Innovation

🏡 Lindsay Gregory, Founder of The Luxury Villa Collection (founded in 2013), advocates for personalized human touch in luxury travel over AI, noting clients spend up to £10,000 a day on villas seeking unique, human-crafted experiences. Rebecca Nayler, the Guest Experience Manager with seven years in luxury travel and 13 years living in Spain, emphasizes firsthand knowledge over AI. Gregory warns against AI reliance potentially harming the authenticity that luxury travelers desire, emphasizing personal visits and checks on listed villas to maintain service standards. AI's shortcomings in providing personalized and culturally nuanced services are highlighted, suggesting a balanced approach to technology in luxury travel.

📱 Hotel Phone App, LLC, founded in March 2024, released HOTEL PHONE APP™ for Apple and Google Play stores. The app transforms cell phones into mobile guest room phones via QR codes. Doug Killion, the app developer, states it modernizes hotel phone systems and cuts costs by eliminating traditional push button phones and their monthly line expenses. PBX, the old hotel phone technology, dates back to the 1930s. The app is subscription-based, starting at $3 per guest room per month, significantly cheaper than the typical $10-20 monthly PBX/VOIP service charges, plus around $5 in fees. Hotels can trial the app for free and phase its deployment. Killion envisions a future of cellular and internet-based hotel communication integrated with cloud software, voice recognition, and AI.

📱 Hotel Phone App, LLC founded in March of 2024, launched HOTEL PHONE APP™ available on Apple and Google Play App Stores for hotel guests to transform their cell phones into mobile guest room phones. Doug Killion, the app's developer, aims to modernize hotel phone systems and cut costs, citing monthly savings from removing traditional room phones. Subscription to HOTEL PHONE APP™ starts at $3 per room per month, a reduction from the typical $10-20 per line plus nearly $5 in surcharges. The app utilizes QR codes for access to hotel services and complies with Emergency 911 laws, unlike outdated PBX/VOIP systems. Free trials are offered to hotels before committing to yearly licenses.

📱 Hotel Phone App, LLC, founded in March 2024, released HOTEL PHONE APP™ on Apple and Google Play App Stores. The app transforms guest cell phones into mobile room phones. Doug Killion, the developer, highlights cost savings for hotels by eliminating push button phones and their monthly costs. The app leverages existing cellular technology and integrates with hotel management software. Subscription starts at $3 per room per month, significantly less than traditional PBX/VOIP services costing $10-20 per line plus $5 in fees.

📱 Hotel Phone App, LLC, founded in March 2024, released 'HOTEL PHONE APP'™ for Apple and Google Play stores, enabling hotel phones on personal cell phones via QR code scanning. The app removes the need for traditional push button phones, cutting monthly costs per phone line, and includes PBX and VOIP technology dating from the 1930s-1970s. Subscription for hotels starts at $3 per room/month, compared to PBX/VOIP services costing $10-20 per line/month plus $5 in fees. The app is compliant with Emergency 911 laws and offers location services. Free trials are available for hotels before committing to yearly licenses.

🧳 Former Airbnb employees have launched over 140 startups, collectively raising over $11 billion. Most of these startups are in the US, with 35% in PropTech, followed by FinTech, Software, and other sectors. 80% of founders were former Airbnb engineers, and top startup incubators include Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz. Kevin Indig's data on AI chatbot traffic shows users stay 2.3 minutes longer and view more pages than Google search users, with Copilot and Perplexity traffic growing fastest at 15% and 22% page view growth, respectively. Accenture reports 71% of travelers prefer OTAs for convenience, while airlines could transform sales like retailers to compete. AI is also reshaping online travel, with AI-driven agents potentially reducing the need for traditional OTAs but requiring OTAs to adapt with AI-powered bidding for visibility.

💻 Cendyn, an integrated hotel technology company, acquired Knowland in October 2024 and has now expanded its business intelligence solutions with AI for smarter data and commercial insights. The expansion includes AI integration into its CRM and Knowland platform, now offering AI search capabilities. This comes with Knowland's return to the European market, starting with London, aiming to drive revenue in the MICE sector. The enhanced tools are designed to save time, provide actionable insights without manual spreadsheets, and increase direct bookings and revenue.

💻 Shiji, a hospitality technology firm, announced a full rebrand to unify its product suite. CEO Kevin King revealed the company's new identity and the 'day-night product cycle' concept to provide consistent service to hoteliers. This transformation aims to simplify Shiji's portfolio and demonstrate commitment to the hospitality industry.

📌 Cross-border payments company Nium partners with wholesale tour operator G2 Travel to use Nium's virtual card payment solution, enabling G2 Travel to pay hotel partners globally and add over 20 local currencies to its services. G2 Travel's founder, David Littlefair, cites Nium's global reach and currency coverage as key reasons for the partnership, aimed at improving payment speed, security, and reliability. Nium's SVP, Max Lehmann, highlights benefits for hotels such as faster payments and reduced fraud. The collaboration plans to grow G2 Travel's global payment capabilities and group business offerings.

💰 Hands In, a fintech innovator, has raised over £1 million in a recent funding round, aiming to expand into new sectors, enhance technology, and scale operations. The funding, complementing a previous £500,000 pre-seed in 2023, totals over £1 million within two years. Notable backers include fintech angels Ryta Zasiekina and founders of CONCRYT. Plans include activating contracts in 2025, chasing £1 million in ARR, and redefining global split payments.