Innovation

📌 66% of global travel executives report profit loss due to inefficient payment systems. 70% find cross-border payments challenging, affecting a quarter of their revenue. A survey conducted by Airwallex and Skift in April 2024 included 473 travel executives across 7 markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Israel, Singapore, the UK, and the US. Modernization of payment technology is a planned priority for 90% of executives within the next 12 months, and 88% noted a shift in customer payment preferences since COVID-19. Nearly 40% of respondents reported half their revenue from international customer payments, and 75% earn more than 25% of their revenue from cross-border payments. 88% frequently deal with foreign currency payments, and 67% cite increased complexity due to FX rate volatility. Over one-third report losing 10% in profits, and 80% are interested in an all-in-one payment solution.

💰 Payment orchestrator Yuno has partnered with mobility company Meili to transform payment infrastructure in the airline industry. The partnership aims to provide airlines with a unified payment platform offering over 300 payment methods globally, one-click checkout, AI-enabled smart routing, and anti-fraud tools. Major airlines such as Avianca and Viva Aerobus have already adopted Yuno's solutions. The collaboration promises to enhance efficiency, security, and customer satisfaction in airline payment processes.

💰 Travel Compositor, a Spain-based booking engine provider, launches TC 4 Business Travel, a tech solution for Travel Management Companies (TMCs). Developed over a year with input from B2B clients, the platform combines over 16 booking engines and offers a range of services including multi-hotel reservations and multi-destination trips. The back-office features over 20 modules like CMS, Business Intelligence, and marketing tools. More than 200 XML providers can connect at no cost. Travel Compositor is ready to deploy TC 4 Business in 60 countries. CEO Manuel Aragonés aims to fill a TMC market gap with this holistic solution.

🏡 Former Airbnb employees launched Bigfoot, an AI-driven local discovery platform that uses Gen AI, user content, and 50+ data sources to offer personalized weekend plans in 160 cities. Bigfoot's "Littlefoot" provides curated, top-rated local recommendations via text, with over 120,000 activities accessible. Co-founder Alex Ward emphasized Bigfoot's unique local focus, aiming to eliminate planning monotony. The platform features multiple Large Language Models from Open AI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, and plans to integrate with Spotify and Google Maps for enhanced recommendations.

✈ AirHelp, a travel tech company, published the first half of its 2024 AirHelp Score, ranking 239 airports from 69 countries based on over 17,550 passenger ratings. Bergen Flesland Airport in Norway ranked 25th globally with 8.07 points, followed by Bodø Airport with 8.06 points. Leeds Bradford Airport was the highest-ranked UK airport at 69th. European airports struggled, with only eight in the top 50. Doha Hamad Airport leads worldwide with 8.52 points. Large airports like Detroit Metropolitan excelled with 8.20 points, while Belém Val-de-Cans led smaller airports with 8.26 points. Gatwick scored low at 6.53 points.

🛠 Häfele partnered with Like Magic to create 'Work and Sleep' hotel rooms, transforming spaces into offices or meeting rooms with digital furniture and software, aimed at utilizing vacant rooms and reducing costs. Innovative features include adjustable lighting, smartphone-controlled amenities, and keyless room access. Piloted at ibis Styles hotel in Nagold, Germany, this collaboration seeks to redefine hospitality, offering personalized services and enhancing operational efficiency, with staff managing 80% of tasks from one system, and guests enjoying a digital journey.

🏖️ Travelgenix integrates Darina Holidays as a premium supplier, offering Travelgenix clients access to DMC services in UAE, Qatar, and Oman via API. This partnership enables travel agents to deliver better service, particularly for popular British travel market destinations like Dubai. CEO Andy Speight highlights the enhancement for tour operators and travel agents, and anticipates client benefits from the enhanced booking capabilities.

📞 Character.AI introduces "Character Calls," a new feature allowing two-way voice conversations with AI characters, now available on their app for free. Users can engage with AI in various languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. The update offers reduced latency, diverse voices, pitches, accents, and the ability to switch between texting and talking. Since launching "Character Voice" months ago, over a million Voices have been created, supporting language learning, interview practice, game development, and storytelling.

🏩 Peter Feeney, DISH Business VP, highlights the importance of integrating live TV and streaming services in hotel in-room entertainment systems to meet the expectations of Millennial and Gen Z travelers, who are increasingly dominating bookings and prefer content outside traditional broadcast channels. No specific dates or numbers provided.

🖥 Autonomous agents in GenAI emerged over the past year, offering decision-making without constant human supervision. Precursors like Auto-GPT and BabyAGI, launched in early 2023, faced practical limitations. Boosts followed: November 2023, Bill Gates blogged about AI agents; February 2024, OpenAI confirmed development, hinting at a release aligning with GPT-5 in mid-2024, expected to be smarter than GPT-4. Autonomous agents may soon control computers directly, raising questions about autonomy, liability, and agent-to-agent interactions without human involvement.