Food and beverage sales at The O2's Entertainment District in London increased by 16% year-on-year in August 2026. While total visitor traffic rose only by 5% during the same period, the faster growth in F&B spending indicates that restaurants and bars at major event venues are no longer just complementary services but one of the main commercial elements that increase per-visitor revenue.
AKTOB President Kaan Kavaloğlu emphasizes the strong demand expectations for September and October in Antalya. However, achieving the 12-month tourism goal depends not only on extending the summer season by a few weeks but also on creating regular flights and commercial demand for golf, sports, health, gastronomy, culture, and MICE products during the winter months.
In collaboration with Russian Express and Oruçoğlu Thermal Hotel, 30 travel agency representatives from Russia are participating in a week-long promotional program in Afyonkarahisar. The inclusion of thermal facilities, Phrygian Valley, city center, and cultural heritage in the program indicates that the city aims to position itself as a multi-product destination, not just thermal, in the Russian and CIS markets.
WAM Bodrum is trying to extend the summer season in Bodrum by continuing its accommodation operations along with beach, gastronomy, wellness, and event programs in September. The model demonstrates the importance of spreading demand across different revenue centers after the intense July-August period for resort businesses.
Breakfast items that can be prepared in the oven, such as quiche, egg cups, overnight French toast, and baked oatmeal, can shift part of the production to prep hours during busy morning service. However, the real advantage of batch production emerges when recipe standards, portioning, temperature control, and proper hot-cold holding procedures are established together.
The change highlighted by the Tourism Agency, based on examples from Rammos Managed by Dedeman and Club Dedeman in Bodrum, is supported by broader travel data. In Hilton's 2026 study conducted with Ipsos across 14 countries, 64% of pet owners say they prioritize their pets' needs over their own when making travel reservations. In Turkey, pets stand out with a 69% rate among the 'home comforts' maintained during vacations. For hotels, the opportunity is not just to charge extra fees; it also involves managing room allocation, cleaning, common area rules, and accurate reservation information together.
According to Jet2 bookings, package holidays where grandparents, parents, and children travel together have significantly increased between August 2025 and July 2026. The Canary Islands ranked first, with Turkey in second place for bookings featuring groups of five and six. 43% of Jet2 customers prioritize suitability for the entire group when choosing a destination. Turkey's strong resort and all-inclusive infrastructure creates an advantage for this segment, while connected rooms, accessibility, child policies, and pricing are becoming increasingly critical.
The existing 47-room accommodation facility in Bornova, İzmir, is planned to be expanded to 186 rooms and 372 beds through interior arrangements without constructing a new building. The project, with an estimated investment of approximately 61.5 million TL, includes converting meeting and conference areas into rooms and dividing some existing rooms. The increase in capacity could raise the revenue potential per square meter for investors; however, the management of a facility with 372 beds in terms of staff, water, wastewater, housekeeping, breakfast, and common area capacity must differ from that of a 47-room hotel.
Influence Society and INÜI Collection will bring together managers from the Swiss hospitality sector on September 28, 2026, at Château de Bonmont to discuss artificial intelligence, data, sales, and digital marketing. The central issue of the event is timely: Google now allows hotel bookings through AI Mode in the US, while travel discovery is expanding from classic search results to conversational systems. The new competitive landscape for hotels is not just about ranking high in search results, but also about being among the options suggested by AI systems.
A total of 45 tourism facilities in different regions of Greece may be subject to electronic auctions in the upcoming period. The list includes both closed hotels and those that are still operational. However, the presence of 45 facilities on the sales list does not mean that Greek tourism is generally in crisis: in the first half of 2026, the country's tourism revenues increased by 14.8%, and visitor flow rose by 15.4%. The situation illustrates that past debts, asset quality, and financing structures can yield different results in the same strong market.
Six properties of The Marmara Hotels have joined the Global Hotel Alliance’s GHA DISCOVERY program; nine hotels of Polish PURO Hotels will also be included in the system in the third quarter of 2026. GHA currently brings together 55 brands, 1,000 hotels, and 36 million members. This collaboration represents a current example for Turkey of how independent hotel brands can maintain their identities while accessing international loyalty, direct bookings, and a cross-brand customer network.
In a study conducted by Booking.com with 1,332 American travelers, 68% of participants say they are willing to cut their daily expenses to be able to travel. 90% believe that a good trip does not always mean the cheapest trip. For hotels, this indicates that alongside price discounts, convenience, trust, and meaningful experiences are also decisive in sales.
Holiday Inn & Suites Commerce City–Denver Airport became the first newly constructed Holiday Inn to utilize the brand's new generation lobby design. The integration of reception, F&B ordering point, and bar into a single central space redefines lobby design in terms of guest experience, staff efficiency, and revenue generation.
SunExpress will start daily direct flights between Antalya and Weeze Airport in Germany from April 23, 2027. The new route will increase the number of direct connections from Antalya to 19 cities in Germany while also providing new access for passengers near the Dutch border.
The lease agreement for Mares Hotel, owned by Koç Group's Marmaris Altınyunus, which continues until 2035, will be transferred from MP Hotel to TBC Travel, operating the TatilBudur brand. A payment of 400 thousand dollars and additional rent tied to an annual turnover of at least 400 thousand dollars starting from 2027 is anticipated for the transfer; the transaction is still subject to approvals from the Competition Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
An "Environmental Impact Assessment Positive" decision has been made for the Kaplankaya Marina Revision in Milas, Mugla. The project includes a capacity for 256 boats, a 51-bed accommodation unit, over 20,000 square meters of commercial space, a yacht club, and a heliport. The main impact of the investment lies in its potential to transform Kaplankaya into a more integrated marine tourism destination than just a resort.
It has been reported that Zorlu Grand Hotel, one of the iconic accommodation facilities in Trabzon, has been sold to businessman Mustafa Usta for 37 million euros. However, there has not yet been an official statement published by Zorlu Holding regarding the sale price and ownership transfer.
A five-year management agreement has been signed between OYO and Grand Ant Hotel in Aksaray, Istanbul. While the ownership of the hotel remains with the current owners, the operation will be conducted by OYO. The focus of the agreement will be on international sales channels, technology, and revenue management.
Çeşme City Council is launching a new initiative to more effectively utilize the thermal resources in Ilıca and Şifne for health and wellness tourism. Considering the ongoing Spa Center project by the municipality, the goal is to reduce Çeşme's dependence on the short summer season and spread the tourism economy throughout the year.
COMO Alpina Dolomites has started offering a special pizza menu created by pizzaiolo Denis Lovatel, inspired by the region's water, herbs, cheeses, fruits, and other local products, at the Alpina Chalet Grill and Bar.
Spazio by Franco Pepe at 7Pines Resort Sardinia is expanding from a pizza-focused concept to a trattoria format after three seasons. The new model demonstrates how renowned chef collaborations in resort gastronomy can deepen their connection with local producers and destination identity.
The evaluations of Gürhan Sayar, General Manager of Lazzoni Hotel, indicate that luxury hospitality is shifting from architectural and physical facilities to personalized service, gastronomy, and a holistic guest experience.
A study by Bite Back on the menus published by 391 state secondary schools in England found that at least one element violating the current School Food Standards was confirmed in 76% of the menus.
Gather + Gather has signed three new catering and hospitality contracts with Edge Hill University, University of West London, and City College Norwich in the UK, with a total value exceeding £37 million. The five to seven-year agreements will come into effect at the beginning of the 2026–27 academic year. The new model encompasses more than just food service. The contracts center around a digital infrastructure that integrates the renovation of campus restaurants and cafes, mobile ordering, personalized offers, nutritional information, student job opportunities, and masterclass bookings into a single application. This structure demonstrates that educational catering is transforming from a classic cafeteria service into a broader campus experience.
IHG Hotels & Resorts and GCP Hospitality have signed a transformation agreement covering 14 hotels with a total of 1,063 rooms in Kyoto. The portfolio includes 12 Garner hotels, one Holiday Inn Express, and one unbranded hotel. The properties are planned to gradually join the IHG system within the next 12 months after renovation and rebranding. The significance of the agreement is not just the number of rooms. IHG uses the Garner brand as a midscale conversion tool that allows existing hotels to be integrated into the system more quickly. The company notes that the business hotel segment in Japan is largely controlled by local operators and that international brands still have limited penetration here.
Four Seasons Yachts will offer an eight-day longevity program in collaboration with Lanserhof during its first transatlantic crossing. On the journey from November 8 to 16, 2026, all guests will have access to group wellness programs, while a more comprehensive personalized package will be available for an additional fee of $5,000 per person. The program does not consist solely of spa treatments. It includes a doctor consultation, nutrition recommendations, a personal fitness plan, holistic therapies, and individual protocols that can be carried over after the journey. This structure demonstrates that wellness can transition from being a complimentary amenity in luxury hospitality to a high-margin, personalized ancillary revenue category.
Wyndham Garden Phuket Kamala has implemented the Shiji Infrasys cloud POS system across three F&B outlets, including Spring Restaurant, Stellar Pool Bar, and 99 Bar. The aim is to centralize transaction, menu, and pricing management across different service points. The hotel's official page confirms that the three outlets operate at different hours and service formats. In such POS transformations, the real value is not just moving the cash register to the cloud. In multi-outlet hotels, menu updates, pricing standards, room charges, sales reporting, and continuity of operations during internet outages are critical. According to Infrasys's manufacturer documentation, while the system is cloud-based, it also supports offline transactions; however, performance KPIs post-implementation for Wyndham Garden Phuket Kamala have not yet been disclosed.
According to Lodging Econometrics’ Q2 2026 data, the global hotel construction pipeline has reached a record level with 15,976 projects and approximately 2.43 million rooms. There are still 6,174 hotels under construction, and 3,743 projects are planned to start in the next 12 months; the number of projects in the early planning stage has reached a new peak of 6,059. The significance of this growth from StaffMag's perspective is broader than just the number of rooms. LE forecasts the opening of 2,742 new hotels by the end of 2026, 2,590 in 2027, and 2,499 in 2028. Each new hotel represents a large operation that must be established months before opening, ranging from housekeeping to F&B, from executive recruitment to kitchen equipment, and from technology systems to supply chain. Turkey is also in the second largest pipeline market in Europe with 156 projects and 21,266 rooms; Istanbul ranks second among European cities with 44 projects.
The historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles has strengthened its F&B portfolio with the opening of its new main restaurant, Gable, ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2027. Opened on August 18, the restaurant brings together live fire, a wood-fired oven, and California's multicultural culinary landscape under the direction of Culinary Director Chris Flint and Chef de Cuisine Will Kelly. The beverage program is managed by Chad Austin. What stands out about Gable from an operational perspective is that it not only serves hotel guests but is also available for private buyouts, receptions, and events; the Hollywood Roosevelt operates a restaurant, lobby bar, pool F&B, cocktail bars, a bowling lounge, and a cabaret theater all under one roof. This way, the hotel conceptualizes F&B as a revenue ecosystem spread across different usage moments of the day and the guest, rather than a single restaurant.
The Nemrut Caldera, located within the borders of Tatvan, Ahlat, and Güroymak districts of Bitlis, was declared a national park with the Presidential Decision No. 11629 published on August 19, 2026. The General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks announced that the area covers approximately 4,800 hectares, making it Turkey's 53rd national park. The region had been protected as a natural monument since 2003; the new decision reframes conservation and visitor management under the national park model. The main question from a tourism perspective is now more about implementation than the status itself. The transformation of the Tatvan–Nemrut–Ahlat–Lake Van line into a nature and culture tourism route will depend on the joint development of transportation, hiking trails, visitor capacity, guidance, environmental protection, and accommodation products. The Bitlis Governorship also states that the status change will be addressed alongside sustainable tourism and conservation goals.
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International’s European structure, HSMAI Europe, has reached a new agreement with HSMAI Global to develop operations in Turkey. The agreement, which comes into effect on August 17, 2026, will see HSMAI Europe develop membership, partnerships, training programs, and events in Turkey; the official market launch is planned for the beginning of 2027. One of the first steps will be the establishment of an Advisory Board consisting of hotel owners, senior executives, and commercial leaders. Planned areas of work include revenue management, sales, marketing, and distribution, as well as artificial intelligence, technology, leadership, and talent development.
Avlu Restaurant, located in the Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, builds its summer menu on local products from different regions of Anatolia, women’s cooperatives, and geographically indicated ingredients. According to a menu analysis reported by Ekonomim, the selection uses products from 24 producers; the local product ratio is 95%, and the number of geographically indicated products is 13. The main operational issue is broader than the numbers. A large hotel kitchen must be able to work with a local and small producer network, managing seasonal availability, quality standards, quantity continuity, and purchasing planning together. The Avlu example shows that the discourse of "local products" only transforms into a real F&B strategy when supported by a supply system.
Drilling works continue for the Cruise and Yacht Port Project planned in coordination with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in Sinop. According to the design, the port will be able to serve 202 small yachts, 7 mega yachts of 30 meters in length, two 200-meter-long passenger ships, and one 300-meter-long passenger ship simultaneously. The main importance of the project from StaffMag's perspective is broader than just the mooring capacity. Cruise passengers and marina users have different spending profiles; if a strong connection is established with the city center, new demand may arise in restaurants, cafes, guiding, transfers, maintenance, and local product sales. However, since Sinop's past cruise volume has been quite volatile, the economic success of the investment will depend not only on physical capacity but also on creating regular routes and ship traffic.
According to EUROCONTROL data, Ryanair became Europe’s busiest airline with an average of 3,892 flights per day during the period of August 10–16, 2026. Turkish Airlines Group followed with 1,873 flights, and easyJet with 1,867 daily flights. Ryanair's operational volume increased by 5% compared to the same week last year. The capacity offered by low-cost carriers at this scale is not just aviation data in terms of tourism. More direct flights and higher frequency can facilitate city breaks, weekend trips, and access to secondary destinations, while also creating new demand for hotels and F&B businesses. However, the economic value of flight volume depends on how long the destination retains visitors and how much they spend.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for the La Perla Del Mare Resort Hotel project planned by Denisim İnşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. in Alanya has reached an important stage. The current investment amount is announced as 1 billion 849 million 280 thousand 400 TL, with the facility planned to have 510 rooms and a capacity of 1,020 beds on an area of 16,901 m². The scale of the project is not limited to new bed supply. The EIA document includes a main restaurant for 1,200 people, three à la carte restaurants, a café, an outdoor dining area, three pool bars, meeting rooms, spa areas, a water park, and other social units. This structure indicates a large-scale resort operation that could create new demand for F&B, equipment, technical services, and human resources in Alanya once the investment is completed.
The number of foreign visitors to Muğla decreased by approximately 7% in the first seven months of 2026, while Bodrum shows a more resilient outlook during the high season. BODER argues that the success of the destination should now be evaluated not only by the number of tourists but also by per capita income, length of stay, market diversity, and season length. This approach is significant from a hospitality perspective. A destination can improve its economic performance without physical visitor growth if it can achieve longer stays, higher F&B and experience spending, and off-season demand with the same number of visitors. However, since there are different figures in BODER sources regarding the total for the first seven months of 2026, the scope of visitor data should be read carefully.
Hotel fitness areas are moving away from the classic treadmill and weight room model. The new approach, integrating functional movement, recovery, sleep, outdoor activities, and technology, emphasizes the search for more precise usage and measurable guest value rather than larger wellness investments.
Savaş Balçık, the businessman who purchased the five-star Anitta Hotel in Çorum, announced that the necessary agreements have been signed for the facility to operate under the Hilton brand. The hotel, reported to have changed hands for approximately 65 million euros in June, continues to accept reservations under the Anitta Hotel name. However, the brand, opening date, and operating model of the Çorum project have not yet been disclosed on Hilton's official channels. If this development occurs, Çorum will become one of the new cities added to Hilton's expansion map in Turkey.
Remington Hospitality has taken over the management of the 396-room Hyatt Regency Buffalo Hotel and Conference Center in New York State. The hotel, which plans renovations in guest rooms, corridors, and meeting spaces in the coming months, provides a contemporary example of a growth model focused on the performance and asset value of third-party hotel management companies.
The planned opening date of the new Raxeria Hotel in Manavgat, Antalya, has changed several times, leading to the rescheduling of reservations on some sales channels in Europe. This situation highlights the importance of managing the physical completion of new hotels, licensing and inspections, informing sales channels, and the service promise to guests on the same timeline.
US-based CAMO Hospitality has completed a $4 million funding round to expand its platform that provides outsourced room service to hotels under its own brands. This development indicates that the relationship between room service, guest data, and additional revenue is being reshaped by technology, especially in hotels with limited F&B infrastructure.
OTH Hotels Resorts has entered the Connecticut and New York markets for the first time by taking over the management of the Heritage Hotel & Conference Center and DoubleTree by Hilton Binghamton. The two full-service hotels offer a total of 370 rooms. OTH will be responsible for daily operations as well as revenue management, sales and marketing, F&B, guest experience, and overall asset performance. The agreements are a current example of the third-party management model, where property ownership and hotel operations are increasingly separated in the U.S. hotel market.
The world's major hotel groups now manage dozens of brands. The motivation behind this is not just the desire to reach different guest segments. Net unit growth, asset-light models, and franchise competition are reshaping the growth strategies of hotel groups.
Turkey ranks second in Europe with 156 hotel projects and a development pipeline of 21,266 rooms, following the United Kingdom. Istanbul is the second city with 44 projects, after London. However, strong investment appetite raises questions about the impact of new supply on profitability and operations.