Innovation

🚀 Ryanair launches a new 'Prime' discount scheme for a £79, 12-month subscription, limited to 250,000 members. It offers reserved seats, travel insurance, and monthly exclusive seat sales. Europe's largest airline aims to extend its price leadership. eDreams Odigeo's 'Prime' service recently exceeded seven million members, with a target of 7.25 million by March. This follows disputes between Ryanair and eDreams, including a legal battle over the use of 'Prime' and seat reservation overcharges. Ryanair's 'Prime' could save members up to £420 annually for 12 flights. Wizz Air also introduced an annual £534 'all you can fly' ticket last August.

🚀 Gemini Trains, chaired by Lord Tony Berkeley, targets a 2029 launch for rival Channel Tunnel routes to Eurostar, with services from London and Ebbsfleet. The start-up, in development for two years, plans a fleet of 10 trains offering mixed economy and business seats. They've applied for a license and access via the Office of Rail and Road, eyeing expansion to France, Belgium, and further in Europe. Eurotunnel encourages competition, with potential routes to Cologne, Frankfurt, Geneva, and Basel. Fee cuts by the regulator in January may facilitate new competitors.

🏡 eDreams Odigeo, Europe's largest travel booking platform, manages six billion daily predictions for personalized travel experiences. AI adoption in travel tasks is at 73% globally, with Gen Z at nearly 90%. Flexible travel policies, such as "cancel for any reason" and price-freezing tools, are in demand. In 2025, consumer demand surges, driven by music and sporting events. At least one million travelers are expected to join the seven million already using travel subscription options. Global travel hit €1.5 trillion in market size in 2024 and continues to grow in 2025. Travel trends include prioritizing experiences, shorter trips, and the influence of cultural events on travel patterns.

🚢 Cruise Plus, a Dnata specialist brand, has expanded its offerings with five new cruise lines: Aqua Expeditions, American Cruise Lines, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Pandaw Cruises, and Amadeus River Cruises, reaching 40 partners. These additions encompass river, small-ship, luxury, and expedition cruises in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. American Cruise Lines features paddle-wheelers on the Mississippi, while Aqua Expeditions offers Amazon and Mekong river cruises. Hapag-Lloyd specializes in luxury and expedition trips, and Amadeus sails major European rivers.

🗺 Female solo travel has seen an 800% increase in searches, with 60% of WeRoad travelers now being women. As of Mar 25, 2025, the travel industry has evolved, offering women-only accommodations, guided tours, and online safety resources. Influencers like Kyra-Mae Turner boost the movement through social media. Despite the rise in solo travel, common sense and safety practices are still crucial for female travelers.

📊 At the 30th anniversary MURTEC 2025, Hospitality Technology interviewed Niko Papademetriou, Co-Founder and SVP of Qu. They discussed AI, data, and restaurant industry challenges. Qu, with its slogan "beyond POS," focuses on unified commerce for mid-market and enterprise restaurant brands, enhancing fast casual and quick-service chains. Key discussions included restaurant challenges (50s), benefits of a unified data platform (2:20), system integration (2:30), implementation (4:00), and a case study on Golden Corral (4:55).

💻 TrustYou's Customer Experience platform is a product of their restructured Product & Engineering organization, aligning with innovative, fast-paced approaches. The "Temporary Team" (TTeam) concept, a major change in recent years, involves limited-lifetime, cross-functional teams with a clear purpose, capable of disbanding after a few weeks once their goal is met. TTeams differ from long-lived teams, which focus on local changes, long-term technology strategy, and operations. A practical example is the "Mark a Survey review as inappropriate" feature, which was built by a TTeam of four engineers in three weeks, resulting in a successful, timely release. While the TTeam approach has improved focus and flow, challenges like managing too many TTeams and poor initial planning were also faced. The concept continues to evolve within TrustYou as part of their "Test & Learn" core value.

📦 At ITB Berlin 2025, Cloudbeds' Amit Popat and Nikhil Shah introduced Revenue Marketing to increase hotel revenue by 15% without additional marketing spend or staff. Cloudbeds Intelligence processes four billion data points hourly using causal AI. Mercure London Paddington's case study demonstrated a rise in occupancy to 93% and RevPAR to £120 with Revenue Marketing, outperforming competitors' 64% occupancy and £79 RevPAR. Cloudbeds Intelligence predicts demand with 95% accuracy, automating rate and marketing in real time.