Airbnb signed its first global hotel technology deal with SiteMinder, a provider of one of the top channel managers in the industry. The partnership will give traditional hospitality businesses – specifically small, boutique hotels and B&Bs — access to SiteMinder’s cloud platform to connect more easily with Airbnb’s customer…
Last month I spent a couple of days in Naples to meet a client. To keep the Italian-living-abroad-stereotype alive, every time I go back to the “BelPaese” I try to get as much good food as I can. I’ve been in Naples several times before, but I’ve never been…
Self-service hotel platform Xbed has announced RMB 100 million (approximately USD 16 million) as well as credit financing to the tune of hundreds of millions of Yuan in Series A funding. The investment was led by a government-backed industry fund. Founded in 2015, Xbed claims to be China’s first Internet…
Hotel meta Trivago has filed its first full-year accounts as a Nasdaq-listed company, revealing a billion-dollars-plus of revenues and a narrowing of net losses, while reminding the market of its exposure to the decisions of Priceline and Expedia. Revenues for the year of €1,035.4 million were 37% up compared…
Travel Ledger is a new initiative which is aiming to oversee a new B2B industry standard for settling non-air financial payments, in the same way that IATA’s BSP has become the global standard for the airline industry. It will be based on blockchain technology. Travel Ledger founder Roberto Da…
This is a viewpoint from Mitul Makadia, founder of Maruti Techlabs. In the 21st century, industries that resist integrating new technologies often lose their competitive edge. Businesses across the globe have realized how important it is to include contemporary digital technology to drive constant growth and revenue. The last decade has…
Singapore Airlines has announced the launch of a Digital Innovation Blueprint to support the development of a travel technology community in Singapore, and to help diversify its own product and service offerings with stronger capabilities in the digital space. The Blueprint involves partnerships with the Agency for Science, Technology…
Sabre Corp. launched a pilot program of a “virtual agent” chatbot powered by artificial intelligence with Dallas-headquartered Travel Services International USA (TSI). As with most initial forays into the world of bots, TSI expects its version, which it has named Ella, to start work handling basic routine service requests,…
With experts emphasizing the importance of UX, and consumers responding to well-designed products, it’s more than just a nice-t0-have. An intuitive user experience is critical in today’s competitive environment. Especially on mobile, where smaller screen sizes require more easier-to-use products. This week, Google is rolling out improvements to its mobile…
BCD Travel has developed a platform for corporate travellers and bookers to access third party services. At launch, the marketplace will include a number of startups including Fairfly and Freebird and some who have been around a little longer such as Rocketrip and Yapta. The marketplace is called SolutionSource…