Speakers shared recurring themes, practical ideas, and actionable strategies to help marketing, eCommerce, and revenue teams tackle today's biggest challenges. Below is a quick rundown of the standout takeaways and top tips discussed across the two-day event.
And if you'd like to dive deeper into the insights shared in this blog, you can download the full Key Learnings Report now.
Direct bookings can no longer sit within marketing alone. Across multiple sessions, speakers described direct as a commercial objective that spans marketing, revenue, sales, eCommerce, and operations.
The hotels making the most progress are treating direct as a shared responsibility, aligning teams around common goals and a long-term view of guest relationships.
"Driving direct is not a strategy. It's a commercial mindset. It's not about reducing commissions. It's about generating long-term relationships with your guests."
— Eyre Poot, Digital Marketing Director, The Americas, Ennismore
Ideas from the Summit:
The opening keynote challenged one of hospitality's most familiar metrics.
While Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) remains an important measure of performance, Travis Weber, VP Americas, Duetto, argued that it only tells part of the story. As costs continue to rise, hotels need to understand which bookings contribute most to profitability.
The conversation focused on understanding which bookings contribute most to the bottom line and how teams can align around profit, not just revenue.
"When commercial teams align on profit metrics instead of RevPAR, they start working toward a singular North Star instead of speaking in different channels."
— Travis Weber, VP Americas, Duetto
Ideas from the Summit:
As discovery becomes more fragmented, strong brands are becoming increasingly valuable. Several speakers argued that hotels need to focus on what makes them memorable, distinctive, and worth choosing.
This year's discussions also expanded on last year's conversations around authentic content. Creators, community, guest stories, and video all emerged as important ways to build trust and strengthen brand preference.
"The OTA isn't your competition. Forgettability is."
— Jason Pirock, VP Global Brand Marketing, OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group
Ideas from the Summit
New channels, technologies, and booking behaviors dominated many conversations at DBS Mexico City. But speakers repeatedly returned to the same message: the fundamentals still matter.
Whether it's your Google Business Profile, hotel imagery, pricing accuracy, parity, or website experience, small gaps can have a big impact on visibility and conversion.
"You do all these months of effort and then if you're off by 2% on price you lose the click."
— Gopu Menon, EVP Revenue & Distribution, HIghgate
Ideas from the Summit:
Personalization appeared throughout the event, but speakers weren't talking about one-to-one marketing at scale.
Instead, the focus was on understanding who your guests are, what motivates them, and how hotels can use that insight to create more relevant experiences.
From guest tribes, personas, and segments to zero-party data and personalization, the message was consistent: better personalization starts with better guest understanding.
"It's not about how many you are talking to. It's about how few, and whether they're speaking to your customer."
— Michael Stephens, General Manager, Mayfair House Hotel & Garden
Ideas from the Summit:
Travel discovery is no longer limited to traditional search engines.
Speakers from Google, @hotel, Napa River and Mayfair House explored how AI search, conversational discovery, and changing traveler behavior are reshaping the path to purchase.
For hotels, that means adapting to new ways guests research, compare, and book.
"Consumers want to ask very precise questions and have the answer delivered in a way they can digest and be entertained by."
— Andy Acs, Co-founder, @hotel / Tripscout
Ideas from the Summit
AI appeared throughout the agenda at DBS Mexico City, from keynotes and panels to four dedicated AI training sessions.
The popularity of those workshops reflected a clear shift in the conversation. Hoteliers are no longer asking whether AI matters. They're asking how to use it effectively.
Across the event, discussions focused on practical applications of AI, from workflow automation and personalization to AI search and vibe coding. At the same time, speakers stressed the importance of governance, accountability, and keeping humans in control.
"Hotel marketing teams have way more to do than they have people to do it. That's not going to change. The job is infinite."
— Alasdair Snow, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Triptease
Ideas from the Summit
These were just some of the biggest themes discussed across two days of sessions, workshops, and conversations in Mexico City.
Go deeper and download the full DBS Dallas Key Learnings Guide for even more strategies, stats and session insights from the world's leading hoteliers, marketers, and revenue leaders.