Hotel CEOs eye growth of all-inclusives, third-party management in Caribbean and Latin America
Hotel CEOs eye growth of all-inclusives, third-party management in Caribbean and Latin America
Changing guest, industry dynamics open new opportunities in the region
IHG Hotels & Resorts' Jolyon Bulley, left, speaks about the Caribbean and Latin America region alongside Rob Schneider, Hotel Investment Today, center, and Craig Smith, Aimbridge Hospitality, right, at ALIS CALA. (Bryan Wroten)
https://www.costar.com/article/1814409442/hotel-ceos-eye-growth-of-all-inclusives-third-party-management-in-caribbean-and-latin-america?
By Bryan Wroten
CORAL GABLES, Florida — There are a lot of opportunities for hotel companies looking to grow in the Caribbean and Latin America region, and all-inclusive resorts and third-party operations are two of the biggest.
During the "View from the Boardroom" session at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit Caribbean and Latin America conference, executives from IHG Hotels & Resorts and Aimbridge Hospitality shared how their respective companies are approaching the region.
IHG performed a strategy review last year to see where travel flows are coming from, identify demand drivers and determine growth opportunities, said Jolyon Bulley, CEO of the Americas. The Caribbean and Latin American region has had revenue per available room growth above the U.S. for several years now.
“One of the things we uncovered is the power of the U.S. customer coming into the region, no question about that,” he said. “Having strong brand representation and distribution there and awareness there is really important.”
What the team also learned was the amount of domestic and interregional travel in CALA, he said. Until taking that data snapshot, he didn’t realize 60% of the demand in Mexico comes from within Mexico and the surrounding area. That’s leading the company to strengthen its brand awareness and platforms in Mexico.
The company also looked for where it had gaps, he said. Mexico is its fifth-largest market globally, and it wanted to continue its distribution there from the midscale segment up through its upper-luxury segment. IHG is eying the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where the company is underrepresented currently.
“We've been active in looking at how we can distribute ourselves across the urban and resort locations in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico,” he said. “Then we've got the three C's. We've got Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, where we see great, great opportunity for growth in those areas there.”
The Caribbean is critically important, and IHG is working to connect travel flows with where customers are coming from to drive demand into the region, he said.
“We're very focused on it, and my ambition is to double our pace of growth across the CALA region by 2028,” he said.
Aimbridge President and CEO Craig Smith said he’s bullish about Latin America overall. Mexico has great advantages, and it’s near the U.S., which will continue to drive leisure and business travel. In the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana has the third-strongest airport in the Caribbean after Cancun and San Juan, and it may pass San Juan in the future.
There is money to be made in the region by choosing the right spot with good airlift and a government that’s pro-travel and pro-leisure, he said. Central America overall is doing well, and it would be great to see more of South America, he added.
The all-inclusive space
Leisure travel is growing four times as fast as business travel, Smith said. Many of the world’s largest brand companies were built for business travelers, and they need to make sure they’re accounting for leisure. Baby boomers are retiring and taking vacations, and millennials are taking more vacations than previous generations.
“You’ve got folks that want to buy an experience over wanting to buy goods today,” he said. “You add that up, and it just means there’s a huge future for growth.”
The all-inclusive resort model is growing faster than European plan models because guests want to buy differently now, he said. A wake-up call for him years ago was when he was walking through an all-inclusive resort in Cancun and started talking to guests, only to learn they all were brand loyalty program members who chose to stay at an unaffiliated all-inclusive property.
After Hyatt Hotels Corp. bought Playa Hotels & Resorts, Smith said Aimbridge saw an opportunity because there weren’t other third-party managers operating in the all-inclusive space. The company took money out of its coffers to double down on the space and hired talent, including a new president for the region and all-inclusive resorts.
“We hired quite a few folks that have worked for Playa in the past, very talented operators and sales folks that are now working for us,” he said.
It’s a different world, and it requires people who know how to operate it to make money, he said. It also requires people who know how to sell it.
“I think it's going to be a great place, and I think you're going to see hotels continue not only to be built, but to be converted from [European plans] to all-inclusives,” he said.
IHG wanted to find an opportunity to unlock some growth in the all-inclusive space, and it found that by partnering with Spain-based Iberostar, Bulley said, referring to the 2022 deal. That afforded IHG distribution and locations with high barriers to entry in Southern Europe and CALA. That also opened up IHG’s reward program for booking Iberostar resort rooms.
“That's what the customers are looking for,” he said.
Beyond Iberostar, IHG is seeing a lot of demand for growth, particularly among its lifestyle brands in the upscale and luxury segments, Bulley said. That’s creating development leads, and the IHG team is working across the region on those.
“We're taking that approach very, very cautiously, but we'll start with Kimpton and InterContinental before we got into the upper-luxury brands,” he said. “We're feeling very confident about it, that we like the segment.”
It took some time to understand the space and make sure the company had the right proposition for owners, especially those who have owned and operated their resorts for many years, he said.
“For them to make that leap of faith, to bring a brand in to partner with them, is a journey that we've been on and working on,” he said.
A shift in operations
Decades ago, the brand companies owned and managed their hotels, Smith said. Then, during the 1980s, the brands started moving toward the asset-light model by selling off the real estate but keeping the management arm. Over time, the brands have moved away from management as well, opening up space for third-party operators.
These changes led to a split in which most of the branded hotels in the U.S. are franchised while international properties still had a lot of brand management, he said. The franchise model is growing in popularity internationally as expenses rise overall.
“That leaves this huge space for the third-party operator business, and it’s a fast-growing space,” Smith said. “It’s off-the-charts fast, and that’s why I said I welcome competitors because it’s going to continue to grow and we need as many people in that space to be as successful as possible.”
IHG has 400 open and in-pipeline hotels in the Mexico and CALA region, Bulley said. Within its midscale offerings of Holiday Inn hotels and even into its upscale segment, 90% of its hotels there are franchised.
“A higher and increased portion of those are going now with a third-party management company,” he said. “It’s certainly a growing segment.”
The issue now is talent burden, Smith said. As a large company, Aimbridge has an advantage here. It used to be that those who wanted to get into operations would work for Marriott International, Hilton, Hyatt, or another of the large brands, but now they need to look for third-party operators.
“Our job now is to find these young gems of talent and grow them and teach them how to be superior operators so they can go on and become a general manager or regional vice president in these jobs,” he said. “That's what most owners are looking for, because at the end of the day, after you’ve got location, location, location, and your brand, you get those two right, the third-highest, best decision is who your [general manager] is.”
5 things to know for April 29
Today's headlines: US consumer confidence rises slightly; Oil prices again jump amid blockade in Iran; Hotel execs see promising opportunities in Caribbean, Latin America; US hotel construction continues to dwindle; IHG grows presence in Egypt with two hotels
Gas prices exceeding $8 a gallon are seen listed at a Chevron gas station in Los Angeles, California, on April 28, 2026. Oil prices jumped on April 28 to their highest level since the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, pressuring U.S. stocks as lack of progress on an accord to reopen the Strait of Hormuz added to inflation worries. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images) (AFP via Getty Images)
https://www.costar.com/article/679828592/5-things-to-know-for-date?
1. US consumer confidence rises slightly
Despite the ongoing war in Iran that continues to raise economic concerns, The Conference Board reported that the United States consumer confidence rose slightly in April. Per the Associated Press, the consumer confidence index increased to 92.8 in April from 92.2 in March.
"Though the gauge measuring American consumers’ confidence has ticked up the past two months, the reading remains mired near its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic," reads the AP article.
2. Oil prices again jump amid 'extended' blockade in Iran
Global oil prices reached a one-month high following the news that the U.S. is intending for an "extended" blockade of Iran, the BBC reports. On Wednesday, Brent crude price per barrel rose to $115 after closing at $110 on Tuesday.
Based on data from a recent poll from market research firm YouGov and the travel rewards website The Points Guy, the New York Times reports that Americans are rethinking travel plans in light of the war in Iran.
"Among the respondents, 15 percent said they were avoiding some destinations because of safety concerns, while 20 percent said they were avoiding international travel altogether. Outbound travel from the United States fell 2.1 percent in March and continued to drop in April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data," reads the article.
3. Hotel execs see promising opportunities in Caribbean, Latin America
At the Americas Lodging Investment Summit Caribbean and Latin America conference, hotel business leaders took the stage to share the opportunities they see for the region, which include growth in all-inclusive resorts and third-party management expansion, reports CoStar News' Bryan Wroten.
According to Jolyon Bulley, CEO of the Americas at IHG Hotels & Resorts, IHG recently looked into demand drivers and where travelers are coming from and discovered that the Caribbean and Latin American region has seen revenue-per-available-room growth above the U.S. for several years now.
“One of the things we uncovered is the power of the U.S. customer coming into the region, no question about that,” he said. “Having strong brand representation and distribution there and awareness there is really important.”
4. US hotel construction continues to dwindle
According to CoStar’s March 2026 data, the amount of U.S. hotel rooms under construction has decreased year over year for the 15th month in a row.
There are 136,990 rooms currently in construction in the U.S., which is down 5.4% compared to last year, and 247,728 rooms are in final planning, a 9.3% decrease from the same period in 2025. Hotel rooms in the planning stage have dipped 7.3% to 333,467 rooms.
“We are also seeing a shift in movement through the pipeline compared to last year, with more hotels advancing from earlier stages into construction. Development is still moving forward, albeit at a lower volume,” said Isaac Collazo, STR’s senior director of analytics.
5. IHG continues grows presence in Egypt with two hotels
IHG Hotels & Resorts announced two new hotels to open in Aswan, Egypt, and the global brand plans to debut another 23 Egyptian hotels currently in its pipeline. In partnership with Misr Holanda and Avenue for Development, IHG will open Holiday Inn Aswan and Holiday Inn Resort New Aswan and add a total of 400 keys to IHG’s growing Egypt portfolio.
"Aswan continues to attract both domestic and international travellers, and these signings allow us to meet the growing demand for high-quality branded accommodation with globally trusted brands," Haitham Mattar, managing director, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said in a news release. "They also reflect our long-term commitment to Egypt and the strength of our partnerships with local owners as we continue to grow in this important market.”
Holiday Inn Aswan will open in 2029 and feature three dining options and meeting spaces, while Holiday Inn Resort New Aswan is slated to open in 2030. IHG currently has 10 hotels representing five brands open in Egypt.
The new billboard effect: ChatGPT is the next front line of hotel distribution
https://www.mylighthouse.com/resources/blog/chatgpt-is-the-next-front-line-of-hotel-distribution
Juanjo Rodriguez
Head of Direct Booking
As AI platforms evolve into transactional ecosystems, connectivity becomes the new requirement. Hotels need to move from being visible to being actionable.
From search to conversation: A shift in visibility
For years, the “Billboard Effect” shaped hotel distribution. Travelers discovered properties on OTAs, then moved to the hotel website to research further or book directly. It created predictable visibility at scale, and OTA presence often lifted direct bookings.
That dynamic isn’t disappearing. But the starting point of discovery is shifting. AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT are rapidly becoming the earliest stage of travel planning, where vague intent turns into structured consideration.
The new billboard effect
The original Billboard Effect showed that visibility in one channel could lift performance in another. OTA exposure drove awareness, which in turn increased direct bookings. Today, that influence is moving upstream. The new Billboard Effect happens inside AI conversations, at the moment when travelers are forming their shortlist.
So what replaces the traditional search results page? Instead of scrolling through listings, travelers now ask:
“Where should I stay in Barcelona with kids?”
“Recommend boutique hotels in Milan under €200.”
“What’s the best hotel near the Lisbon conference center?”
In this environment, travelers are no longer searching with keywords; they are expressing needs in full sentences, with prompts already averaging around 11 words. They receive curated answers, personalized recommendations with reasoning, shaped by what the AI determines is most relevant. This is not search in the traditional sense: it’s conversational discovery.
And that is what creates the new Billboard Effect. AI doesn’t just display hotels; it shapes how a property is described, positioned, and compared before the traveler ever clicks through to a website or OTA. Visibility is no longer only about being seen; it’s about being understood and recommended.
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A new front line of hotel distribution
This shift fundamentally changes how hotels compete for visibility. In the OTA world, ranking position determined exposure. In metasearch, price competitiveness dominated. In the AI environment, recommendation logic becomes the gatekeeper.
Hotels that are clearly and consistently represented in AI-generated responses gain earlier visibility, stronger control over their narrative, and a higher chance of being shortlisted, before price becomes relevant.
AI does not replace direct bookings. It is actually a top-of-the-funnel source of new bookings that determines which hotels enter the consideration set.
Competing in the AI layer: From visibility to connectivity
AI is not a future channel; it is infrastructure. OTAs will continue to play their role. Hotel websites will remain the most profitable channel. But a new layer, conversational AI, now influences decisions before search.
Succeeding in this environment requires more than visibility alone. Hotels must ensure their data, content, and differentiators can be clearly interpreted by AI systems, because if a hotel cannot be understood, it cannot be recommended. AI chatbots are a great place for hotels to tell their story.
But being understood is only the first step. As AI platforms evolve into transactional ecosystems, connectivity becomes the new requirement. Hotels need to move from being visible to being actionable — with live rates, availability, and direct booking pathways accessible within conversational environments.
This is where new infrastructure is emerging to support this AI-native layer of distribution. Solutions like Connect AI enable hotels to provide real-time commercial data directly within AI-driven experiences, ensuring they are not only recommended, but also bookable.
The question is no longer whether AI affects distribution; it already does. The question is how deliberately hotels choose to compete in this new front line of visibility.
Tips for Avoiding the Hidden Cost of Overstrategizing
https://ivyexec.com/career-advice/2025/tips-for-avoiding-the-hidden-cost-of-overstrategizing/?
Ivy Exec
Strategic thinking enables you to make informed decisions and stay focused on achieving your goals. However, too much strategy can quietly slow you down.
When you overplan, you may feel like you’re being cautious, but it might be a form of hesitation in disguise. You may find yourself searching for more data or preparing for every possible outcome. It’s crucial to be careful when planning, but you should also have a balance.
🔹 Use Planning to Guide Your Action
Planning gives structure, but when it becomes the main activity, you won’t make much progress. You might spend a lot of your time fine-tuning ideas, only to realize you aren’t actually acting on your plan.
To avoid getting stuck in a loop, think of planning as a guiding tool. Don’t use it to replace your progress by setting a strict limit. You can tell yourself that once you reach about 70 percent clarity, you’ll act. Waiting for 100 percent certainty often means waiting forever.
Small actions reveal more than being in a constant loop of analysis. When you act even when unsure, you learn what works and what needs adjustment.
You’ll also be able to identify market opportunities beyond your original plan. Everything you execute will give you more insights to improve your plan. Additionally, each decision you make will build your experience and give you more clarity.
🔹 Recognize When Fear Is Hiding Behind Preparation
Many professionals overthink because they fear making mistakes. The desire to avoid failure or criticism can lead you to plan excessively. You might tell yourself that gathering more details will help you make a safer decision. However, waiting too long can cause you to miss out on lucrative opportunities.
Preparation will build confidence, but you shouldn’t rely on it entirely to avoid mistakes. When you feel like you’re taking a risk with every choice, look at your progress. Doing so can help you gain more confidence to leap. Even a small experiment may provide more information about the direction you’re taking.
You don’t need to eliminate fear to move forward in your career. Just ensure it doesn’t stall your growth or control your pace. Whenever you feel hesitant, try to find a positive way to look at the issue.
For example, you can ask yourself what you’ll learn from the next step instead of thinking about what will happen if you fail. Having such a mindset will help you turn your uncertainty into momentum.
If you’re feeling fearful but still act, the results will give you data you wouldn’t get even with further planning. Every outcome will strengthen your judgment and help you make better decisions in the future.
🔹 Set Boundaries for Strategic Discussion
Each time you’re thinking of making a big move, you should have strategic discussions with different people. For example, you might want to meet with your mentor to get their input. You could also hold meetings with your team to narrow down your decisions.
While strategic discussions are helpful, you shouldn’t overdo them. Too many layers of dialogue can turn valuable planning into a stalled process.
Set boundaries to prevent strategy from affecting your execution. Determine the amount of time you need for planning before implementation begins. You should also reserve future meetings for progress review instead of constantly making changes.
Setting clear limits will help you become more accountable. When you set deadlines or endpoints for planning, everyone on your team will feel responsible. They’ll focus more on producing outcomes rather than just offering their opinions.
By protecting time for execution, you’ll be able to avoid feeling burned out. You can also retain more energy for the work you’ve been planning.
🔹 Keep Your Momentum Alive
If your planning process goes on for too long, projects may begin to feel less urgent. You can prevent the issue by setting small targets. Instead of waiting for a perfect launch, break your work into smaller phases. You may then do things like:
- Share updates with your team
- Send early results
- Pilot different versions of the plan
If you see some progress, you’ll have the morale to move forward. The progress also shows your boss or your team you’re committed to making the plan work.
You don’t need to produce significant results to maintain the momentum. Focus on being in a consistent motion and celebrate small wins with your team.
🔹 Avoid the Need for Total Control
It’s common to feel like you must have complete control over every plan you develop. While gaining control helps you feel safer, it might also make you less creative or innovative. You may believe every move you need to make to succeed in your career or business has to be within the original plan.
You must let go of the need for total control if you want to grow professionally. Focus on controlling your ability to adapt, but don’t be too fixated on eliminating uncertainty. The conditions you started with may change, but if you’re flexible, you’ll still be able to meet your goals.
Identify the things that should remain constant even if other aspects of your plan change. These may include:
- Your long-term purpose
- Personal values
- Ethical standards
Once you figure these out, you’ll feel stable even when you make changes to other aspects of your plan. Additionally, by being less focused on control, you’ll create space for better ideas.
🔹 Redefine What Success May Look Like
Your industry can change rapidly, and technology may disrupt your market. A project you started with a specific goal in mind may end up changing a lot when the company restructures.
Redefining what success means each time the main circumstances change will help you succeed. You might start a marketing project focused on print campaigns. Halfway through, your company may decide to move towards digital advertising.
Instead of viewing the change as a failure, adapt your goals. Learn how to use new tools and deliver outstanding results. You’ll gain a competitive advantage by focusing on new opportunities instead of clinging to an outdated plan.
Don’t Let Overstrategizing Stall Your Progress
Overstrategizing can lead you into a loop of constant brainstorming and strategic discussions. Use planning as your compass and replace fear with curiosity.
Limit how long you plan before acting. If you take these steps, you’ll feel motivated and make informed decisions. Check out our blog for more career growth insights.
DUHC&S | Strategic Hospitality Consulting & Advisory
We transform hospitality and tourism businesses through strategic solutions, operational efficiency, and comprehensive renovation. With over 40 years of experience working with brands like Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, and Sonesta, we enhance asset value and profitability through:
*Operational excellence and brand standards (GSI +90%)
*Market penetration and commercial strategies
*Key partnerships and disruptive innovation
*Hotel openings and repositioning
Proven results :
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✅ +120% asset valuation growth
✅ Successful projects across 6 Latin American countries
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