Hospitality & Leisure

Macao – October 07, 2026 -- Sands China Ltd. (HKEx: 1928) kicked off a five-day "NBA Cares x Sands Cares Community Impact Week 2026" on Oct. 7, expanding its youth basketball initiative beyond Macao to include 50 players from Hong Kong and mainland Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities for the first time.

The program, running Oct. 7-11 alongside The NBA China Games 2026, drew 300 total participants to the Macao East Asian Games Dome on its opening Youth Day, combining 150 players aged 11-14 from eight Macao schools with the GBA contingent.

Miami – – October 07, 2026 -- League One Volleyball (LOVB) has named the ownership group for LOVB Miami, its 10th professional team and South Florida's only major women's professional sports franchise, set to debut in the 2026-27 season as a founding member of LOVB Pro's new Eastern Conference.

Ownership group spans finance, sports and entertainment sectors

The group is anchored by Suprette, Jett Sports, Fifth Down Capital, Chase and Stephanie Coleman, and Jackie Garcia, mother of UNC volleyball player Jackie Taylor. It also includes owners tied to the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, MLB's Tampa Bay Rays, and the NWSL's North Carolina Courage, bringing cross-league franchise experience to the venture.

Tampa – October 07, 2026 -- Hotel Cala, a 281-room urban resort on Tampa's Riverwalk, will open in January 2027, bringing Tao Group Hospitality's LAVO and BarOnda dining concepts to a site that has anchored downtown Tampa since 1968.

Newbond Holdings redevelops a 1968-era property into a seven-story resort

Owner Newbond Holdings tapped design firm Rockwell Group to transform the longstanding Riverwalk site into a contemporary property drawing on Tampa's Italian and Cuban heritage. "For more than half a century, this site has been part of the fabric of downtown Tampa," said Neil Luthra, founding partner at Newbond Holdings, describing the project as a bid to give locals and visitors a new reason to engage with the waterfront district.

Cleveland – October 07, 2026 -- Tim Hortons posted the fastest drive-thru service among major quick-service chains with an average total time of 4 minutes and 20 seconds, according to the 26th annual QSR Drive-Thru Report released by QSR magazine in partnership with Intouch Insight.

AI ordering cuts hospitality cues, study finds

The report, based on thousands of data points and mystery-shopper evaluations, found that when artificial intelligence handled drive-thru ordering, employee behaviors such as saying "thank you" and displaying a pleasant demeanor declined significantly. The findings point to a widening gap between operational automation and guest experience as more chains deploy AI at the order window.

Starbucks tops order accuracy rankings

Starbucks led competitors on order accuracy, a metric the report identifies as critical to customer satisfaction alongside speed and convenience.

Las Vegas – October 06, 2026 -- UrVenue, a hospitality technology company serving venues, hotels and resorts, named five inaugural honorees of its new Hospitality Innovation Awards program on September 30 at an invitation-only reception during G2E week.

UrVenue unveils five inaugural honorees at Las Vegas Strip headquarters

The ceremony took place at UrVenue's new headquarters in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort, drawing approximately 100 senior hospitality, gaming and technology executives. Caesars Entertainment won the Innovation at Scale category, while TAO Group Hospitality was recognized for Experience Innovation. Circa Resort & Casino took the Sportsbook Innovation award, Wynn Resorts received Special Event Innovation honors, and OpenTable was named the Technology Partnership winner.

Jersey City -- BetMGM LLC will release its business update for the July 1 to September 30, 2026 period on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, the sports betting and iGaming operator confirmed.

BetMGM schedules audio webcast and investor Q&A for October 13

Management will host an audio webcast with a Q&A session at 9am ET, 6am PT and 2pm UK time. Registration links for the webcast and the investor Q&A are available through BetMGM's investor communications channel.

Joint venture structure ties results to two listed parents

BetMGM is jointly owned on a 50/50 basis by MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and Entain plc (LSE: ENT). MGM Resorts' portfolio spans 30 hotel and gaming destinations globally, while the BetMGM venture provides sports betting and online gaming across North America under brands including BetMGM and partypoker.

San Jose, Calif. – October 06, 2026 -- Classic Vacations has nearly tripled the size of its Sales organization since the start of 2026, completing 18 hires and actively recruiting five more positions to reach a team of 34 across seven units.

Classic Vacations expands Sales organization to 34 members across seven specialized teams

The luxury travel advisor resource restructured its Commercial organization into three regional Sales teams covering the Western, Central, and Eastern United States, led respectively by Sue Ferguson, Julia Jakkaraju, and Dimitri Andre. These teams deploy Strategic Account Managers to work directly with advisors on account strategy and growth opportunities.

Skopje – October 06, 2026 -- Serbia recorded 82,047 tourist arrivals from North Macedonia between January and July 2026, up 22% year-on-year, as the two neighbors deepen commercial ties ahead of EXPO 2027 Belgrade.

Belgrade organizers stage B2B networking event in Skopje on October 8

EXPO 2027 Belgrade is hosting the "Visit Serbia B2B Networking" event at Public Room in Skopje on Thursday, October 8, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The gathering brings together tourism professionals and business representatives to build travel programmes and partnerships ahead of the Western Balkans' first Specialised Expo, which opens on May 15, 2027.

Shanghai – October 06, 2026 -- YR Fitness has supplied commercial-grade equipment to 34,950 gyms across more than 110 countries since 1997, marking nearly three decades of operation in the commercial fitness-equipment segment.

YR Fitness equipment underpins multi-location chains from China to Australia

In China, Lefit has expanded to over 2,300 locations across 60 cities, operating a 24-hour access model with monthly memberships and digital management tools. In Japan, chocoZAP runs more than 2,000 sites under a convenience-fitness format. Sri Lanka's Power World Fitness Centres, active for over 30 years, now operates more than 20 locations, while Australia's Peak Fitness runs three 24/7 Gym & Recovery Centres in Melbourne combining training and recovery facilities.

Pune, India – October 05, 2026 -- The global cruise market reached USD 19.41 billion in 2025 and is forecast to nearly double to USD 38.48 billion by 2034, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9% from 2026 to 2034, according to a new analysis by Maximize Market Research.

Passenger volumes climbed 7.5% as cruise demand rebounded globally

Global ocean cruise passenger volume reached approximately 37.2 million in 2025, up 7.5% from 2024. North America remained the dominant source market with more than 22 million passengers, while the Caribbean held its position as the most-visited cruise destination, drawing over 16 million travelers last year.