Travel Weekly Group Ltd

📢 TRYBE, a cloud-native all-in-one booking solution, has integrated ResDiary, a restaurant reservation and table management platform. This integration enables guests to book restaurants with live availability while organizing their spa packages, streamlining interactions between hotel, spa, and dining services. TRYBE Co-Founder, Ricky Daniels, emphasizes the enhanced guest experience and operational simplicity. Colin Winning, Director of ResDiary, highlights the benefits for hotels and guests with this innovative partnership.

🎢 Odysseus Solutions adds Windstar Cruises to its portfolio, marking its entry into boutique sailing and motor yachts. Monish Luthra, the CEO, announces the partnership which brings luxury sailing yacht options to its platform. Windstar Cruises is known for small-ship experiences with 150 to 350 guests, sailing to destinations including Europe, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Windstar will introduce two new ships, Star Seeker in December 2025 and Star Explorer in December 2026.

💸 HBX Group, in collaboration with FinPay, launched its eWallet in Spain, designed for the travel industry with features like integrated financing and full transaction traceability. Available initially in Spain, the platform aims to digitize B2B payments and expand to OECD countries from June. This eWallet facilitates instant, cross-border transactions, aiming for efficiency, reduced costs, and operational scalability. HBX's Daniel Nordholm and FinPay's CEO Juan Antonio Soriano highlighted the move towards digitalization and sector-specific solutions.

📱 Fliggy, an online travel services platform, introduced 'AskMe', an AI travel assistant, developed with Alibaba Group, emulating professional travel consultants. 'AskMe' uses proprietary data and Alibaba's Qwen AI for personalised itineraries, operating 24/7. It features real-time, bookable itineraries, live pricing for flights, hotels, and attractions with budget-adjustment capabilities. Additionally, it supports voice commands and generates visually rich itineraries with interactive maps, also allowing for social media sharing.

🏠 At the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2025, running from 28 April to 1 May in Dubai, AI's role in advancing travel will be highlighted. AI and machine learning capture about two-thirds of global tech investment deals in travel since 2020. Danielle Curtis, ATM Exhibition Director, promises visionary speakers and innovative solutions in booking and data analysis. Cassie Kozyrkov, ex-Google AI expert, will discuss AI adoption in travel on the opening day.

📦 Accelya launches FLX ONE Cargo, a cloud-native platform, to enhance airline cargo operations with AI and machine learning on AWS Cloud. The platform aims for better capacity planning, overbooking strategies, cargo space utilization, and reduces costs. FLX ONE Cargo enables real-time operations, digital connectivity, and offers to settlement lifecycle support. Tim Reiz, the Chief Product & Technology Officer at Accelya, emphasizes the necessity for modern infrastructure in the air cargo industry. The API-first architecture of FLX ONE Cargo complies with IATA standards, including ONE Record.

🏨 Hospitality tech management company Cloudbeds launched Cloudbeds Labs to accelerate AI-driven operations in the hospitality industry. The hub introduces Signals, the first causal AI platform for revenue and marketing optimization with 96%+ forecast accuracy up to 180 days out, and Engage, an AI voice concierge offering 24/7 multilingual support and the ability to complete voice-driven bookings. The solutions aim to tackle OTA commissions, labor costs, and improve operational efficiency and guest experience.

💸 European software company Mews launches a new Multicurrency feature to enhance payment experiences and boost hotel revenues. Available now in Europe with a global release scheduled for later this year, the feature integrates into Mews' automated payments platform, offering transparent pricing in guests' preferred currency. A beta program with over 100 hotels showed a 43% adoption rate. Hotels gain by keeping a share of conversion fees, while guests avoid hidden bank charges.

🏠 Nearly 80% (79.7%) of independent short-term rental (STR) hosts won't hire property management companies in the next year due to high costs (82.2%) and preference for control (58.4%). Over 12.5% returned to self-management after dissatisfaction with traditional management services. They value direct guest interaction (63.7%), higher profitability without management fees (54.7%), and flexibility (48.8%). Technology is crucial for 96.8% of hosts, as tools like Hospitable's software, founded in 2016, enable efficient management, with features like 90% automated guest messaging and synchronized calendars.