Destination experiences app Headout has secured $10 million in new investment to fund expansion plans. Headout, which promotes itself as being a “mobile-first entertainment marketplace”, uses its app to connect tourists with activity providers for last-minute bookings, with the majority of sales made on the same day. The start-up,…
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has developed a prototype robot companion Care-E, a smart self-driving baggage trolley that can guide passengers through the airport while carrying their hand luggage up to 85 pounds. KLM’s Care-E was given a personality feature, intended to match the friendliness and special care that KLM…
Sponsored by Datalex. As we look at the major trends in the travel industry, one thing is clear – the future of travel retail will become more and more personalized. Airlines want to leverage the rich customer data they hold. The emergence of new AI technologies combined with new industry…
Online travel company lastminute.com group launched its advertising platform Travel People two years ago and has signed partnership deals with Spotify, Rough Guides and AccuWeather among others. Travel People allows clients to advertise across lastminute’s five brands, including lastminute.com, Rumbo, bravofly and Volagratis, as well as working with nine…
Research by Expedia Group Media Solutions on the habits of travelers from Latin America finds that they seek inspiration from a variety of sources, most often turning to OTAs for information before booking. The research is based on surveys conducted online and in person this March of 3,000 travelers,…
Finnair is the latest oneworld airline to allow passengers to check in for their flights off-airport, including baggage collection, through a partnership with luggage services AirPortr. The service is being introduced first for passengers flying out of London Heathrow airport, and is sold as a digital ancillary available during…
Seatfrog, an app-focussed rail and airline upgrade technology specialist, has confirmed a £4.5 million Series A funding round, led by Octopus Ventures. Existing investors, including HOWZAT Partners, also participated in the round. HOWZAT backed a £650,000 seed round back in May 2016. Seatfrog’s co-founder and CEO Iain Griffin told…
This is a viewpoint interview series by Justin Watkins, Creative Strategist at Native Digital. There is an ongoing debate on how destinations can stay relevant to travelers. It’s a discussion often had among destination marketing organizations and partners whose roles and tactics must evolve as the travel, marketing and…
Way2VAT has earned a patent from the U.S. Patent Office for a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered technology which, it says, will simplify VAT claims and travel expense management. The patent covers computer vision and language processing which power the company’s automated invoice analysis. It also covers a method…
In a report entitled Technopoly, experts from the think tank ResPublica call on officials in the UK and Europe to stem what they describe as the growing digital monopolies of technology companies such as Facebook and Google. They summarize their key concerns as follows: Current competition law is not…