Innovation

🗺️ British travellers in 2026 plan more holidays, with Gen Z and Millennials leading demand. Nearly 80% of Brits aim for as many or more trips, with an average of four trips per person. AI is used by 62% of Gen Z and 57% of Millennials for trip planning. UK travellers book 4.9 months in advance. Oslo, Copenhagen, Rabat, and Split/Zagreb are popular destinations. Partner-only breaks are most popular (44%), and 49% prioritize food and drink. Lux-scaping is rising, with 46% booking luxury stays.

💻 In 2024, Google's AI Overviews launched globally, marking a shift from traditional search to a generative internet era. A recent study shows that zero-click searches in the U.S. rose from 24.4% to 27.2% within a year, reducing click-through rates by 30-35%. Meanwhile, AI-assisted coding now accounts for 46% of new code on GitHub. ChatGPT has transformed into a "travel mall," integrating with Expedia and Booking.com, reflecting a move towards conversational commerce.

📺 PPDS unveiled the new Philips MediaSuite TV Series in Amsterdam, debuting in 2026. Models 6000 and 7000 offer Google Cast, AirPlay, Netflix, and Cloud gaming. Ambilight technology, available in the 6000 Series, enhances viewing, while Bluetooth headphones and Bandwidth Guard optimize performance. Sizes range from 24 to 65 inches, with a depth under 3 cm for the 7000 Series. Designed for energy efficiency and data security, these TVs promise to redefine hotel entertainment.

📈 Travel tech insights: Greg Isenberg explains AI's role in shifting value to unique, non-automatable areas like trusted brands and real-world presence. Kyle Poyar's analysis with ChartMogul shows only 2% of 6,500 SaaS companies hit $25M ARR in 10 years, with AI-native startups more likely to reach $1M ARR in 6 months. Visitor data highlights Booking.com and Airbnb overlap, 79% of Airbnb users also visiting Booking.com. Revolut acquires Swifty, expanding its travel and lifestyle offerings.

🏖 Singapore, October 23, 2025 – South Palms Resort & Spa Panglao, part of the MGallery Collection in Bohol, Philippines, enhances services with Infrasys Cloud POS by Shiji. This cloud technology optimizes operations across 188+ rooms, dining, spa, and leisure venues, providing seamless guest experiences. The integration allows centralized reporting and data-driven decisions. Shiji serves over 91,000 hotels globally with 5,000 employees. Key figures Steven Hopkinson and Terence Ronson emphasized the improved guest experience.

🏨 Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, managing Ayers Rock Resort and Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre, faced challenges with fragmented feedback systems. Prior feedback methods were lengthy, inconsistent, and often delayed. Low survey participation and decentralized online review management added to the issues. To improve, Voyages adopted Reviewpro Reputation for real-time insights, consolidating guest feedback into a single system for faster service recovery and enhanced operational efficiency.

📈 Wyndham Hotels & Resorts saw a 4% YOY growth in system-wide rooms and a record 257,000 rooms in its development pipeline. Q3 RevPAR decreased by 5% compared to last year, with a projected full-year decline of 2% to 3%. 70% of Wyndham's pipeline is in midscale and above segments, with 58% international. AI agents improved direct bookings, contributing to nearly 300 basis points of improvement in hotel direct contributions. Wyndham launched a $95 travel subscription for enhanced customer perks.

🏨 20+ years ago, hotel marketing was revolutionized by the internet; today, AI is set to transform it again. Conor Grennan identifies four common pitfalls in AI adoption. The rise of retail media is challenged by budget cuts and measurement issues, urging better analytics. A $1 million ad was created using Google's AI with no cameras. The "Paypal Mafia" of hotel marketing, WIHP, was instrumental in launching many innovative hotel tech startups.

📨 Max Extranet introduces Expedia Guest Messaging Integration, enabling hoteliers to manage Expedia conversations in real time from the Bookings Module. This upgrade improves guest engagement by allowing direct replies, instant notifications, and sharing of text, images, and PDFs. For example, Blue Horizon Beach Resort can seamlessly arrange airport transfers via messaging. Notifications are immediate, aiding swift responses, and communication is recorded for departmental visibility, enhancing workflow efficiency.

🚄 Eurostar is investing €2 billion in 50 new double-decker trains by Alstom, enhancing capacity and sustainability. The Eurostar Celestia will debut in January 2031, aiming for 30 million annual passengers. Each 200m train will offer around 540 seats, with 1,080 seats in a 400m formation. The fleet will bring 350 new jobs at London’s Temple Mills depot, which will be upgraded for €80 million. The total fleet will increase by 30% to 67 trains.