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THE U.S. SMALL Business Administration recently signed a memorandum of understanding with India's Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises to boost the two countries' MSME participation in the global marketplace. The five-year agreement is the SBA's first collaboration with India and focuses on investment, commercialization, supply chains and future trade opportunities. AAHOA praised the agreement, highlighting the importance of U.S.-India collaboration in supporting small businesses, including hotels. The MOU was signed by SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman and India's Ministry for MSMEs in New Delhi on Aug. 13. "The United States-India partnership is grounded in shared values of democracy, freedom, and opportunity, and through our new MOU with the Indian Ministry of MSMEs, the SBA is delivering on President Biden and Prime Minister Modi's outlined commitment to expanding our collaboration on empowering more small businesses and innovative startups in the global marketplace," said Guzman. "From advancing technology to supporting inclusive growth for women and other underserved entrepreneurs, we look forward to working alongside our counterparts to ensure entrepreneurial ecosystems are at the center of both countries' efforts to strengthen investment, commercialization, supply chains, and trade in industries of the future."

THE AMERICAN HOTEL & Lodging Association and Procure Impact, a B2B marketplace supporting marginalized communities, have introduced the "Dignity of Work Pledge" aiming to provide 100,000 paid employment hours for overlooked populations. Hospitality firms such as Davidson Hospitality Group, Pyramid Global Hospitality, Sage Hospitality Group, CoralTree Hospitality, Atrium Hospitality, Pacific Hospitality Group, Modus Hotels, and 21c Museum Hotels have committed to this initiative. Together, these hotels manage over 110,000 rooms nationwide, AHLA said in a statement. Procure Impact's B2B marketplace offers companies the chance to source responsibly and fulfill social impact objectives. "We believe the hospitality sector is uniquely positioned to harness its purchasing power to create unique and meaningful guest experiences and change millions of lives in the process," said Lauren McCann, Procure Impact's founder and CEO. "We are excited to partner with so many pioneers in hospitality who are building spaces and places grounded in belonging and purpose through the products that they feature and purchase."

Delta Hotels by Marriott Indianapolis Airport is open in Indianapolis. The hotel is owned by Blue Sky Hospitality Solutions led by President and CEO Naveen Shah. The 240-room hotel is near Indianapolis International Airport and eight miles from downtown Indianapolis. Other nearby attractions include Lucas Oil Stadium, The Indianapolis Zoo, the Indianapolis Children's Museum, Eli Lilly, Rolls Royce, Indiana University and Purdue University. The hotel has 5,193 square feet of meeting space, including a 4,370-square-foot ballroom and two smaller boardrooms. "This marks our second Delta Hotel in the Indianapolis marketplace, allowing for shared economies of scale and best practices," Shah said. "Our familiarity with the market and the brand will allow the hotel to ramp up quickly as Marriott continues the global expansion of Delta."

STR IS LAUNCHING a new phase, STR Benchmarking, a market share product for the global hotel industry, according to STR's parent company, real estate marketplaces, information and analytics provider CoStar Group. The new software platform will offer property-level data and analytics for hotel owners and operators with functionality built on the STAR Report. Acquired by CoStar in 2019, STR draws its benchmarking data from a sample of 77,000 participating properties with 10 million rooms around the world. STR Benchmarking provides new functions, including user and competitive set self-management as well as high-frequency updates to data. Future product enhancements, which are expected to begin rolling out later this year, include portfolio-level benchmarking, monthly P&L, average-length-of-stay data, and forward-looking occupancy.

The Restoring Brand USA Act took another step toward passage, clearing the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill would renew the program aimed at promoting international travel to the U.S. Brand USA has generated $56 billion to the U.S. economy since 2013 and supported more than 45,000 jobs each year, according to Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, a sponsor of the bill. The program is funded by international visitors and private contributions, and the decline in international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a loss of that funding, Bilirakis said. The bill would direct the Treasury Department to allow this program to access critical resources, funded by foreign traveler visa fees, for the next few years. "The travel and tourism industry was one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic. As we seek to restore our way of life and fully recover, we cannot overlook the work that must be done to renew this powerful engine of economic growth for communities across the nation," Bilirakis said. "Brand USA has proven itself as a successful catalyst for spurring tourism to the U.S. We need that catalyst now more than ever to help rebuild the industry and spur job growth. Common sense solutions like this will help boost the economy and help get us moving in the right direction."