In Phocus

Gaurav Tuli, partner at F Prime Capital and Anna Schneider, senior research and intelligence analyst at the Lufthansa Innovation Hub, talk to PhocusWire senior reporter Morgan Hines in the PhocusWire studio at Phocuswright Europe 2024. Tuli and Schneider covered the latest trends in funding, the big factors that impact how VCs invest and how the current landscape looks more like a recovery phase t...

As companies seek to help travelers determine how to identify sustainable options and help businesses understand how to operate, certification has become something of an important - yet murky - area. “There is a ton going on in certification,” said Sally Davey, CEO of Travalyst in an interview in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright Europe 2024. The lack of clarity is not new. Plenty of small and...

"The innovation isn't over yet." It's been 20 years since Steve Hafner and Paul English co-founded Kayak , and two decades later it's hard to say which is more remarkable: How much travel has changed since 2004 - or that Hafner is still championing innovation as the company's one and only CEO. In a far-ranging conversation from the cabin of his boat in Miami Beach, Hafner spoke of how an itinerant...

During the company’s recent call to report its Q1 2024 financial figures, Ekert said the results “exceeded expectations,” with quarterly revenue of $783 million.  A year into  taking up the CEO role at Sabre , the metrics are going in the right direction for Kurt Ekert.  Revenue is up alongside EBITDA  in the first quarter, and all the business units are reporting gains. But more than that, as  Sa...

For nearly 25 years, the  Travel Technology Association has represented the interests of companies such as global distribution systems, online travel agencies and metasearch companies and short-term rental platforms in Washington, D.C. The association advocates for public policy that promotes transparency and competition in the marketplace to encourage innovation and preserve consumer choice. Asso...

While personalization of data for travel marketing has been talked about “forever,” it had always felt out of reach. For the most part, the best data could provide in the way of insights was about an “average” traveler — one who didn’t really exist. In this week's episode, Kurt Weinsheimer, chief solutions officer at Sojern and Demi Horvat, CEO at AirDNA, joins news editor Derek Catron to discuss...

There's a massive opportunity for experiences in the $1 trillion dollar travel market.  A potential $100 billion opportunity doesn't have to only be in the OTA space, but could be on the operator side as well, argue this week's guests Luuc Elzinga, founder and president of Tiqets and Stephen Oddo, co-founder of Walks. The big play could be happening now, with a tremendous amount of investment in i...

Maud Bailly joined Accor in 2017 as chief digital officer, in charge of the French hospitality company’s information systems, hotel and guest systems, digital products, data and global sales. In late 2020, she became CEO for the company’s businesses in Southern Europe and then in January 2023 she moved into the role of CEO for four of its luxury brands: Sofitel, Sofitel Legend, MGallery and Emblem...

Hoteliers have a lot on their plates when it comes to technology. Sorting hype from reality in GenAI is just one challenge on a list that includes addressing technical debt, optimizing revenue and incorporating data science.  Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) and Klaus Kohlmayr, chief evangelist at IDeaS, joins senior reporter Linda Fox in the PhocusWire Studio to discuss...

Chinmai Sharma, Sabre Travel Solutions' global head of lodging, land and sea, whose appointment was announced in November last year, joins Linda Fox in the PhocusWire Studio to talk about hotel technology developments, the experience he brings from previous roles and what's on the 'to do' list for 2024.  All episodes: https://www.phocuswire.com/in-phocus See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

After several successful exits in both offline and online hotel distribution, you could say Bob Diener, president and co-founder of Travel Funders Network, has been there, done that. He was there and very much involved in the early days of online hotel distribution as the co-founder and president of Hotels.com and later held the same roles at Getaroom, before  selling it to Booking Holdings  in la...

Travel brands have been encouraged to try TikTok in recent years as a means to engage with younger generations and get a feel for what resonates with them. But as with every medium, TikTok is evolving. Short form videos can now be 10 minutes long, many often dubbed "corporate" travel brands are establishing a presence and the transactional layer is developing. Hannah Bennett, industry lead of glob...

Technology development was high on the priority list when Paul Abbott joined Amex GBT as CEO four years ago. He felt that while the company was strong in travel management services, he also wanted it to be able to offer software services. Now, he said 77% of its transactions are digital with 66% of those across Amex GBT’s own channels. A further development over Abbott’s tenure has been addressing...

In April Peter Kern will mark four years in the role of CEO of Expedia Group, although his involvement as a board member dates back to 2005. Kern took over the leadership role at a time when the entire world was paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic and when the company had to focus on damage control. But from day one he also began talking about efforts to simplify the company and reorganize its tech...

With funding for travel startups hitting an eight-year low in 2023, it won’t take much for 2024 to be better. Some travel companies feel more optimistic about the months to come and who might be best placed to attract funding. PhocusWire senior reporter Linda Fox is joined by Mike Scott, managing partner at Derive Ventures and Mia Morisset, a principal at Inovia, with both sharing insights on how...