Kate Harden-England1

🏨 W Sydney, a five-star hotel at Darling Harbour, collaborates with IRIS for a digital guest experience app. The technology enhanced guest satisfaction and operational efficiency, leading to increased room service orders and ancillary revenue in the first 6 months. W Sydney's B&F director Anand Prabeer acknowledges the app as a game-changer for the hotel's service and revenue generation. IRIS' VP of sales and marketing, Graham Rushin, expresses enthusiasm about the partnership and ongoing efforts to meet guest expectations for efficient service.

🛫 AXA Hong Kong & Macau partners with Trip.com to launch Trip.com Travel Smart, offering three insurance plans covering medical expenses up to HKD 1.5 million, personal liability up to HKD 2 million, along with baggage, delays, and cancellations. Policies are manageable via AXA’s Emma app, enhancing travellers’ peace of mind and providing a seamless experience. Customers can earn Trip Coins for purchases on the Trip.com platform.

🚢 Exoticca, a travel tech platform, closed a €60 million Series D round led by Quadrille Capital, with participation from All Iron, ICF, and existing investors 14W, Mangrove, Bonsai, Sabadell, and Aldea. The investment will advance Exoticca's technology, including AI, to enhance customer experience and partner profitability, aiming to make multi-day tours—worth over €100 billion—more efficient and affordable, cutting booking times to minutes and offering prices about 30% lower than competitors. The company, led by CEO Pere Vallès, is focused on global expansion and digitizing the multi-day tour space.

📍 Spotnana's platform offers corporations a global view of their travel program's carbon emissions for all modes of travel, leveraging Thrust Carbon's methodology. Thrust Carbon recently became the only company assured to ISO's 14083 standard. Spotnana's unified platform facilitates the inclusion of Thrust Carbon's data in both online and offline booking for TMCs. Real-time booking data is streamed to Thrust Carbon for analytics and reporting. Mark Corbett, founder of Thrust Carbon, highlights the partnership's aim to achieve net zero in travel. Spotnana and Thrust Carbon are collaborating on innovations for sustainable travel management.

🏨 Guestline, part of Access Group, enhances its GuestStay offering with self-service options and AI integration, easing hotel staff's workload and elevating guest autonomy. The portal allows guests to manage reservations, add services, and make restaurant bookings via ResDiary. Notably, properties report 25% of table bookings through GuestStay, with more upsell features in development. GuestStay aids in increasing Total Revenue per Available Room (TRevPAR) and improving guest experience, particularly for room-only OTA bookings. Further updates to the portal are expected later in 2024.