TORONTO – (May 7, 2026) – Hilton (NYSE: HLT) announced the appointment of Linda Griffin as area general manager, Canada, overseeing a portfolio of full service and focused service hotels across Ontario, Québec and British Columbia. In her new role, Griffin provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for Hilton Québec, Hilton Toronto, Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel & Suites, Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale, Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Belleville, and Hampton Inn by Hilton Chilliwack, working closely with hotel leadership teams to advance service excellence and team engagement across the region. Based in Ontario at Hilton Toronto, Griffin works closely with Hilton’s regional and property teams to support operations, leadership development and memorable guest experiences across Canada, returning to a property that marked one of the earliest milestones in her Hilton career in 1989.

“Linda is a respected Hilton leader with an extraordinary depth of operational experience and a leadership style rooted in consistency and collaboration,” said Kristen Stampe, area vice president of operations, Hilton. “Known for building strong performance-driven cultures and leading with a future-focused operational mindset, Linda has a passion for creating authentic experiences for guests. Having grown her career with Hilton across multiple regions and returning to lead our Canadian portfolio, she brings both a deep understanding of our culture and a global perspective that will continue to strengthen our hotels and teams.”

“There is something incredibly special about returning to Hilton Toronto and the properties that played such an instrumental role in shaping my career with Hilton - it truly feels like a full circle moment,” said Griffin. “I’m grateful for the experiences, both in Canada and globally, that have shaped my journey, and I look forward to supporting our Canadian hotel teams as we build on Hilton’s legacy in the market through a shared commitment to service excellence and empowered teams.”

Over more than three decades, Griffin has built a distinguished global career spanning five continents and eight countries including Canada, with senior leadership roles across North America, Europe and the Mediterranean. She studied Hospitality and Tourism Management at Ryerson Polytechnic University, now Toronto Metropolitan University, and began her career at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel (now Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale) in 1988. She held reservations and front office roles at Hilton Toronto and Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel & Suites.
Driven by a passion for travel and professional development, Griffin pursued an international career with Hilton that included leadership positions at Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino, followed by a role with Hilton’s Front Office Development team based in the United Kingdom. She later served as area revenue manager for the Mediterranean, supporting 17 Hilton hotels across Southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Returning to on-property leadership, Griffin held senior operational roles at the former Hilton Athens (now Conrad Athens The Ilisian) before being appointed to hotel and cluster general manager positions across Turkey, Romania and the United Kingdom, including the former Athénée Palace Hilton Bucharest and Hilton London Kensington. Her career also includes leadership roles with Jumeirah Group and Dimensions Health Centers Inc.

For more information about Hilton’s properties in Canada, please visit Hilton.com.

A new report, released by The Staffing Agency titled Beyond the Boom: Canada’s Hospitality Labor Market in 2025 and the Road to 2030, shows spending in Canada hit $104 billion in 2025, with employment higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Dining rooms are full again and travel has returned, yet the industry is still struggling to hold on to workers.

The Canada-focused report shows that hospitality operators are hiring, but not securing long-term staff. Termed as ‘labor paradox’, the report states that margins are getting strained by part-time roles where students, newcomers and temporary workers fill critical shifts. That keeps operations running, but drives turnover and weakens reliability.

Costs are compounding the issue. Labor is no longer just hourly pay. It now includes higher wage floors, added premiums in expensive cities, benefits and the ongoing cost of turnover and training. Margins are tightening even as demand holds. “In Canada, the wage increase isn’t a threshold; it’s the new baseline,” said Steven Kamali, CEO of The Staffing Agency. “The question now isn’t if we can pay more, but if we can make the model work.”

Another trend revealed in the report is that housing has emerged as the defining fault line. In major cities such as Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, workers can’t afford to live near their jobs. So, commute becomes longer and shits go unfilled. Union activity is also rising in urban centers, reshaping scheduling, pay structures, and operations.

Kamali adds, “The pressure is not limited to Canada. In the United States also, wage growth is outpacing productivity in many markets, while housing constraints continue to shape labor availability. Canada’s reliance on international talent adds another layer of sensitivity to policy changes.”

The path forward should be to build a more reliable talent pipeline, address housing near job centers, and tailor workforce strategies by region. Without this, growth will remain uneven. You can view the full report here.

SAN FRANCISCO — May 6, 2026 — Duetto, a leading provider of revenue and profit software for the hospitality industry, today announced the appointment of Michael Schäffner as Chief Sales Officer (CSO). Previously Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Schäffner will now lead Duetto’s global commercial organization as the company accelerates adoption of its Revenue & Profit Operating System (RP-OS) across leading hotel brands, groups, and casino resorts worldwide.

In his new role, Schäffner will drive global go-to-market strategy, expand enterprise and brand relationships, and continue building a high-performance sales engine to support Duetto’s category-defining RP-OS vision.

“We’re not just scaling a sales organization, we’re building the commercial engine behind a new category,” said Michael Schäffner, CSO of Duetto. “The industry has optimized for revenue for decades. The next chapter is about profit, and that requires a fundamentally different approach. Revenue without profit is only half the picture. The winners in the next decade will be the ones who connect every commercial decision directly to profit outcomes. That’s exactly the shift we’re driving with the RP-OS.”

“I’ve had the privilege to grow with Duetto through every phase, from startup to scale, through new ownership and the HotStats acquisition,” Schäffner added. “Having grown up in this industry and worked across both hospitality and technology, I’ve seen firsthand where the gaps are. What excites me most now is the opportunity ahead, partnering with the world’s leading brands to rethink how commercial performance is managed. We’re just getting started.”

The right leader for the next stage of growth.

Schäffner brings a unique blend of hospitality and technology experience, having worked across leading industry organizations including The Leading Hotels of the World, Relais & Châteaux, and Design Hotels, as well as high-growth technology companies such as Nor1. This combination of operational understanding and commercial leadership enables him to bridge strategy and execution across complex enterprise environments.

His appointment comes as Duetto sharpens its focus on enterprise and brand partnerships, where long-term value creation, consistency, and trust are critical success factors.

A pivotal moment for Duetto and the industry.

The hospitality industry is entering a new phase of commercial complexity. Rising distribution costs, margin pressure, and increasing investor scrutiny are shifting the focus from revenue optimization to total profitability.

Duetto’s RP-OS is built for this shift, connecting revenue strategy with profit outcomes in a single platform and enabling operators to make faster, smarter, and more holistic commercial decisions.

“Michael has been instrumental in building Duetto’s commercial foundation and consistently delivering results at scale,” said Alex Zoghlin, CEO of Duetto. “As we expand our global footprint and deepen our relationships with enterprise customers, his leadership will be critical in establishing Duetto as the performance platform the industry relies on.”

Schäffner’s appointment marks another key step in Duetto’s continued investment in leadership and growth as the company advances its RP-OS vision.

ARLINGTON, Va. – 1 May 2026 – At the end of the first quarter, the Americas was the only world region to show a decrease in hotel pipeline activity, according to CoStar’s March 2026 data. CoStar is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets.

Europe

• In construction: 185,419 rooms (+6.6%)
• Final Planning: 77,253 rooms (0.0%)
• Planning: 193,351 rooms (+9.7%)
• Total Under Contract: 456,023 (+6.7%)

The United Kingdom led Europe in total rooms in construction (26,458), closely followed by Germany (23,748).

Asia Pacific

• In construction: 492,970 rooms (-7.7%)
• Final Planning: 74,487 rooms (+70.2%)
• Planning: 415,172 rooms (+6.5%)
• Total Under Contract: 982,629 (+1.6%)

Among countries in the region, China (278,283) led in construction activity, followed by Vietnam (43,858) and India (43,290).

Middle East & Africa

• In construction: 107,653 rooms (+4.5%)
• Final Planning: 29,290 rooms (+3.8%)
• Planning: 94,998 rooms (-2.9%)
• Total Under Contract: 231,941 (+1.3%)

Most of the region’s pipeline activity is focused in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia (51,513) and the United Arab Emirates (16,072) have the most rooms in construction.

Americas

• In construction: 193,145 rooms (-2.1%)
• Final Planning: 282,246 rooms (-7.9%)
• Planning: 402,723 rooms (-5.0%)
• Total Under Contract: 878,114 (-5.3%)

The U.S. (333,467) holds the majority of rooms in construction in the region. After the U.S., Mexico (15,267), Canada (9,589) and the Dominican Republic (6,190) show the highest number of rooms in construction.

For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.costargroup.com.