Several growth strategies during 2018 led to new market exposure for Hyatt Hotels Corporation and executives on the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call said much of that growth has boosted loyalty membership, writes Hotel News Now’s Sean McCracken.

On Thursday, the Trump Organization announced it would halt its growth plans for its two new hotel chains, Scion and American Idea, which the Trump Hotel Group launched in June 2017, according to the New York Times.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts continues to realize synergies, primarily in cost savings, from its acquisition of the La Quinta brand, freeing up cash flow that the company expects to put into stock buybacks and potentially further bolt-on acquisitions of brands in 2019, executives said.

InterContinental Hotels Group continues to reshape its premier luxury offerings as the Denham, England-based company has acquired Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas for $300 million.

After a fire killed 17 people at the poorly constructed Arpit Palace Hotel in the Karol Bagh neighborhood, Delhi officials are starting a fire audit at 380 hotels in the Delhi area to check for safety compliance at hotels of five floors or more, NDTV reports.

The overall economy might be in a swing of “modest deceleration,” but Hilton President and CEO Chris Nassetta is still optimistic about his company’s future after a record-setting 2018, Hotel News Now’s Stephanie Ricca writes.

Whitbread PLC is using proceeds from the £3.9 billion ($4.9 billion) sale of its Costa Coffee business to buy back £2 billion ($2.5 billion) of shares to “double the long-term network potential at its hotels business to more than 170,000 rooms in Britain and overseas,” Reuters reports.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said pressure selling, misleading discount claims and hidden charges were some of the issues they encountered in the probe.

Cape Town, South Africa, is experiencing a mini-boom in new hotel rooms at an inopportune time, Financial Mail reports.

Hotels in the U.S. reported positive year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics for the week ending 2 February, according to data from STR, HNN’s parent company.

Artificial intelligence is being used to help law enforcement and non-profits locate hotels in which victims of human trafficking are being held by scanning databases for ad images taken by traffickers, The Register reports.

Some in the hotel industry have found that it’s easier to adapt to changes in demand when taking a dynamic approach to room pricing, Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker reports.

United Kingdom private equity company M&G Investments has announced it will invest £203 million ($265.5 million) in a hotel development due to open in the Paddington district of London in 2021, according to the city’s Evening Standard newspaper.

Handling and managing thousands of employees can be a treacherous endeavor, especially with notable staff turnover, but despite all the warning signs, mistakes can still be made, writes HNN’s Bryan Wroten.

Hotels in the U.S. reported positive year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics for the week ending 19 January, according to data from STR, parent company of Hotel News Now.

Fuller’s, the London brewery founded in 1654, will concentrate on its hotels and pub business following news it has agreed to sell its “entire beer business” to Japanese brewer Asahi Group Holdings .

Real estate investment trust Ashford Hospitality Trust has paid $195 million for the 310-room Embassy Suites by Hilton New York Midtown Manhattan. The deal on a per-key basis is $629,000.

An avalanche in Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria, hit a hotel and an apartment-style tourist accommodation property, the BBC reports.

, hoteliers there hope the shutdown will end soon so they don’t lose out on upcoming group travel business, writes HNN’s Dana Miller.

Marriott International announced the creation of Marriott Bonvoy, its new loyalty program brand to replace its existing Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs, according to a news release.