Ronan Daniel

🛫 Expanding its B2B partner strategy, Expedia Group introduces an AI toolkit to simplify branded travel experiences. 🗓️ In the coming months, pilot partners will test the new platform. 🌍 With 24/7 support in 25 languages, the focus is on service continuity. 🔗 Recent acquisitions include Tiqets and a pending deal with CarTrawler, extending their offerings. 🚗 The B2B Partner Portal now enhances marketing strategies, while an AI-powered advertising portal broadens the Travel Media Network’s reach.

📅 In 2023, Expedia Group, led by CEO Ariane Gorin, announced its strategic shift at the Explore 26 event in Las Vegas. Celebrating 30 years, Expedia aims to be an end-to-end travel companion using AI for enhanced services. Collaborations include Uber, CLEAR for biometric airport access, and Hotels.com with IWG for coworking perks. New features include AI-driven itinerary planning and pricing insights, with tests on AI conversations in ads for trip planning. Expedia targets every travel stage from inspiration to arrival.

🛳️ intuitive, a UK-based travel technology company with over 20 years' experience, has integrated cruise features into iVector, its reservation platform. Powered by Widgety's API, the module streamlines cruise booking by incorporating live content, itineraries, and pricing. This addition, responding to customer feedback, allows tour operators and OTAs to manage all components, including cruises, flights, and hotels, within a single system, enhancing operational efficiency and conversion rates. The integration involves over 200 third-party supply connections.

🏨 Treadwell Mansion in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, opened on 15 May as a fully autonomous aparthotel, eliminating the traditional front desk. Set in a 250-year-old Georgian building, it features 38 apartment-style units. Using the Mews platform, guests receive access codes and manage their stays entirely online. Mews supports 15,000 customers in 85 countries and is recognized for its innovative PMS and POS systems. The project offers a modern hospitality model without legacy constraints, spearheaded by General Manager Liam Annis.

💸 Blink, a US HR specialist, raised $17 million (€14.63 million) led by Enlightened Hospitality Investments. 📈 In 2025, app adoption grew 300%, with users opening it seven times daily. Blink partners with Shake Shack for global expansion in hospitality, enhancing communication and engagement. 🏢 Funds aim to boost product and engineering teams and innovate the AI platform. Blink serves clients like McDonald's, Domino's, and easyJet, adding 700,000 users in hospitality alone. 💼 EHI manages over $550 million in capital.

📈 TBO, a global B2B travel platform, re-engages Vervotech to enhance hotel data accuracy worldwide. Recently listed on the stock market, TBO connects over 159,000 travel buyers with over 1 million hotels across more than 100 countries. The renewed collaboration aims to streamline hotel data using Vervotech’s AI-powered mapping, reducing duplicates and improving standardization. Founded in 2018, Vervotech operates on a SaaS model, focusing on data standardization and increasing operational efficiency.

🛫 Ixigo, an Indian online travel agency, is launching a revamped mobile app using its TARA assistant for voice and text interaction to enhance itinerary planning and hotel searches. New features include Trip Mode, Agentic Travel Flows, and real-time travel updates. The app integrates with WhatsApp, Apple Wallet, and Google Wallet for seamless travel document management. Ixigo's AI-driven approach aims to turn the app into a personalized, mobile-first travel management tool, building on collaborations with OpenAI.

🚉 Founded in 2025, Nox Mobility aims to reshape European travel with private overnight train cabins, offering an alternative to short-haul flights and hotels. It addresses issues with shared compartments and delays, benefiting both leisure and business travelers. Co-founders Thibault Constant, Janek Smalla, and Artur Hasselbach bring expertise from rail media, operational mobility, and fintech. Nox Mobility targets the 30% of night train users in France who are business travelers. Simply Railway has over 600,000 subscribers.