Ronan Daniel

🏖 Lighthouse launched The Hotels Network, a ChatGPT-integrated bookings app, in June 2025. 🌍 Worldwide availability, this tool operates on a flat-fee, commission-free model, connecting hotels directly to travelers. 📊 62% of travelers prefer direct booking, per a Simon-Kucher survey. 🏨 The app uses hotel-verified content and real-time data, ensuring control over brand narrative and offering direct rates. 🆕 It's a new distribution channel aiming to reduce dependency on OTAs, already live in ChatGPT's App Directory.

💳 Travelsoft Pay, launched in 2025, partners with Mastercard to enhance global travel payments using the Mastercard Wholesale Program (MWP). Supporting over 400 customers and €50 billion in annual bookings across 90 countries, Travelsoft Pay's API-first platform automates and secures payments. CEO Christian Sabbagh highlights reliability and transparency, while Managing Director Mary Cotugno emphasizes automation and scalability. MWP simplifies virtual card use, aiding cash-flow and inter-company payments in the travel industry.

📅 In Berlin, Shiji launched the Booking Studio, part of the Stellaris Digital portfolio. This direct booking engine integrates with Daylight PMS to offer real-time availability, pricing, and reservations without third-party delays. Hotels gain full control over the booking process, maintaining brand identity. Booking Studio simplifies complex booking scenarios and aims to enhance direct bookings, reducing reliance on intermediaries. Krisztina Budai from Shiji emphasizes its focus on operational confidence and brand-centric experiences.

🚀 Low-cost Spanish airline Volotea will adopt Navitaire Stratos, an AI-driven, cloud-native retailing platform by Amadeus. The move enhances personalised shopping, with a unified shopping cart and expanded self‑service options. Stratos simplifies partner airline connections and integrates with third-party services like car hire. This aims to boost revenue and improve agility in a competitive market. The platform's open architecture accelerates new capability introductions, ensuring Volotea stays ahead in dynamic, data‑driven commerce.

💳 RateGain Travel Technologies integrates Stripe with its UNO Booking Engine to optimize hotel direct bookings by enhancing cross-border payments and reducing checkout friction. Stripe's enterprise-grade payment infrastructure supports multiple payment methods, ensuring compliance across currencies and geographies. This partnership aims to boost conversion rates and strengthen hotel-guest relationships by maintaining control over the direct channel. As part of UNO's "Direct Stack" vision, it addresses hoteliers' needs to simplify payments while reducing reliance on intermediaries.

💸 Happyhotel, founded in 2019, raised €6.5 million in a Series A round led by Reimann Investors to automate hotel room sales using AI. Operating in 12 European countries, the German startup aims to alleviate recruitment challenges and rising costs by automating revenue management tasks. Following a €2 million seed round in 2023, the AI agent is set to enhance profitability and competitiveness for independent hotels and groups across Europe.

🗺️ WeTravel's 2026 study examines AI's role in trip planning. Analyzing 1.3 million travelers and 400+ companies, it shows AI is central to trip personalization—56% of operators now require it. By 2026, 30% of advisors review AI-generated itineraries, and 23% incorporate AI-sourced recommendations. AI boosts efficiency; 42% say it accelerates research, and 28% cut itinerary costs. Yet, only 14% report increased bookings, with 8% seeing declines, highlighting AI's mixed impact on the travel sector.

📦 Sky-Blue, a UK-based company from Reading, Berkshire, introduces eco-friendly onboard service solutions, including 100% compostable Nimbuva cups and ultra-lightweight cutlery, claiming these items reduce fuel consumption by lowering onboard mass. The cutlery is up to 60% lighter than traditional stainless steel, targeting Economy, Business, and First Class with a focus on sustainability, design, and brand consistency. The company aims to help airlines meet environmental targets amidst increasing demands for sustainable products.