Innovation

🪰 Minor Hotels Europe & Americas aims to cut scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 46.2% by 2030 from 2019 levels and reduce company-wide emissions by 90% by 2050, aligning with the Paris agreement. The group, with over 350 buildings in 30+ countries, utilizes the Deepki ESG platform to track environmental performance and streamline sustainability efforts for net zero transition, approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The platform aids in automating data collection and enhancing energy efficiency.

📒 A hotel restaurant POS can increase operational efficiency, guest satisfaction, and revenue. A bustling restaurant at a hotel can lose over $290 for every 10 minutes of staff bottlenecks, impacting annual revenue. Advanced POS features and 83% of consumers consider positive online reviews important, which can be boosted by satisfying guests with a seamless POS experience. Key POS features include integration capabilities, cloud-based systems, table management, menu management, inventory tracking, and mobile ordering. Lightspeed, a global POS and payments platform, partners with Cloudbeds to provide such solutions to enhance hospitality businesses.

💰 Major franchise companies roll out new brands targeting growth and consumer loyalty, with five notable launches in the past 24 months. The extended-stay segment outperforms, leading to the introduction of ECHO Suites by Wyndham, Hyatt Studios, and StudioRes by Marriott. Hilton's Spark brand, launched January 2023, has 43 open hotels and over 100 expected by year-end. IHG's Garner hotels, debuted September 2023, opened four properties with 12 in the pipeline and global expansion planned. ECHO's first hotel opened in 2022 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with 270 deals signed. Marriott's StudioRes broke ground in Fort Myers, Florida, with a spring 2025 opening expected.

💾 Google announced it will soon add a digital U.S. passport to Google Wallet, allowing use at select TSA checkpoints. Google Wallet, which launched in July 2022, also stores credit cards and tickets and is available on Android devices and online. In contrast, Apple has been accepting state IDs since 2022 and plans to add California, but has not announced a digital passport. Finland was the first country to enable digital passports in 2023, with Poland, South Korea, and the UK following suit. The U.S. digital passport will use existing TSA tech standards, with no additional tech needed. Google has more than doubled its Wallet users for commutes in the last 18 months and is adding transit tickets for cities like Hamburg, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

📊 High-profile leaders featured include Alexandre Lebrun, CEO of Nabla; André Martins, VP of AI Research at Unbabel; Aureliusz Górski, Founder & CEO of CampusAI; Börje Ekholm, President & CEO of Ericsson; Benedict Macon-Cooney, Chief Policy Strategist at Tony Blair Institute; and Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO of Spotify, among others, representing fields like AI, technology, policy, and commerce. These individuals hold pivotal roles at their respective organizations, influencing tech and AI sectors.

💸 TripAdmit, a digital engagement solutions provider for tours, raised €1m in funding from DataOp for its TipDirect app. The Dublin-based company will expand in North America and Europe, enhancing tour guides’ tipping and upselling capabilities with cashless, AI technology. Co-founder John Maguire aims to develop the tech and lead in existing markets, while ComOp's Glen Magee supports TripAdmit for its innovative digital tipping technology in the growing tours market.

🌪 Sabre Hospitality partners with Sensible Weather to offer Weather Guarantee services through SynXis Booking Engine, providing guests with automatic reimbursements for adverse weather events during their stay. This integration aims to increase booking conversions, reduce cancellations, and improve guest satisfaction by ensuring a positive experience despite weather disruptions. Ethan Wiseman and Nick Cavanaugh, heads of their respective companies, believe this will give travelers confidence in committing to travel plans.

📊 Malaysia Airlines selects Sabre's PRISM solution to power and optimize its corporate segment. PRISM provides advanced data analytics and ingests data from over 5,000 sources, with 200m+ individual corporate flight bookings in 2023. Fully hosted on Google Cloud, it offers weekly data submissions, API for daily updates, and is GDPR compliant. Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi, CEO of Airlines from MAG, expresses the choice will enhance corporate travel, drive growth, and boost revenue.

🏖️ First Choice launches "First Choice Insiders," a new influencer marketing strategy targeting next-gen travelers by enabling them to ‘shop the look’ from five travel influencers. The program, inspired by the fashion industry, integrates influencers' handpicked trips with detailed itineraries into the First Choice website for direct booking. Managing director Bart Quinton Smith emphasizes the shift in young travelers' online behavior, favoring immediate purchases at the inspiration stage. The launch follows Expedia Group's Travel Shop announcement, stressing the growing trend of blending travel inspiration with e-commerce.

📍 Corendon Airlines partners with IBS Software to transform commercial operations, expecting to handle over 37 million passengers. They'll use iFly Res for unified seat/tour operator inventory and advanced Revenue Management. The deal includes dynamic optimisation and real-time data for improved operations and competitive pricing. Corendon will enhance customer experience via NDC-based distribution offering dynamic, personalised options. First phase roll-out in December, second phase in March 2025. Corendon is the third Turkish airline, after Sun Express and Freebird, to adopt IBS's solutions.