Kate Harden-England1

🏖️ 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.

📃 VFS Global's Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD) service expands to Bulgaria, Iceland, Estonia, and Slovenia from the UK, offering convenient visa application and biometrics enrollment at preferred locations. The service is a response to increased demand for personalized services and aims to save time and money by processing multiple applications simultaneously without the need for in-person appointments. Anirudh Singh, COO of Europe and CIS at VFS Global, cites the rise in demand during the pandemic and the ongoing trend of travelers seeking comfort and convenience.

🏡 Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) launched Smart Compset, a feature within Benchmark Insight, aimed at revolutionizing hotel revenue management. Utilizing AI and data analysis, Smart Compset offers anonymous, aggregated data on Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR). Tailored for hoteliers, it factors in base rate, class, location, and star rating to produce a dynamic competitive set. Developed with hotel partners, Smart Compset is available worldwide, providing a strategic asset for revenue growth.

🏗️ Travel tech startup Turneo closed a €2 million seed investment, led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Underline Ventures, to enhance its AI-driven platform and expand its global footprint. The investment aims to help hotels offer better in-destination activities, anticipating that $172 billion of the projected $463 billion market by 2030 will flow through hotels. Turneo's platform has already helped hotels secure 8% higher guest ratings and witnessed over two-thirds of activity bookings made online during the 2024 Europe summer season.