Fetch.AI, the smart ledger firm whose founders include scientists and investors from DeepMind, has linked up with hospitality m-commerce specialist wi-Q Technologies to offer AI-powered predictions and personalized offers. Deep Mind, an artificial intelligence research company, was acquired by Google in 2014 for a reported $600 million. Meanwhile, wi-Q recently…

Emerging technologies including blockchain, virtual reality and bots can help corporate travel buyers to improve their sourcing from suppliers, according to a new guide from travel management company BCD Travel. BCD is producing a series of short papers to illustrate to travel buyers how they could soon use new…

In a contract worth $9.3 million, US Department of Defense (DoD) has selected SAP Concur to develop a business travel system prototype that would replace its current Defense Travel System. In the announcement the DoD describes its current system as “aging and inefficient” and says it expects that the…

Thomas Cook is to extend its “white label” online booking partnership with Expedia across European markets over the next few months. The tour operator started selling Expedia’s city break and hotel-only product through its UK website at the end of July, as part of an alliance which gives Thomas…

This is a viewpoint by Becky Power, travel lead for Google UK. They famously say that humour doesn’t travel. Well, whoever ‘they’ are, Hostelworld decided to put ‘them’ to the test by dropping Phil Wang, an English comedian of Malaysian descent, into a crowd in Indonesia to try to…

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published its latest consumer survey which shows a drop in overall airline passenger satisfaction to 83% compared to 90% in the first survey conducted in the spring of 2016. The study, conducted by ComRes on behalf of the CAA between 29 March…

OYO signed 400 hotels and 25,000 rooms in China last month alone; Ctrip‘s offline shops attract new customers; a fresh take on Klook‘s $200 million and  more. Jin Jiang, OYO To lower its debt, HNA Group has finally agreed to sell Radisson Holdings to a consortium led by hospitality group Jin…

ATPCO has been awarded a patent in the US for new airline ticket pricing technology developed by its in-house data scientists and technical architects. It says that airlines will get greater control and flexibility over price points offered in any given market. The new technology allows construction of airline…

Amadeus has announced plans to buy TravelClick for $1.52 billion from private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo, in an effort to grow its footprint in the hospitality sector.  The purchase gives Amadeus access to TravelClick’s cloud-based Central Reservation System (CRS) and Guest Management Solutions (GMS) solutions for mid-chain and independent…

Have you heard? The tours and activities sector is quite exciting at the moment… A flurry of big deals and funding – Booking buying Fareharbor, Tripadvisor buying Bokun, Klook raising another $200 million – has propelled tours and activities into the spotlight. These major moves may be centre stage, but…