In Phocus

Advances in hotel revenue management technology mean hotels are able to react more quickly and tap into local trends. The idea is that if there’s a big event in town such as a convention or concert, hotels should easily be able to find out about it in advance and adjust their revenue strategies accordingly. Artificial intelligence is increasingly playing a role in bringing more pieces of the...

Tours, activities and attractions — in short experiences — have been a hot topic in the travel industry over the past few years. And with its staying power as a driver of travel decision-making, new growth opportunities exist, according to experts. "I think it has increased, more and more," said Luuc Elzinga, founder and president of  Tiqets  during an interview in the Phocus...

A little more than a year into her tenure as president and CEO of  ToursByLocals , Lisa Chen is excited to be leading the company as the  tours and activities sector continues to flourish .  ToursByLocals is poised for growth with recently updated technology aimed at improving the 15-year-old private tour company’s strategy, she said. “We launched a new website this past...

Travel planning and booking at the touch of a button. It’s an idea that’s been talked about in the context of artificial intelligence  travel planning, the  connected trip and data sharing. “I think now the focus of the innovation is around bringing this idea that the traveler is buying trips, and we need to have a connected trip, and we need to make things simpler,&rdq...

Knowing where to start in terms of applying artificial intelligence to a travel business is difficult. Some companies bring in a chief AI officer , others establish an AI business unit and more still just start playing with stuff and learning how it all works. Less than a year ago, American Express Global Business Travel   set up a program internally to focus on AI across the business. ...

Many who have left the travel industry often end up back in the industry because they love its ever-changing nature, the people and the dynamics. Filip Filipov, a former vice president of  Skyscanner , left travel more than four years ago, and is now back as chief operations officer of airline data specialist  OAG . He joined us in the PhocusWire studio to discuss what he has observ...

Investors Matt Zito and Min Liu have sat front row as travel merger and acquisition activity has  warmed up over the last couple of years , with plenty of  attention-grabbing moves in the third quarter of this year , following those that happened in the  first  and  second quarters of 2024. “For the M&A side, we're definitely on top,” said Zito, managing pa...

Will there be a mega merger or acquisition in travel in 2025? Will AI fatigue take hold? And, will travel companies address not just technical debt but technical deficit?  Predicting what might happen in travel is never easy with the industry impacted by so many external factors, but some executives usually take a good stab at how things might play out. Aaron Gowell, founder and CEO of Silver...

Internet boom.  9/11 . The financial crisis. The  COVID pandemic .  ChatGPT . The list goes on. The last 30 years have been full of course-changing events and technological innovations since Philip Wolf founded  Phocuswright  in 1994. The world has become digitalized with travel shifting largely online and expected to account for nearly 65% of all bookings by 2026, accordi...

Artificial intelligence is touching every segment of the travel industry with destination marketing being no exception. Tourist boards are exploring how AI and other emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality can improve destination search and booking as well as the in-destination experience. During an interview in the PhocusWire studio at  The Phocuswright Conference 2024 ,...

Acai Travel , a startup using artificial intelligence to drive efficiency for agency and call center environments, has signed  Hopper as its latest partner. The deal sees Acai, a  PhocusWire Hot 25 Startup for 2024 , use its technology to support Hopper's human agents. The startup, which recently  landed seed funding of $4 million , already counts companies including Globespan Travel Management am...

PhocusWire's executive editor Linda Fox conducts an interview with Skyscanner CEO John Mangelaars at WiT Singapore.  All episodes: https://www.phocuswire.com/in-phocus See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fact that many hoteliers have an ambivalent relationship with online travel agencies is nothing new. The push and pull of appreciating the OTAs for their ability to capture bookings while also begrudging the fact they control access to those guests’ data and also may employ tactics that inhibit the hotels’ commercial efforts are ongoing sources of frustration.  News out of Spain in August put...

The  growing importance of experiences in the travel industry  has been an ongoing discussion since the fallout from COVID-19. And while there have been no signs of travelers’ appetite for experiences slowing down, at what point does it peak? That was a question kicked around by experts in the field during the  Phocuswright Europe  event in Barcelona this summer. Sarah Dines, chief commercial offi...

The CEO of Yanolja Cloud joins Mitra Sorrells to talk about the opportunities in growing the cloud business, how additional acquisitions can boost future growth in global business and how consolidation can be an additional engine for growth.  Yanolja takes a three pronged approach to global reach and creating solutions for customers, which include subscriptions in cloud software, transactions thro...

Steve Singh wears many hats. He was announced as CEO of Spotnana in June, adding to his existing roles of executive chairman of Direct Travel, Troop, Spotnana and Center as well as other technology companies. He is also managing director at Madrona Venture Group, which has invested in Direct Travel, Spotnana and Troop.  Singh continues to pursue his vision of a "Perfect Trip," something he has tal...

The hospitality industry is in the midst of a transition from legacy, on-property technology to cloud-based solutions that drive efficiency and personalization at scale.  Founded in 2012, San Francisco-based  Duetto  provides hotels and resorts with cloud-based software to optimize and automate pricing, forecasting and group business products to drive revenue, demand and guest experience. The comp...

It’s been nearly a year since Latin America super app  Rappi  kicked off its  partnership with Marriott in Mexico , enabling loyalty members of both brands to link their accounts to earn and burn points for purchases through either brand. The integration has since extended to Rappi users in Colombia, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and Rappi global head of travel, Guido Becher, said th...

Merger and acquisition activity has been increasing in the travel technology world. Recent  headlines  bear out the trend and the  figures back it up . There are a number of companies focused on a travel technology roll-up that is seeing smaller players and some startups find a bigger home. But what is driving the increased activity? Are valuations more realistic and what are those acquiring compa...

Now more than 18 months since the launch of ChatGPT, early excitement about generative artificial intelligence has shifted to the more challenging work of finding practical use cases, with a focus on ones that drive greater efficiency, automation and, ideally, cost-savings or even revenue- generation, for companies.  But where and how to begin – particularly when new capabilities seems to come out...

Figuring out the most effective ways to use Google to drive traffic and conversions is a fundamental task for anyone working in digital marketing. And it’s particularly high on the to-do list for marketers working in B2C travel, who pour billions of dollars into Google and other channels each year.  In 2023, the combined sales and marketing spend of four of the largest online travel agencies  – Ai...

For those working to develop verifiable credentials, digital identity wallets and the rules and systems to support these products, there is little doubt that travel – as well as many other parts of everyday life - is on the verge of a fundamental, radical shift. It’s a shift that will put more control in the hands of travelers while enabling suppliers and intermediaries to better know who they are...

There are plenty of important factors to consider while starting a company. And while having a plan, raising money and honing in on a mission and clear messaging are of importance, there's an element that experts agree is equally as crucial: choosing an advisory board.  Alex Gisbert, general partner of  TravelTech.vc , said the practice of having an advisory board has become more common - and is a...

AirAsia MOVE is an online travel agency launched in 2020 as a subsidiary of AirAsia, now known as Capital A. Based in Southeast Asia, the online travel agency offers bookings from more than 700 airlines and more than 900,000 hotels worldwide, plus ride-hailing, insurance, dining and financial services through BigPay. Air Asia MOVE CEO Nadia Omer talks to PhocusWire editor in chief Mitra Sorrells a...

By the time of last month’s  Phocuswright Europe  conference in Barcelona, the need for a balance between a more modern approach that would meet customers’ evolving expectations for online retailing while giving businesses the control they need to manage travel expenses was clear to Puck Voorneveld, senior director of distribution and payment transformation at Lufthansa Group, and Michael Harbin,...