The Spotlight: A Lighthouse Podcast

ChatGPT now has 900 million users, and booking platforms are embedded in its ecosystem. A growing share of hotel decisions starts with an AI prompt, not a search engine. This episode presents original research from Lighthouse: 4,545 prompts across 9 global markets and 5 traveler personas, surfacing patterns in which hotels ChatGPT mentions, how often, and why.The data shows AI invisibility is the default for most hotels, with major cities seeing only 10-13% of properties mentioned at all. Chains significantly outpace their share of supply in almost every market, content language directly signals which travelers AI associates with a property, and most outbound AI traffic lands on hotel websites rather than OTAs.Explore more of Lighthouse's travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

The Sundance Film Festival's move from Park City, Utah to Boulder, Colorado is already reshaping hotel demand and pricing patterns ahead of its first year in its new home. Boulder hotel rates during the festival period are currently advertised more than 3 times higher than comparable dates a year earlier, while demand has more than doubled.In this Lighthouse Quick Take, Blake Reiter explores how the relocation is impacting both markets, what the data reveals about event-driven demand and why major cultural events can create pricing power that follows the event rather than the destination.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this Lighthouse Quick Take, Blake Reiter explores how Madrid's return to Formula One is already reshaping hotel demand ahead of the city's first Grand Prix in 45 years. Advertised hotel rates for race weekend are more than double comparable 2025 levels, highlighting the scale of pricing power tied to major global events.Blake also examines direct booking data, revealing longer booking windows, higher booking values and a notable shift toward family travelers. Listeners will gain a clearer understanding of how Formula One demand differs from typical Madrid travel patterns and what commercial leaders can do to capture the opportunity.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this Lighthouse Quick Take, Blake Reiter compares how Coachella and Stagecoach shaped hotel and short-term rental pricing across Palm Springs in 2026. Using Lighthouse actualized hotel pricing data and short-term rental gross ADR, he breaks down why Coachella hotel rates surged while Stagecoach hotel pricing declined despite both festivals selling out.Blake explores how headliner strength, booking windows and traveler behavior are influencing where demand shows up and how revenue managers should interpret those signals. The analysis also highlights why short-term rental performance may increasingly matter when benchmarking festival demand.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

With just weeks until kickoff, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is close enough for clear demand patterns to emerge. In this special Lighthouse x Expedia collaboration episode of The Spotlight Podcast, Daniel Foreman and Blake Reiter are joined by Bianca Navarro and Alex Fromson from Expedia Group for a market-by-market breakdown of the tournament’s hotel demand story.Using Lighthouse and Expedia data, the conversation explores where hotel inventory is tightening, where pricing is accelerating and where international demand is reshaping booking patterns across all 16 host cities. The team examines why Houston has become one of the fastest-growing ADR markets, why Toronto is attracting long-stay travelers and how cities like Kansas City and Miami are benefiting from superstar-driven demand.The episode also looks at the conversion strategies driving bookings ahead of the tournament, including packages, loyalty rates, length-of-stay incentives and mobile offers.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this Strategy Lab, Blake Reiter and Daniel Foreman walk through how hotel commercial teams can identify pricing opportunities during periods of overlapping event demand. Using Lighthouse’s Smart Insights, forward-looking benchmarking and performance reporting, they show how to quickly surface dates that need attention and validate whether occupancy, rate positioning and segment mix support a pricing change.The conversation explores how to evaluate event demand alongside competitive pricing, pickup trends and pacing data to determine when ADR growth opportunities exist. Blake and Daniel also examine how low-rated wholesale business can impact performance during high-demand periods and how commercial teams can adjust strategy accordingly.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this Lighthouse Quick Take, Blake Reiter explores how Europe’s jet fuel crisis disrupted normal summer hotel pricing behavior across major leisure and metro markets. Using Lighthouse pricing data across seventeen destinations, he breaks down where pricing momentum stalled, which market types saw the largest swings and why flight dependency became a critical commercial risk factor.Blake also explains what hoteliers should evaluate now, from feeder market exposure to revised Q3 demand scenarios and drive-to demand opportunities in coastal leisure markets.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this Lighthouse Quick Take, Blake Reiter explores how the 2026 March Madness tournament impacted hotel and short-term rental pricing across host cities. Using year over year ADR comparisons, he breaks down where hotels held pricing power, where short-term rentals outperformed and how market size and traveler behavior shaped results.Blake also examines lead time trends from the Final Four and championship weekend in Indianapolis, showing how pricing shifted once teams and fan bases were confirmed. Listeners will better understand how major sporting events create different pricing dynamics across lodging asset classes and why last-minute demand signals matter for commercial strategy.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this Lighthouse Quick Take, Blake explores how hotel pricing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has evolved across host markets, with the latest data showing clear deceleration after early surges. While US cities average around 60% year over year growth, Mexico and Canada show stronger gains, though momentum has slowed since October.Blake breaks down how pricing power varies by market type, with lower priced cities continuing to push rates while gateway markets begin to correct. The analysis also highlights how external factors and prior event baselines are shaping performance, and where hoteliers may still find opportunity as demand patterns shift.Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights

In this episode, Blake Reiter and Daniel Foreman analyze findings from a Lighthouse survey of 761 hospitality commercial leaders across six continents to understand how AI is being adopted today. The data reveals a clear disconnect: while belief in AI’s future impact is rising, current adoption remains largely unchanged.They explore where AI is being used, what’s slowing adoption, and how readiness varies by role, region, and portfolio size. The conversation highlights key barriers such as integration challenges, lack of clear use cases, and trust in AI outputs. Listeners will gain a clearer view of how AI is reshaping pricing, analytics, and team structures, and what it takes to move from awareness to action. Explore more of Lighthouse’s travel & hospitality research: mylh.co/spotlightinsights