Cluster Learning & Development Manager

Garden Inn planned for Andhra Pradesh. The 360-key hotel will be in Visakhapatnam BVM Energy and Residency will develop the Hilton Garden Inn Visakhapatnam Yendada World Trade Centre in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, India. * BVM developing Garden Inn in Andhra Pradesh. * Hotel to offer 14,300 sq. ft. event space. * Hotel to open in 2032. KAPIL GROUP'S BVM Energy and Residency will develop the 360-key Hilton Garden Inn Visakhapatnam Yendada World Trade Centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is expected to open in 2032. The hotel will be part of the WTC Visakhapatnam development in Yendada, a 10-acre mixed-use project by Kapil Group, according to PTI. The hotel will include a restaurant, lobby lounge and bar, rooftop bar, fitness facilities, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and about 14,300 square feet of meeting and event space. "Andhra Pradesh is an important part of [Hilton's development] strategy, with a growing pipeline of Hilton Garden Inn hotels across the state," said Zubin Saxena, Hilton senior vice president and regional head for South Asia. "Our first hotel in Visakhapatnam strengthens our presence in the state and reflects our confidence in the city's long-term potential." Vaddanapu Krishnaiah, BVM Energy and Residency managing director, said the partnership with Hilton will support the project's plans to serve business and leisure travelers in Visakhapatnam. "With 11 trading Hilton Garden Inn hotels in India, this hotel adds to a pipeline of 13 others in the country that will serve high-growth leisure and business markets as demand for travel continues to grow beyond major metropolitan centers," said Clarence Tan, Hilton's senior vice president of development, Asia Pacific. This signing takes Hilton's pipeline in Andhra Pradesh to three Hilton Garden Inn hotels, including the projects in Tirupati and Mantralayam.

Hilton Bahrain and Another World VR join forces to bring a new dimension of entertainment to the kingdom. Sep 23, 2026 - 03:33 The first-of-its-kind collaboration at Hilton Bahrain launches in celebration of Saudi National Day, with both brands exploring opportunities to extend the partnership and create even more immersive guest experiences. This Saudi National Day, Hilton Bahrain is inviting guests to step beyond the ordinary as it announces an exciting new collaboration with Another World VR Bahrain, bringing immersive virtual reality entertainment to the hotel for the first time. Created as part of Hilton Bahrain's Saudi National Day celebrations, the collaboration will transform part of the hotel experience into a portal to entirely new worlds, giving families, friends, young explorers and the forever-young an opportunity to play, explore and experience virtual reality together. More than a festive activation, the collaboration reflects Hilton Bahrain's continued drive to reimagine what a hotel experience can be, going beyond rooms, restaurants and traditional entertainment to create unexpected moments that bring people together. For Tamer Farouk, General Manager of Hilton Bahrain, the partnership reflects the hotel's commitment to continuously evolve and find new ways to enhance the guest experience. "We never want to stand still. We are constantly challenging ourselves to keep up with the times, think differently and find new ways to give our guests experiences that are better, more exciting and sometimes completely unexpected. Partnering with Another World VR allows us to do exactly that. We're starting with Saudi National Day, but we see a lot of potential beyond this activation. This could be the beginning of bringing even more immersive experiences into Hilton Bahrain and continuing to redefine what a hotel experience can be." The collaboration brings together two brands with a shared passion for creating memorable experiences - Hilton Bahrain through hospitality and Another World VR through immersive technology. Andrey Kravchenko, Owner of Another World VR Bahrain, said: "Virtual reality has an incredible ability to bring people together because you are not watching an experience - you are inside it, sharing it with the people around you. Partnering with Hilton Bahrain gives us an exciting opportunity to take Another World beyond the traditional VR arena and introduce immersive entertainment in a completely new setting. We are thrilled to begin this journey together during Saudi National Day and even more excited about what we can create together next." Beyond Saudi National Day While the first activation coincides with Saudi National Day, Hilton Bahrain and Another World VR are already looking beyond the celebration. Both brands are exploring opportunities to extend the collaboration and bring more immersive experiences to Hilton Bahrain, opening the door to new activations and unexpected ways for guests and the local community to experience the hotel. The partnership forms part of Hilton Bahrain's continued focus on evolving the guest experience through new ideas, technology and unexpected collaborations. With Saudi National Day marking the first chapter of the partnership, Hilton Bahrain and Another World VR are already exploring what could come next - and how immersive entertainment could become part of future experiences at the hotel.

The booming hospitality of Mexico with Enrique Calderón of Posadas. Summary. Mexico's hotel industry grows on domestic operators' cultural fluency, with Posadas leveraging local expertise to expand into Oaxaca, Merida, Puebla and other non-resort destinations. The company shifts from selling rooms to delivering immersive experiences through brands like Live Aqua and The Explorean and plans roughly 25 new property concepts emphasizing sensory design and market-specific culinary and wellness offerings. By Adam and Larry Mogelonsky Mexico's hotel industry is entering a fascinating new phase of growth, and increasingly it is domestic operators - not the international juggernauts - who are driving the momentum. Few companies illustrate this better than Posadas (also known as Grupo Posadas), the country's largest hotel operator with more than 200 properties across over 60 destinations. In my conversation with Enrique Calderón, COO of Posadas and a 27-year company veteran, what we can first and foremost remark upon is that the company's advantage is not simply scale. It is cultural fluency. Posadas lives and breathes Mexico. The company has flourished alongside this great nation's growth over the past five decades. And it is this wherewithal at a granular level - how different source markets like to travel, what international guests want and how hospitality experiences must evolve beyond guestrooms alone - that primes Posadas to be a true hospitality innovator. To speak about how Mexican hospitality itself is evolving, international travelers are no longer viewing the country solely through the lens of Cancun or Los Cabos. Calderón described growing demand for destinations such as Oaxaca, Merida, Puebla and San Miguel de Allende - cities where the appeal centers around gastronomy, architecture, local craftsmanship and cultural immersion rather than purely beachfront relaxation. Oaxaca in particular has become a global culinary destination fueled by mezcal tourism, artisan traditions and indigenous foodways, while Merida is increasingly attracting chefs blending Yucatan cuisine with international techniques. Posadas has intentionally positioned itself across these emerging cultural corridors rather than concentrating only on the 'saturated' resort-heavy markets. What makes this especially important is that Posadas competes directly against Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt while remaining fundamentally Mexican in its operating philosophy. Calderón argued that travelers increasingly want hospitality experiences that feel native to the destination itself, not a copy-paste across different regions. His comparison was simple but effective: if someone travels to Rome, they often seek out an Italian hotel experience, so why visit Mexico and stay somewhere disconnected from Mexican culture? That philosophy permeates everything from design and food programming to service delivery and experiential offerings. The company's brand architecture reflects how diversified Mexican hospitality demand has become. On the select-service side, brands like Fiesta Inn and One continue benefiting from Mexico's industrial expansion and nearshoring boom, particularly in manufacturing-heavy cities where international business travel remains strong. But the real strategic focus appears concentrated in the upper-upscale, lifestyle and luxury segments where experiential travel is reshaping guest expectations. Live Aqua is perhaps a good example here. The brand is a fully sensorial hospitality concept where fragrance, lighting, music and wellness elements are intentionally orchestrated to create emotional immersion from the moment guests arrive. At check-in, guests receive a hand massage while the property's scent and soundtrack establish a mood designed specifically for the environment. That same philosophy is now extending into highly curated proprietary experiences across the portfolio. Posadas is launching approximately 25 new property concepts or ground-up guest experiences designed to move beyond simply selling rooms. One example of this pairs guests with chefs for visits to local markets before cooking meals together using regional ingredients. Another is a babymoon package for expectant parents that includes curated photography and videography documenting a pivotal life moment. Calderón repeatedly emphasized that the company no longer views itself as selling guestrooms first. Instead, the room has become the platform through which experiences are delivered. The newer brands entering the portfolio demonstrate how aggressively Posadas is expanding into experiential hospitality niches. Funeeq targets multi-generational leisure travel with entertainment-heavy programming including waterparks, bowling alleys, gaming arcades and multiple restaurant concepts designed to ensure different demographics can coexist comfortably within one resort ecosystem. Devossion moves in a different direction entirely, positioning itself around life celebrations with champagne rituals, themed nightlife programming and hidden speakeasy concepts integrated into the guest journey. Meanwhile, The Explorean may be the most compelling operationally because it reflects where luxury travel increasingly appears headed globally: smaller-scale, highly curated, experience-intensive stays rooted in nature and culture. Guests participate in activities such as cenote diving, archaeological excursions and jungle cycling in intentionally intimate group settings. The pin drop here was how high CSATs are from these properties, stemming from the entwined experiences with sense of place. Underlying all of this is a remarkable growth trajectory. Posadas currently has roughly 30 hotels set to open within the next 28 months while also expanding into branded residences and deepening its Caribbean presence. Yet despite that scale, the company still operates with a strong sense of Mexican identity and long-term stewardship. In many ways, that may prove to be its greatest competitive advantage and also a rallying cry for other localized hotel brands. Stay true to what makes gives your region its culture, its heritage and its passionate hospitality, and you will succeed in the new era of travel.