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October 23, 2024

51 posts
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  • 4 min

Start-Up Spotlight: How Travly Revolutionizes Travel with Video

📱 Co-founders Zak Longo and Mayur Patil launched Travly, a travel platform, in 2022 aiming to revolutionize travel booking. Longo's European trip highlighted the reliance on social media for travel advice, especially among Gen Z. Travly merges user-generated content with bookings, offering transparency against "travel catfishing." With over 25 million followers and 1 billion monthly views, Travly's app and website feature "Dupes" for cost-effective booking. Since its OTA app launch, it has achieved 13,000 registrations and 500 video submissions. Hotels benefit from Travly’s 1000-influencer network, enhancing visibility and bookings. Through a partnership with Booking.com, Travly earns commissions, integrating monetization with user experience. A campaign with Omni Hotels & Resorts and Southwest Airlines generated nearly 7 million views and 500,000 likes.
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Study: the Impact Restaurant Reviews Have on Customer Choices

📱 PPDS, provider of Philips Professional Displays, will exhibit at The Hospitality Show, Oct 28-30, with 400 exhibitors and around 5,000 visitors at the 514,000 sq ft Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX. Showcasing Philips Hotel TVs and digital signage solutions, Philips MediaSuite TV (19”-75”) and the Hospitality TV 4000 Series, offering built-in Google Cast™ and Netflix without extra equipment or fees. Philips Tableaux ACeP displays (13”, 25”, 32”) feature energy savings, remote management, and weigh only 3.5kg.
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  • 7 min

Travel Tech Essentialist #158: Tailwinds

🏠 Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, is excited about the company's AI platform Agentforce, predicting over a billion AI agents on it within 12 months. At Dreamforce 2024, 10,000 customers tested the platform, which is poised to revolutionize industries by automating complex tasks and enhancing customer experiences. Salesforce contrasts its AI with Microsoft's Copilot, likening it to the unhelpful Clippy. AI is expected to disrupt traditional OTA models, with companies like Equeco growing rapidly in the travel industry by managing PPC campaigns for brands from Blablacar to Marriott. Debate continues over Uber’s potential acquisition of Expedia, with Chamath Palihapitiya dismissing it as "stupid" due to AI and direct booking threats. Meanwhile, Peter Syme suggests OTAs will grow but decline in value as AI agents transform travel booking, prompting them to adopt defensive strategies.
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  • 5 min

For Hilton, slowing RevPAR doesn’t mean a reduction in performance

🏨 Hilton's global RevPAR increased by 1.4% in Q3 compared to the previous year. Chris Nassetta, CEO, remains optimistic about growth despite a challenging environment for new hotel construction. In Q3, 60% of Hilton's openings were conversions, with 20 Spark brand openings in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, and planned expansions to Germany and Austria. Hilton's net unit growth reached a record 7.8% as of September 30, 2023, with 36,600 rooms added. Construction starts rose by 21%, and Hilton leads with over 20% of the industry's rooms under construction. Group RevPAR increased more than 5% year over year, with a full-year group position up 10%. Hilton's 2025 EBITDA target is $3.69 billion with RevPAR growth of 1-2%. Around 55% of Hilton's pipeline is outside the U.S., and despite China's economic concerns, Nassetta is positive about the country's performance.
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  • 3 min

AHLA, World Wildlife Fund Make it Easier for Hoteliers to Reduce Food Waste

🏨 Cloudbeds announced its ambition to create the first property management system (PMS) that unifies hotel operations on October 23 at the Passport User Conference. Cloudbeds Intelligence, a ‘smart hospitality engine’ leveraging causal and multimodal AI, aims to offer real-time insights and actionable recommendations, potentially increasing RevPAR by 15% and occupancy rates by 10%. CEO Adam Harris emphasizes the platform's ability to guide hoteliers in dynamic decision-making across revenue management, marketing, operations, and guest experience. Head of Machine Learning at Cloudbeds, Amit Popat, highlights the platform's advanced capabilities, including predicting marketing strategies to mitigate cancellations and personalizing guest experiences. Cloudbeds Intelligence will enable hotels to optimize rates, tailor marketing campaigns, and enhance guest satisfaction using comprehensive datasets.
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  • 1 min

CoStar: U.S. Hotel Rooms Under Construction Increases for Seventh Consecutive Month

🏢 In September 2024, U.S. hotel rooms under construction rose for the seventh month in a row. Construction saw 157,253 rooms (up 7.0%), final planning included 268,190 rooms (up 10.4%), and planning had 336,205 rooms (up 38.4%). Upscale and upper midscale segments represented 50% of rooms in the final pipeline phase. The luxury and midscale categories had the highest construction growth, at 48.5% and 34.5% respectively, with luxury accounting for 8,508 rooms (5.6%) and midscale 14,902 rooms (2.9%).
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