GMH Hotels: Luxury Takes Private, Cloud Cracks, & Waymo for Business

On this week’s episode of GMH Hotels, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk unpack five major developments reshaping the hospitality and travel ecosystem. First, the luxury-hotelier Mandarin Oriental Oriental is being taken private in a deal valued at $4.2 billion. Then they examine the ripple effects of a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that disrupted travel operators and highlighted infrastructure fragility. Waymo enters the business-travel arena with its new “Waymo for Business” robotaxi program aimed at corporate clients. They also dive into the cheeky marketing strategy of Ryanair—from tanks to TikTok—and how travel brands are waging attention wars. Finally, they explore how host cities for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ - Canada, Mexico and the United States are raising hotel taxes ahead of 2026 and what that pressure motion looks like for hotel operators. Sarah and Steve provide a full-spectrum briefing on what hotel leaders need to watch right now and how to stay ahead of the curve! Presented by ⁠⁠⁠Lodgify⁠ Follow the Hosts: Katie Cline – ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Steve Turk –⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Skift: LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ WhatsApp: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://facebook.com/skiftnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/skift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to ⁠@SkiftNews⁠ and never miss an update from the travel industry.