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1. Governments work to return citizens from Middle East
Governments around the world are continuing their efforts to return citizens from the Middle East as travel remains heavily disrupted from the war in Iran, the Associated Press reports.
"With airspace closed or heavily restricted across much of the Gulf, passengers have been stranded not only in the region but also in cities far from the fighting after their connecting flights were canceled. Amid the travel chaos and with commercial flights limited, governments have been mounting emergency operations," the AP reports.
The British and French governments are prioritizing the extraction of the most vulnerable citizens first, according to the news outlet. France is estimating there are about 400,000 French people in the region while the U.K. said more than 130,000 British nationals are there.
2. Tourism falters in Cuba
Cuba relies heavily on tourism to support its economy, but travel restrictions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump — along with his decision to block all foreign oil from Cuba — is putting pressure on the industry as it undergoes an energy crisis, the New York Times reports.
One hotel in Cayo Las Brujas reserved a block of rooms for stranded employees but could only give electricity to tourists, leaving the employees without light, the newspaper reports.
"As a result, Cuba’s tourism industry is likely to suffer a year comparable only to the pandemic, when travel around the world largely shut down, experts say," the Times reports.
3. Hotel execs keep outlook for 2026 US events conservative
Executives at publicly traded hotel companies expressed excitement about the possibility of major events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup and America's 250th anniversary driving demand in urban markets this year. But they're keeping their outlooks generally conservative, referencing how last year didn't necessarily go as planned, CoStar News Hotels reports.
“When we look at the last nine months of the year, it really is an implied RevPAR growth of 1% to 2% for our range. And that really doesn't take into account significant benefit from World Cup, from America 250, from other events, from the benefit of the holiday calendar," said Jon Bortz, chairman and CEO at Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. "So, we're being very conservative. We think it's very prudent right now given our experience last year with our outlook for the last three quarters."
4. Huntington Hotel reopens in San Francisco
The Huntington Hotel, a landmark property in San Francisco that closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officially reopened this week, local ABC7 reports.
According to CoStar data, the century-old hotel was acquired by Flynn Properties and Highgate Hotels for $65.5 million in 2023. Flynn Group Founder, Chairman and CEO Greg Flynn said the reopening of the hotel is a sign of San Francisco's resurgence.
"It came to symbolize San Francisco's decline during COVID when it shut and it now, I think, symbolizes San Francisco's rebirth," he said. "It's sort of the perfect symbol of it because it's coming back better than it ever was."
5. Wyndham appoints Amit Sripathi as CFO
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has appointed Amit Sripathi as chief financial officer, effective immediately, the company said in a news release. Sripathi most recently served as Wyndham's chief development officer — North America.
Sripathi takes over as CFO from Kurt Albert, who served in an interim role since Michele Allen's departure in November 2025.
“Amit’s combination of deep finance and capital markets expertise coupled with firsthand operational leadership at Wyndham make him the ideal candidate to lead our finance organization. Amit is uniquely qualified to deliver on our shareholder expectations and has proven himself a champion of owners, as evidenced by Wyndham’s record openings, executions and development pipelines both here in the U.S. and internationally," Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO of Wyndham, said in the release.