Travel Weekly Group Ltd

💳 HBX Group and Mastercard launch a virtual payment program leveraging Mastercard's 10-year-old Wholesale Programme. This initiative targets travel payments across the EU, UK, and US, offering enhanced transaction processing, fraud protection, and cash-flow visibility. The program aims to address the travel industry's payment challenges by replacing manual processes with secure, automated virtual card payments. Expansion into APAC is expected in early 2026, with LATAM to follow.

📰 Eventiz Group, which acquired the Travolution brand in October, plans to merge it with TOM.travel to create a French-language version. Frédéric Vanhoutte, the president of Eventiz, emphasizes the global need for innovation and technology in travel. The collaboration with Jacobs Media will intensify in the coming months, enhancing the European voice in travel tech and tourism. The merger aims to provide solutions that transcend specific markets.

💻 Dubai, December 2025: A new contactless hotel check-in system allows guests to bypass front desk procedures after a one-time ID and biometric upload. Data remains valid until the ID expires, enabling quick re-authentication on future visits using facial recognition. This innovation, developed by Visit Dubai, aims to enhance guest experiences and is already integrable by hotels and holiday homes across Dubai. The technology may extend to other tourism areas, such as car rentals, further advancing smart tourism.

🛫 GoNexus Group closed its 2024-2025 fiscal year in September with "historic" growth. The company served 7.4 million customers, showing an 8% increase in transported passengers (6.25 million) and 511,000 excursion bookings. New destinations include Las Vegas, Mexico City, and more. The launch of the NexusTours App and AI tools improved customer sentiment by 12% and conversions by 7%. Plans for 2025–2026 include expansion into Europe, the US, Canada, and Latin America.

📱 Hospitality platform IRIS reported a 42% increase in mobile orders over the past year across 2,000 hotels globally. The top five countries using mobile orders are the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Japan, with in-room dining and other outlets popular. Hotels benefit from a 10-minute reduction in wait times. Notable orders include a single $1,500 in-room order and a $500 grocery order. Mobile ordering boosts revenue and guest satisfaction, meeting diverse guest needs.

🛫 Corporate travel is surging, according to Navan's 2026 report, with 90% viewing it as essential, up 8% from 2025. Key reasons include deal-closing. A jump to 76% trust AI for T&E tasks, up from 59% in 2024. 88% of managers see savings with New Distribution Capability. Interest in all-in-one T&E solutions rose to 77% from 66% in 2024. 80% book off-platform, while 77% find current tools lacking.

🚄 Trainline, UK, announces new app features to improve rail disruptions, anticipating end-of-year delays. Travel Forecast provides advance delay/cancellation alerts. Real-time train locations via Signalbox. 18 million users enhance forecasting. Delay Repay alerts customers for compensation, with £1 million processed during summer beta. New AI-powered Travel Assistant and Train Swap feature offer easy train changes. Nina de Souza highlights the commitment to enhance customer rail journeys. These updates align with Trainline's "The way to train" vision.