Innovation

📡 United Airlines received FAA approval for its first Starlink-equipped Embraer 175, with the inaugural commercial flight set for May. The partnership, announced eight months prior, aims to complete installations on over 300 two-cabin regional jets by the end of the year, averaging 40 installs monthly. Beta testing is currently underway to ensure passenger satisfaction. United, partnering with Starlink, is working to obtain STCs for over 16 aircraft types to enhance the inflight experience with lighter, more reliable, and fuel-efficient technology.

🚀 TravelPerk, celebrating a decade in business, undergoes a rebrand to symbolize its expansion and new vision. Collaborated with Wolff Olins, it introduces 'Perk Green' to diverge from the conventional industry blue. The rebrand highlights the shift to an integrated travel and expense management platform. VP of Global Marketing, Jada Balster led the initiative, aiming to resonate with various users like employees, CFOs, and travel managers. Marked by acquisitions of ClickTravel, AmTrav, and Yokoy, and a $200 million Series E funding, TravelPerk targets the US market growth. The refreshed brand identity will be implemented across all platforms and launched through a campaign this month.

💸 IDeaS, a SAS company, announces a technology integration partnership with Medialog PMS, aiming to increase productivity and profitability for 1400 French hotels by allowing real-time data exchange and eliminating manual errors. The collaboration provides advanced revenue management tools integrated with Medialog PMS, enhancing revenue, occupancy, and ADR optimization. Medialog's president Cyrille Bellefaix and IDeaS director Olga Tolle-Rodrigues highlight the benefits in operational efficiency and revenue maximization for hoteliers.

💻 Cloudbeds awarded Elite Connectivity Partner Status by Expedia Group for 2025, ranking in the top 2% of Expedia's over 400 partners. Achieved a 99.7% API integration success rate, 100% booking success rate, and 36% YoY growth in new properties on Expedia via Cloudbeds. This partnership enables direct collaboration on product development for competitive advantages in distribution and guest acquisition.

📌 Google expanded its AI Overviews tool to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland last week after a US launch in May 2024. The tool affects organic traffic, with Civitatis analyzing its implications on travel brands. AI Overviews provide direct answers in Google searches, potentially decreasing website visits. Raúl Valencia of Civitatis urges the tourism industry to adapt with high-quality content, optimize for conversational searches, and diversify traffic sources to stay competitive.

📌 UATP, a global payment network, announced HRS as a new merchant, enabling UATP payments for business travelers and groups with HRS' corporate lodging technology. This partnership marks UATP's first large-scale hotel acceptance, offering direct access to HRS' business-travel ready hotels and integrated invoice automation, billing, and reconciliation. Announced one day before UATP’s Airline Distribution® 2025 event in Budapest, the collaboration aims to create an ecosystem for business travel, optimize corporate account holders, and expand UATP's footprint amidst rising corporate travel demand. HRS' AI-powered platform technology and UATP's payment expertise offer enhanced automation and reporting for corporate travel managers.

📌 UATP, a global payment network, announced HRS, a corporate lodging and payment platform, as a new UATP Merchant, marking UATP's first major move into hotel acceptance. This partnership allows for UATP payments at a wide array of business-travel ready hotels and offers invoice automation, billing, and reconciliation from a single provider. The announcement came ahead of UATP’s Airline Distribution® 2025 event in Budapest, with discussions led by UATP CEO Ralph Kaiser and HRS CEO Tobias Ragge on March 19. The collaboration is expected to enhance payment efficiency for corporate travel managers, HRS’ core market, where UATP accounts are commonly used. HRS provides an AI-powered platform for hotel procurement, booking, and payment, while UATP adds its payment expertise to the sector. Both companies aim for mutual benefits from their aligned technological innovations.