Tourism and Hospitality Industry News Updates brought to you by LuxLife’s Best Hospitality News Platform 2025 Philippines – MY RANGGO – for the week ending 17 October 2025.
Our Tourism & Hospitality Industry News Headlines:-
- 5 PH Hotels Awarded Michelin Key
- 5 Filipino Best Chef Awardees
- Megaworld Hotels & Resorts Certified Halal
- 6 World Tourism Award Wins for the Philippines
- 3 PH Islands Ranked in Conde Nast Top 10
- Davao & Siargao Travel Advisories following earthquakes.
- New Zealand To Host Filipino Restaurant Week 2025
- US Shutdown Already Cost Travel Economy $1Billion In 1st Week
- Airbnb Expands To Offer Independent and Boutique Hotels
- RateGain’s Latest Acqusition To Derail OTA Dominance
- Agentic AI Mode Set to boost direct travel bookings
5 PH Hotels Awarded the Michelin Key
It was announced this week that five of the 20 Philippine Hotels, which were recommended by the Michelin Guide back in April and May 2025 have now been awarded a Key Hotel distinction for 2025.
There are three Michelin Key distinctions.
One Key: A very special stay
Two Keys: An exceptional stay
Three Keys: An extraordinary stay
The Hotels now holding a One Michelin Key 2025 in the Philippines are:
- Amanpulo, Palawan,
- Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu Resort
- Fairmont Makati,
- Nay Palad Hideaway Siargao
- Raffles Makati
Five Filipino’s Win Best Chef Awards
Five Filipino chefs have won at the 9th Best Chef Awards, which has three ‘Knife’ categories – or levels – of award.
One Knife winners were:
- Aaron Isip of Kasa Palma,
- Bruce Ricketts of iai
- John Kevin Navoa of Hapag.
Chef Chele Gonzalez of Gallery By Chele in Taguig, earned a Two Knife status, having received a One Knife award in 2024.
Jordy Navarra, of Toyo Eatery in Makati, retained his Two Knife status, having received this the first time round in 2024.
In total, 783 chefs from around the world were recognized this year, with 421 Chefs receiving a One Knife Award, 236 Chefs receiving a Two Knife Award and 126 achieving a Three Knife status. The Awarding Ceremony was held in Milan, Italy.
Megaworld Hotels & Resorts Certified Halal
In a bid to attract and capture a greater share of the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) Market, Megaworld has now certified all 13 of its Hotel and Resort properties as 100% Muslim-friendly.
The Department of Tourism has been busy promoting the Philippines as the best destination for MICE events, so this development will further strengthen their marketing portfolio.
Megaworlds Hotels Managing Director, Cleofe Albiso, reports the company has already seen sales upwards of 20 million PHP as a result of this business model expansion, with much of the demand coming from the Middle East, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as from the Philippines own domestic Muslim communities.
6 World Tourism Award Wins for the Philippines
This week saw 6 World Travel Award Titles awarded to the Philippines.
The World Travel Awards 2025 (WTA) ceremony took place at the InterContinental Grand Stanford, in Hong Kong on the 13th October.
The Philippines secured 6 WTA Titles:
- Asia’s Leading Beach Destination
- Asia’s Leading Dive Destination
- Asia’s Leading Island Destination
- Asia’s Leading Tourist Board
- Asia’s Leading Luxury Island Destination – Boracay Island
- Asia’s Leading Meetings & Conference Destination – Clark Freeport Zone
3 PH Islands Ranked in Conde Nast Top 10
The Conde Nast Traveler’s 2025 Readers Choice Awards were announced this week, with Boracay, Palawan and Siargao all featuring in the Asia Top Island’s category Top 10.
Reader’s Choice Top Islands in Asia:-
1st Phú Quốc, Vietnam
2nd Langkawi, Malaysia
3rd Koh Samui, Thailand
4th Boracay Island
5th Palawan
6th Bali, Indonesia
7th Siargao
8th Andaman Islands, India
9th Phuket, Thailand
10th Phi Phi Islands, Thailand (10th).
A total of 757,109 votes were placed in this years Readers’ Choice Awards survey, which has taken place annually for 38 years.
Davao & Siargao Travel Advisories following earthquakes.
Following a series of earthquakes affecting the Davao Region, since last week, the Department of Tourism updated its Travel Advisory on Sunday October 12.
Thankfully there has been no reports of casualties, or stranded tourists. A number of resorts and tourism sites have been closed temporarily, while structural assessments are undertaken:-
- Langoyon Beach Resort, Baganga
- GCNM Sunrise Boulevard, Baganga
- Ayana’s Siling Kinamayo, Baganga
- Sun and Waves Beach Resort, Baganga
- Playa del Rosario Resort, Baganga
- Villa D’Mar Dragon Hot Spring Resort, Baganga
- Island Garden City of Samal – Sanipaan Staging Area
- Davao Oriental Welcome Park
- Aliwagwag Falls Eco Park
- Mt. Hamiguitan Museum
- Cape San Agustin
- Subangan Museum
- Pusan Point
- National Museum – Davao
- Mt. Apo climbing activities in Digos Cit
Siargao: A magnitude 6.0 earthquake also struck off the coast of General Luna, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, at 7:03 AM on 17 October 2025.
The DOT has activated its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee (DRRMCom) to monitor the situation, gather reports from the region, and coordinate with concerned agencies to ensure timely assistance and information dissemination.
Tourism sites and all tourism activities, such as island hopping tours, in General Luna, Del Carmen, Guyam, Daku, Naked Islands and Sugba Lagoon were temporarily suspended.
No injuries were reported, and Sayak Airport and Dapa Sea Port remained fully operational with no cancellations or diversions reported.
For tourist information assistance you may reach us directly through the DOT Tourist Assistance Call Center (TACC) through the following channels:
Hotline – 151-TOUR (151-8687)
Mobile – 0954-253-3215
Facebook – Department of Tourism – Philippines page
Email – touristassistance@tourism.gov.ph
Click2Call and Live Webchat – DOT corporate website www.tourism.gov.ph
Global Industry News Updates
New Zealand To Host Filipino Restaurant Week 2025
New Zealand’s Filipino Restaurant Week will take place between 20-26 of October, in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington.
The event has been organized by the Philippine Embassy in New Zealand, Faithful Flavours, and Filipino restaurants Little Manila and Lazy Juan.
Over the course of 7 days Filipino cuisine will take center stage and introduce foodies to the rich and diverse flavors of the Philippines, as Filipino restaurants showcase traditional and modern dishes that promote heritage and community.
More details can be found on their Events Listing on Facebook
US Shutdown Cost Travel Economy 1Billion In 1st Week
The U.S. Travel Association has estimated that America’s Government Shutdown is costing the travel economy $1Billion a week in lost spending. Tourism-dependent businesses and areas, airlines and airports have all been affected by the Federal Government shutdown, which has entered its third week.
The U.S. Travel Association, which is running a tracker of lost spending on its website, is urging the Congress to bring an end to the deadlock. The US government shut down on Oct 1, after the Senate failed to pass a last-ditch funding plan, bringing with it travel disruptions, delays at Borders and National Park closures.
Airbnb Expands To Offer Independent and Boutique Hotels
In a move to meet their goal of attracting more than 1 billion annual guests by 2028, Airbnb is expanding its accommodation offerings to include Independent and boutique hotels. The move will also reduce the financial impacts of governmental crack-downs on short-term rental accommodations in European cities and destinations with high tourism traffic, where locals struggle to access rental accommodations.
For Independent and Boutique Hotels Airbnb could be a good alternative to relying on direct bookings, or OTAs. Its commission is typically lower, and it has a loyal and strong returning customer base.
Tech Industry News Updates
RateGain’s Sojern Acqusition Could Derail OTA Dominance
RateGain, a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for the travel and hospitality industry, which includes distribution, revenue management and marketing solutions, is in the process of of acquiring Sojern for $250 million. U.S.-Based Sojern, provides marketing, audience intelligence and guest experience solutions for the travel and hospitality Industry.
In a statement, RateGain has advised that the acquisition will enhance and expand its ability to deliver AI-powered solutions to hotels of all sizes. It will enable them to provide an AI-first digital marketing and distribution platform that focuses on guest acquisition, engagement, retention, and wallet share expansion.
RateGain’s hotel partners will have access to AI-powered tools, and a combined platform for both booking and marketing, which could reduce their reliance on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), and enable them to manage their entire customer journey – from acquisition to loyalty.
How the acquisition impacts OTAs:
- Ends the Rate Parity Stranglehold: set out beautifully by Glenn Turner on LinkedIn.
- Empowers hotel direct bookings: By combining RateGain’s distribution and revenue management tools with Sojern’s AI-powered marketing and demand-generation capabilities, hotels can more effectively attract and retain guests directly.
- Changes the competition landscape: The new integrated platform could reduce the need for hotels to rely solely on OTAs for customer acquisition, which puts pressure on OTAs to maintain their value proposition.
- Focus shifts to customer relationships: The combined company aims to help hotels build stronger, direct relationships with travelers throughout the entire guest lifecycle, from initial booking to post-stay engagement.
- Increases hotel control over data: The acquisition allows for deeper integration of data, giving hotels a more comprehensive view of their customers and allowing for more personalized and efficient marketing efforts.
- Creates a more complete solution for hotels: The deal offers hotels a more unified, AI-driven platform to compete in a complex travel market, from managing rates to acquiring new customers and driving repeat business.
Ultimately, RateGain’s purchase of Sojern could be the challenge to OTA dominance that hotels have been hoping for, optimizing and increasing direct bookings, and giving them more direct control over their customer relationships and revenue.
Agentic AI Mode set to boost direct travel bookings
With the integration of Google’s new Agentic AI Mode, Search Labs users can now book restaurants directly using natural language prompts.
While this technology is currently only available in the U.S. it is set to expand to booking tours, activities and events soon, providing another sales channel for tour operators and destination marketers.
Building on the “near me” searches of 6-7 years ago, Search Lab users are required to opt-in via their personal Google Accounts, and have Web & App Activity turned on, to enable the platform to deliver curated, real-time booking options.
Another reason for hospitality, Tourism and Event Businesses to ensure their website is AI Search-optimized and ready.
Last weeks Industry News Updates included a summary of the DOT/TikTok Partnership, Date of Michelin Stars Awarding Ceremony, and the growth in Domestic Tourism – Read it here
