Innovation

✈ Sabre Corporation, a global travel tech company, and CellPoint Digital, a payment orchestration company, have partnered to transform airline payments. Airlines using SabreSonic and Radixx can now access a variety of payment methods and services, improving user experience and reducing costs. This integration offers options like international card networks, digital wallets, non-card-based methods, deferred payments, mobile-based solutions, and direct bank transfers. The collaboration aims to simplify adopting new payment options for airlines, optimizing payment strategies, and ensuring transaction security. Nicolas Ortiz Luengo, Senior Director at Sabre, emphasizes the commitment to flexible payment solutions and cost reduction. Kristian Gjerding, CEO of CellPoint Digital, notes the ease of accessing pre-integrated methods through a single connection.

✈ Kenya Airways has become the first Sub-Saharan airline to distribute NDC content via the Amadeus Travel Platform, serving Kenya, South Africa, and the UK. Adoption of Altéa NDC enhances retailing capabilities, with Amadeus ensuring a quick implementation and productivity boost for travel sellers. Global sellers will soon access Kenya Airways' full NDC content, as stated by Julius Thairu, the airline's Chief Commercial and Customer Officer. Amadeus SVP Christophe Roux acknowledges the airline's early recognition of NDC benefits.

🏖 Kaptio, a Salesforce-native platform, merges with Therefore Interactive to set a new travel technology standard. Their collaboration aims to simplify booking flows, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth for multi-day travel operators. The partnership already benefits Rocky Mountaineer, which saw digital improvements including new websites for Canyon Spirit and Armstrong Collective, and a revamped Agent Portal. Armstrong's VP, Ashley Wright, acknowledges the partnership's impact on technical capabilities and market reach. Kaptio CEO, Viðar Svansson, sees this as a milestone for customer digital engagement and transformation.

🛫 Europe's Easter 2025 travel trends show a mix of long-haul and unique destinations according to RateHawk. Top 10 Easter destinations for Europeans: Japan, USA, Spain, Italy, France, UAE, UK, Portugal, Turkey, and Thailand. Japan leads with 12.2% of bookings, seeing a 100% increase from Easter 2024. Average accommodation booking value is £840 for a 3-night stay. Iceland bookings from Germany have quadrupled since spring 2024. Saudi Arabia and UAE demand grows among UK and Spanish travel agencies, with Saudi bookings up by 2.5x and UAE doubling year-on-year. USA claims 12% of all European accommodation bookings. Long-haul destinations make up 47% of bookings, up 12% from 2024. RateHawk offers travel agents 2.6 million accommodation options across 220 countries.

🏨 Hospitality technology platform Mews has boosted its customer base by 85%, now serving over 12,500 global customers. In North America, the company doubled its customer base in 2024, while the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) achieved 20% market penetration, and France experienced a 37% annual growth. Mews has recently received an additional $75 million investment from Tiger Global. Notable clients include Lark Hotels and Gravity Haus. Mews offers cloud-native, AI-enabled solutions for the hotel industry.

🏥 Launched by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Tokyo Medical Information Site for Foreign Tourists and Residents is an online portal designed to assist non-Japanese speakers with navigating the city's healthcare system. It provides information on emergency assistance, how to find medical facilities, receiving care instructions, and multilingual support contacts. The portal is available in multiple languages, including Japanese, English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, and others via AI translation.

💾 Digital registration cards streamline hotel check-ins by collecting guest information electronically, often before arrival. Benefits include faster check-ins, fewer errors, improved compliance, a better guest experience, and additional upsell opportunities. They integrate with a hotel's PMS, allowing for advanced automation and seamless operation. Properly designed digital forms can enhance security, accuracy, and compliance, while a personalized pre-arrival experience boosts guest satisfaction. Akia, an AI-powered guest journey platform, helps hotels deliver such exceptional experiences through Mini Apps without the need for developers or downloads. For more details, visit www.akia.com.