Travel Weekly Group Ltd

🏦 Bob W, a tech-powered hospitality provider, partnered with Aroundtown to launch a 52-unit serviced apartment offer in Dortmund, Germany, in a former post office. The long-term lease is for 3,300 sq m at the Alte Post building, which hosts over 10,000 sq m of office space, retail, and commercial facilities. This marks Bob W's fifth location in Germany and will expand its presence to 18 European cities across 10 countries. Fit-out work has started, with a planned opening in 2026. Further expansions in key German cities like Stuttgart, Cologne, and Hamburg are under discussion.

💰 Guestline, an Access Group company, enhanced GuestPay to include contactless payments with Google Pay and Apple Pay. These digital wallets can be used for in-store, online, or direct hotel bill payments with no limit on transactions or value, and no user fees. In 2023, mobile wallets were used for 50% of global online transactions, with over 300 million Google Pay or Apple Pay users, signaling a significant retail opportunity for hotels. Manish Madnawat, Senior Product Manager at Guestline, emphasizes the convenience, efficiency, and reduced fraud risk that these mobile wallet payment options offer for the hospitality industry.

🚀 Dolphin Dynamics enhanced their booking capture module to support TUI bookings, streamlining the booking process for travel agents. This integration results in a one-click import of booking details into Dolphin's platform and allows for updated data recapture. TUI saw "significant double-digit" growth in the past year, with the independent sector claiming a larger sales share. The new feature reduces manual data entry and reflects TUI's strategy to strengthen trade relationships. Dolphin Dynamics aims to save agents time and minimize errors with this update.

🏨 Net Affinity, a hotel tech provider founded in Dublin in 2000, serves over 400 UK and Ireland hotels. Partnering with PXP, they aim to simplify hoteliers' reservations and payments, enhancing guest experiences and securing transactions. PXP processes over €30bn yearly and offers advanced fraud detection to reduce chargebacks. Net Affinity's William Cotter and PXP's Christopher Gilderson highlight the partnership's focus on streamlining payment management and fraud prevention for hotels. Future plans include new payment features and improved fraud detection for the hospitality sector.

🧮 TUI Musement research, conducted in June 2024 by Appinio with 1,200 adults in Germany, Spain, and the UK, found that only 22% of UK participants can easily distinguish AI-generated images, compared to 9% in Germany and Spain. Gen Z and Millennials (17%) claim to distinguish better than Gen X (11%) and Baby Boomers (6%), yet all groups struggled. 88% prefer a mix of professional and user-generated content for trust and purchasing influence, and TUI manages over 35 million images with AI, avoiding AI-generated destination images to maintain authenticity. CEO Peter Ulwahn emphasizes balancing innovation with transparency in AI deployment.

🎫 Christian Terrill joined Expian as strategic project manager to assist the company's growth, backed by recent project wins with P&O Ferries and Historic Royal Palaces. Expian, an experience-centric ticketing platform, is expanding its management team to accommodate increasing demand. Terrill, formerly with the Royal Ballet and Opera and LW Theatres, will focus on delivering ticketing technology solutions and supporting AI development. Expian's managing director, Yiannis Maglaras, emphasized Terrill's transformative project management experience as valuable for scaling operations and enhancing venue sales.

📱 Canary Technologies launched its AI Voice platform, a suite of AI-powered hotel assistants designed to manage guest calls, drive bookings, and streamline operations. The platform includes AI Front Desk Assistant, AI Concierge Assistant, AI Central Reservations Assistant, and Canary’s AI Booking Agent. Co-founder and president SJ Sawhney emphasized the platform's role in improving guest communication and service, as well as handling peak demand to prevent a compromised guest experience and missed revenue.

💸 Lastminute.ae launched, offering discounted flights from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Part of lastminute.com, established in 1998, and based in Dubai, it caters to Middle Eastern travelers with bilingual services. General Manager Yiannis Papadonikolakis highlighted the company's customer-first approach and regional expertise. The Middle East's airline traffic is projected to rise by 8.8% in 2025. Dubai International Airport ranked as the world's busiest with 5.3 million seats in December. Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport served 49.1 million passengers in 2024, a 15% increase from 2023. Kuwait City airport is expanding capacity to 50 million passengers with a new terminal in 2025.