FLORENCE, South Carolina—Raines has broken ground on Hampton Inn & Suites York, S.C. in York, South Carolina. The hotel is owned by York Hotel Group LLC and was designed by ODA Architecture.
The project is part of an ongoing effort to spur economic growth in the York market, which has a heavy concentration of manufacturing facilities and is already experiencing residential growth. The city, county, and state have all worked closely with Raines on the project by contributing various economic incentives. It will be the only branded hotel in the York market and will bring 30-35 full- and part-time jobs to the area.
The 97-key hotel will have onsite parking, a fitness center, a business center, and twice as much meeting space as a typical Hampton Inn, allowing for many types of gatherings. There will also be free Wi-Fi and complimentary breakfast.
“We are thrilled to finally break ground on this exciting addition to the York marketplace,” said David Tart, managing partner of Raines. “We have seen firsthand how a new hotel can revitalize a market and lead to additional infrastructure investments, new businesses and restaurants, economic growth, and critically, new jobs. We hope that this property will be a catalyst for all that and more in downtown York.”
“This entire region has been in a growth pattern, from the residential development in Western York County to the overall growth in the Charlotte market,” said Brandon Graham, VP of development at Raines. “We look forward to realizing Hampton Inn & Suites York, S.C.’s potential in this fantastic market.”
In 2024, Raines added more than 20 properties to their management portfolio, including 16 hotels in a partnership with Atlantic Hotels Group. The organization has strategic plans to continue its growth in 2025.
LONDON, U.K.—Lighthouse announced the acquisition of The Hotels Network, a leader in marketing personalization technology that drives direct channel growth for hotels. The acquisition will combine Lighthouse’s commercial intelligence platform with AI-driven marketing technology from The Hotels Network.
“The Hotels Network team has built exceptional technology that helps hotels drive direct bookings through personalized marketing and conversion optimization,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of Lighthouse. “By integrating the marketing capabilities from The Hotels Network with the existing market demand and pricing data in the Lighthouse platform, we’re enabling hotels to transform market intelligence into personalized guest booking experiences that grow revenue through direct channels.”
Founded in 2015, The Hotels Network serves over 20,000 hotels across more than 100 countries, including brands such as Minor Hotels, One&Only Resorts, H World International, and Preferred Hotels & Resorts. The Hotels Network has a proven track record, delivering an average 32 percent uplift in direct bookings for its hotel partners.
The ability to deliver personalized offers and marketing messages to travelers has become a key piece of the commercial strategy technology stack, as hoteliers seek to enhance the digital guest experience and boost direct revenue. The Hotels Network is the only platform in the market that combines integrated pricing data, predictive personalization, and cross-channel marketing capabilities in a single cloud-based solution.
By leveraging real-time user behavior, predictive algorithms, and proprietary AI agents like KITT, The Hotels Network allows hoteliers to attract, engage, and convert guests from their very first interaction.
“Joining Lighthouse accelerates our mission of helping hotels worldwide to maximize their direct channel potential,” said Juanjo Rodriguez, founder and CEO of The Hotels Network. “Our combined AI capabilities and commercial intelligence will give hoteliers a powerful edge to elevate their direct booking strategies to capture more revenue.”
Lighthouse continues to expand its commercial platform through investment in technologies that serve the commercial needs of leading hotels throughout the world. The acquisition of The Hotels Network adds another capability to the Lighthouse platform, which has grown to include pricing intelligence, business intelligence, benchmarking, parity management, and other capabilities designed to serve the needs of hospitality commercial teams.