Innovation

🚀 Sabre Corporation has partnered with Garuda Indonesia, providing fare management solutions to enhance the airline's pricing capabilities and operations. Garuda aims to support its transformation strategy and tackle fare management challenges. Sabre's Fares Manager, Contract Manager, and Fares Optimizer will assist in revenue growth, pricing strategy optimization, and real-time fare adjustments. Garuda operates domestically and internationally and joins over 30 airlines using Sabre's technology.

🌍 European travellers spending €775 on average for weekend trips during winter, with daily expenses reaching €320. Data from Speakspots.com, analyzing over 5,000 travel plans from 15 November 2024 to 15 February 2025, indicates winter city breaks are €121 cheaper than summer. Accommodation costs average €150 per night, with €97 on food and €72 on activities per day. Over half of winter trips are weekends, while 55% are short stays. Northern European countries attract family trips, with 40% of travellers seeking nature experiences, especially in Croatia, Malta, and Greece.

✈ Air New Zealand passengers can now use Apple's ‘Find My’ feature to track lost luggage with an AirTag. Launched in the Air NZ app in September 2023, the service allows both airline and passengers to use a live location link to find delayed or mishandled bags. The airline's Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil Ravishankar, highlights the added security this provides. Users can generate a location link from the Find My app and share it with the Baggage Tracing team for updated location tracking with timestamps.

💥 On New Year's Day at Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded, resulting in one fatality and seven injuries. Authorities, including Sheriff Kevin McMahill, are investigating but have not confirmed the explosion's cause. Elon Musk suggested fireworks or a bomb in the vehicle, and The Washington Post reported Musk donated $277 million to Republicans in 2024. A related recall in December affected 700,000 Tesla vehicles, including Cybertrucks, due to a tire pressure issue.

🏖 Global travel gross bookings to rise from $1.6 trillion in 2024 to $1.72 trillion in 2025. Online gross bookings forecasted to hit $1.0 trillion in 2024 and $1.2 trillion by 2026, accounting for nearly 65% of total bookings. U.S. travelers in 2024 preferred domestic travel, while Europeans favored international trips. Phocuswright's report offers detailed insights into the global $1.61 trillion travel market, covering market sizing, trends, consumer behavior, technology, sustainability, payments, and funding.

💻 Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, proposed a future with enterprise software comprising AI-powered chatbots at Nvidia's GTC in March 2024. Nvidia overtook Apple as the most valuable company in October 2024. Klarna, a fintech firm, cut ties with Salesforce and Workday in August 2024 to focus on AI automation. SaaS/PaaS for travel jumped to over 12% of all travel-related funding in 2023. Phocuswright's June 2024 report "True Automated AI in Travel Is Coming" discussed the rise of autonomous agents. OpenAI launched a more advanced AI model series, o1, in September 2024.

🤖 Kura Sushi utilizes a robotic arm to ensure compliance and reduce human error, maintaining disposal rates at 3%. Their growth exceeds 20% annually due to automation, which also reduces staffing needs to 60-70 employees per location, compared to typical restaurants with 80-100. Revenue averages $4 million. The Bikkura Pon Prize System gamifies dining by rewarding guests with a prize after depositing 15 plates. Collaborations with gaming brands for promotions have included Nintendo. Drink robots introduced in 2019 enhance service and the brand's fun, tech-forward image.

🍴 In 2024, Starbucks experienced a mid-teens percent order incompletion rate in their Mobile Order & Pay channel due to long wait times and product unavailability. Steak n Shake implemented PopID's biometric check-in and checkout system for enhanced customer experience. Hospitality Technology announced the 2024 Top Women and Rising Stars in Restaurant Technology, highlighting tech innovation from Jersey Mike's to Pizza Factory. Robotics and AI were key topics at the National Retail Federation's Big Show. Southern Classic Chicken discussed new drive-thru tech plans in HT Talks Tech. POS software vendors shared their 2024 plans, following 2023 achievements. The 2024 Customer Engagement Technology Study by HT revealed how technology fosters customer loyalty. The 2024 POS Software Trends Study showed the importance of integration and adaptation in POS systems. The 26th annual Restaurant Technology Study by HT highlighted the use of human-digital hybrid solutions to address industry challenges.