Ronan Daniel

🛫 Navan, on 2 March in Palo Alto, launched Navan Edge, an AI assistant for business travelers. The tool personalizes bookings for hotels, flights, and restaurants, considering preferences and real-time constraints. It offers disruption management and can rebook or alert services as needed. Serving 10,000+ companies with data from millions of bookings, it promises executive assistant-like service. Initially available in the U.S., hotel booking is live, with flights and restaurants to follow.

💻 In 2024, AI-first hotels are revolutionizing hospitality, boosting visibility, revenue, and efficiency. Boston Consulting Group's report highlights AI-driven changes: 37% of travelers use LLMs for trip planning, while digital direct bookings reach $262 billion. AI optimizers enhance room revenue by over 15%. At The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, AI accelerates room cleaning by 20%, while Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo cuts food waste by 50%. Yet, fewer than 10% of professionals fully embrace AI, facing legacy system barriers.

💳 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.

💸 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.

💳 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.