Innovation

🛫 Travelport expands its network by integrating four European travel tech firms—CEE Travel Systems, NPF with Abreu, TTS, and Vibe—into Travelport+. They utilize Travelport's JSON-based NDC APIs for richer airline content. This partnership, announced by Travelport's chief commercial officer Jason Toothman, enhances travel retailing with better connectivity and choice. Vibe's Danny Girling emphasized delivering scalable, modern retail experiences. These efforts advance Travelport’s mission to modernize travel retailing through efficient, dynamic solutions.

💻 Omni Hotels & Resorts migrated to Oracle's OPERA Cloud Central platform in March 2025 after a 36-month evaluation. The shift involved significant collaboration, extensive planning, and user acceptance testing. The first hotel on the new system is in Fort Lauderdale, with broader deployment planned through 2026. This transition is enhancing booking performance, accelerating feature releases, and improving workflows, setting the stage for modern guest experiences and technological agility across Omni’s 55-property portfolio.

💻 Eva, a platform by foreva.ai, enhances restaurant operations. Who? Eva. When? Currently available. Where? Restaurants. What? Eva autonomously manages complex orders, increasing food order revenue by 15-25% and reducing staff call handling by 80-95%. How? Through a multi-modal AI system requiring under 24 hours for deployment. Eva integrates voice and SMS, offering personalized promotions and real-time customer interactions. The five-person team is working on multi-channel enhancements and encourages restaurants to adopt AI for operational efficiency.

🏨 In the hospitality sector, workforce challenges are critical. Labor participation is stagnant at 62.5%-63%, hindered by factors like early retirement and childcare access. HR leaders face retention (59%), talent attraction (56%), and management (52%) issues, causing over $140,000 in annual productivity losses. Recruiting and onboarding are costly, at $18,818 annually. With turnover costing $10,431 per worker, outsourcing HR tasks is rising. By 2025, 59% plan to outsource payroll (43%) and other tasks for improved efficiency.

📱 Texas A&M Hotel & Conference Center partnered with Maestro PMS and PurpleCloud Technologies to enhance operations, focusing on housekeeping. Room inspections dropped from 30 to under 10 minutes, and payroll costs decreased by around 12% in a year. Mobile solutions replaced manual systems, boosting efficiency and guest satisfaction, reaching 96.6%. Gamification improved staff engagement. The collaboration improved internal communication, workflow efficiency, and reduced operational costs, enhancing the guest experience.

🛏 MIAMI, Florida — SMARTLINEN launched the Intelegente Fine Linen Collection for four and five-star hotels and resorts. The collection features RFID-embedded linens for real-time tracking and data-driven decision-making. Benefits include reduced linen loss, elimination of manual inventory checks, optimized purchasing, and extended linen lifespan. The enhanced mobile app offers real-time insights into linen performance and usage. William Serbin, CEO, aims to combine intelligence with luxury, enhancing guest experience and operational control.