WorthyTravelers is not the only business looking to appeal to people who are interested in booking authentic experiences, which are recommended by experts, working with influencers to promote the site and the trips it offers. Based in east London, the small-scale startup currently has a line-up of trips from around…
Last November, Airbnb announced to the world its next wave of innovation to the strains of Maroon 5 with a dash of Lady Gaga. Trips was to be the next layer in the customer travel experience after accommodation because, after all, people are inspired to travel based on what…
TravelBird has become the latest travel company to adopt artificial intelligence for customer service through a partnership with DigitalGenius. The new predictive customer care system, which will reside in the company’s Zendesk customer platform, will use AI to refine and expedite customer support response. The decision to adopt machine…
Just 12 months or so after coming back from a three-year hiatus, Travel-Ticker has been sold to HotelPlanner… and immediately closed once more. Since its return, Travel-Ticker has been based in United Arab Emirates – making it the first overseas acquisition by online group hotel booking serice HotelPlanner. Terms of…
This is a roundup of product news and announcements for travel marketing in April 2017. Monday 10 April 2107: Goibibo signs celebrity for summer and social Indian OTA Goibibo has signed Bollywood superstar actress Deepika Padukone to kickstart its summer campaign and to promote its GoContacts social network. Goibibo…
Japanese ecommerce brand Rakuten is backing fellow Asian web brand MetroResidences with a $2.8 million investment. The Singapore-based startup is the sister-brand of existing short-term rental service PandaBed and has been gradually building up a network of properties in its home city since 2014. It is solely focused on providing rental…
We know that the existing digital relationship between airlines and their passengers is unstructured and needs rethinking. The transition to a new fit-for-purpose digital retail environment, based on business agility and customer-centricity, is essential to meet future airline distribution needs. But what will the airline digital retail environment of…
Egencia has been taking a look at how technology such as artificial intelligence will effect the corporate travel world in the near, medium and long-term. Alongside Phocuswright, the Expedia-owned travel management company has put together a white paper entitled the “Emerging Tech-Driven Corporate Travel Revolution.” The study provides a…
The modus operandi of the travel industry is to leverage promise and exploit curiosity, tapping in to an emotional fear-of-missing-out as it urges us to invest in experiences and exploration that could be in our reach. NB: This is a viewpoint by Robert Kemp, chief technology officer of Momondo…
Switch.CM, a London-based startup specialising in building reservations platforms for the hotel and airline industry, has been sold to flymya.com for $600,000. Flymya is the leading online travel agency in Myanmar, and is owned by BOD Tech, also based in Myanmar. BOD has a B2B and B2C portfolio covering…