers entering these forests for the first time had no context for the sounds they heard. To them, the jungle often seemed haunted.
One of the most famous explanations for the “voices” of the rainforest is the roar of the Mantled howler monkey. These monkeys possess an enlarged throat bone that acts like a resonating chamber, allowing their calls to carry for miles. At dawn and dusk, the jungle can erupt with deep, rolling cries. To someone unfamiliar with tropical wildlife, the sound resembles distant chanting or even human screaming. Spanish explorers in the 16th century wrote in journals about “demons crying out in the trees,” convinced the forest contained supernatural presences. In reality, the howler monkeys were simply announcing their territory to neighboring troops.
In the jungle, it is easy to understand how stories of ghosts, spirits, and mysterious creatures came about. In a landscape where sight is limited but sound and sensation are everywhere, imagination and storytelling fill the gaps.
Eerie Legends
Costa Rican folklore reflects these eerie experiences. One of the most famous legends is that of La Segua, a ghostly woman said to appear on lonely roads. According to the story, she first appears as a beautiful traveler asking for a ride. Only when the victim looks closely does her face transform into the skull of a horse–right before she kills them. The legend is often told as a warning against arrogance or unfaithfulness (La Segua was said to be a woman scorned), but its setting is telling: the encounter almost always happens along remote jungle paths where visibility is poor, and fear already runs high.
Another legend, shared across parts of Central America, is the tale of the Cadejo. This creature is described as a supernatural dog that stalks travelers at night. Some versions speak of two Cadejos: a white one that protects the innocent and an evil black one sent by the devil to hunt and kill. Storytellers claim that claws click on the trail behind them, though when they turn around, nothing is visible. It’s an unsettling experience moving through a dense forest where animals often remain unseen but are constantly audible.
Perhaps the most haunting legend associated with the region is the story of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman, a malevolent spirit said to wander rivers searching for her drowned children. In Costa Rica, the tale often centers around jungle waterways, where the sound of wind moving through mangroves or night birds calling across the water can resemble distant crying. The eerie acoustics of the rainforest amplify such sounds, turning ordinary animal calls into something far more unsettling.
Eerie Exploration
You arrive thinking you’re going for a nice walk. Maybe a peaceful hike. Perhaps you’ll see a bird, take a photo, and feel spiritually renewed. And you will. All within an ecostyatem that pays you absolutely no mind. And that can be unnerving, though incredibly rewarding. So go exploring–there’s so much to see in the wilds of the jungle.
Start with the obvious: wildlife watching. The crowning jewel of Costa Rica’s jungles is the wildlife hiding in plain sight. Let’s start with the littlest creatures in massive numbers: the bugs. Army ants live in entire societies. Cicadas are louder than a Mack truck. Mosquitos never quit. The bugs aren’t usually the cutest of the wildlife you’ll see, but they are extremely easy to spot.
Birding is extremely popular due to the beauties hanging out on the branches above you: red-tailed macaws, rainbow-beaked toucans, and brightly colored parrots. Who else is hanging out in the trees? The howler monkeys, of course, but also the adorably chill three-toed sloth. In the rivers, find something slightly less cuddly: 14-20 foot crocodiles gathering in the rivers that snake through the jungle. Friendlier lizards and lazy iguanas skitter about the paths.
Corcovado National ParkFirebird007/Shutterstock
Suspension bridges abound. Sure, they’re feats of modern engineering, but when you walk across them, they move and shake. And the last thing you want to feel when you are walking across a bridge is the absolute nothingness keeping you tethered to the earth. But that’s the beauty of the Costa Rican jungle. Even dangling from the sky, the earth is all around you. Reach out and touch a tree top.
Eerie Beauty
Despite the legends, the Costa Rican rainforest is not truly haunted. Its mysteries arise from a combination of biology, climate, and human imagination. The forest is loud because so many species live there. It whispers because sound travels strangely beneath the canopy. It glows at night because insects and fungi produce light. What once seemed supernatural is often simply nature behaving in ways unfamiliar to visitors. The same natural forces that make the Costa Rican jungle one of the most vibrant ecosystems on Earth also make it one of the most mysterious. Even now, the jungle continues to inspire stories that blur the line between science and legend.
WHERE TO STAY
Tell your own stories of exploring the jungle by staying in Santa Lucia Jungle Hacienda in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The hotel abuts the Carara National Park, which hosts a variety of aforementioned wildlife as well as 15 pre-Columbian archaeological sites belonging to the archaeological area of the Central Region of Costa Rica. Modern comfort meets blissed out serenity with creature comforts like a riverside pool and separate kids area, spa, two restaurants, church, and hiking trails through the lush grounds (as well as knowledgeable guides to take you).
Hilton CEO sees improvement in midscale brands
Chris Nassetta thinks the upswing is a sign that the middle class is starting to take part in the economic recovery.
https://www.hotelinvestmenttoday.com/Development/Brands/Hilton-CEO-sees-improvement-in-midscale-brands?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hilton President and CEO Chris Nassetta said he is seeing improvements in the company’s midscale brands, which include more mid-week travel, according to a story in Semafor. He said that is a sign that the middle class is starting to participate in a recovery led by the highest earners.
Nassetta was interviewed at the Semafor World Economy conference on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. When asked about the K-shaped economy that has been driving hospitality results over the past few years, Nassetta said Hilton’s midscale brands, like Hampton and Garden Inn, are seeing better results these days.
“The middle and the bottom are going to come up ultimately to meet the top,” he said during the event. “The tide is coming in and the tide is unstoppable.”
The change is happening, Nassetta said, due to a combination of factors, including tax policy, lower interest rates, private-sector spending on AI, and public-sector infrastructure spending launched by the Biden administration. Nassetta called it the “C” recovery (C meaning convergence).
Despite the current war in Iran, Nassetta also said he remains optimistic about hotel growth in the Middle East, where Hilton operates 80 hotels and has a pipeline of more than 100 more being built in the next few years. He said there are no plans for Hilton to pause its asset-light expansion in the region.
“I think the Middle East will be fine,” Nassetta said. “I think it will continue, in the long run, to be one of the greatest growth markets we have.”
When asked what worries him, the notoriously optimistic Nassetta said he has a lot of worries, but inflation isn’t one of them.
“If you look at it intellectually, when you go into a massive innovation technological productivity cycle, it is always deflationary, right? So, yeah, you have some inflationary forces, like all the investment that's going on and all the infrastructure and AI and the complex behind AI, but behind it all, over the next three, five or 10 years, productivity associated with AI has to, in my opinion, be deflationary.”
What worries Nassetta, pointing to Iran again, is the safety of Hilton’s workers and customers in potentially dangerous areas of the world.
“We're in 150 countries, including big business in the Middle East and (what I do worry about), because I have to spend a lot of my time worrying about it, is protecting customers and protecting hundreds of thousands of team members we have in very difficult parts of the world. Those kinds of things I worry about… There is a risk that those things can spiral in ways that are way above my pay grade and outside of my field of expertise. That could impact the kind of positive view that I have here. But thus far, I haven't seen it.”
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