Innovation

💬 Simone Puorto was featured on Tasto9, an Italian podcast by Bee Family, hosted by Emilio Zorini. He shared his professional journey in hospitality, emphasizing intellectual mobility and the importance of unlearning. In 1999, Puorto developed a proto PMS while working night shifts at a Trappist hotel. He now leads Travel Singularity, advocating for transparency and client-focused consultancy. His career spans over 20 years, consulting for numerous international hotel groups and travel tech vendors.

💻 In 2026, hoteliers need an optimized website, acting as a virtual front desk, to enhance direct bookings and revenue. The Hotel Website Optimisation Checklist provides 8 steps focusing on performance, UX, SEO, and more. USERGUEST, a tech tool, integrates seamlessly with hotel systems, using Rev Marketing Automation to increase bookings and revenue. A 30-day free trial offers complete access to its features, ensuring a user-friendly booking experience and improved inventory management.

🏨 Next week in Los Angeles, the ALIS hotel investment conference will shift focus to AI-native hotel distribution. By 2026, hotels without this tech face structural disadvantages. Agentic systems autonomously manage demand, pricing, and messaging, enhancing revenue. Investors should prioritize AI platforms that act autonomously, impacting cash flow predictability and asset valuation. Legacy systems with AI features don't compare. Agentic Hospitality, leveraging Google Cloud and Vertex AI, exemplifies this transformative approach in the hospitality industry.

💻 SilverDoor has invested in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to enhance its online booking tool (OBT), which now processes live rates 10 times faster. The digital worker ensures accurate rates and expands the booking inventory. This upgrade addresses client demand for real-time rates and supports decision-making with analytics and currency selection. Hanish Vithal, CTO, highlights the investment’s role in providing a frictionless booking experience and competitive pricing.

💻 Finest Retreats, a holiday lettings expert in Cornwall, launched the UK's first proprietary housekeeper management app this month for iOS and Android. Developed over 12 months in collaboration with a Cornwall partner, the app simplifies operations, manages cleaning checklists, and integrates with booking systems in real-time. Hayley Mason oversees the app's rollout. Users report decreased incidents and streamlined invoice management. The app also includes compliance management for fire safety and regulations, enhancing property standards.

💻 Jan 20, 2026, the impact of AI on hotel distribution is evident. Hotel wholesalers like Hotelbeds and WebBeds represent a small single-digit percentage of global online hotel booking revenue. AI is reducing reliance on intermediaries, with wholesalers remaining relevant in specific segments. While wholesalers have embraced APIs and dynamic pricing, these advancements may not suffice in an AI-driven market. To survive, wholesalers must become tech-driven partners, offering specialized value beyond traditional models.

📅 Jan 20, 2026, Skyscanner launched a new "Package Holidays" feature, allowing users to compare bundled travel deals from providers like TUI, Jet2, and Expedia. The tool scans millions of packages daily with options for all-inclusive, city stays, and flight-plus-hotel. Rising demand in 2026 drives this feature, with user-friendly filters available. Bookings redirect to provider sites, ensuring ATOL protection. 📊 Users can use desktop, mobile, and app interfaces for this service.

💳 Jan 20, 2026, in Singapore: A WiT panel with leaders from Ant International, Visa, BigPay, Mandai Wildlife Group, and Agoda discussed how payments are pivotal in building guest relationships and enhancing hotel operations. Key insights include the importance of multi-payment options, trust, first-party data, loyalty through points, localization, and AI-driven operations. Payments now influence trust, conversion, and personalization, evolving from a mere technical necessity to a strategic asset in the hospitality industry.

🏨 Most hotels struggle to identify their best guests due to fragmented data across various systems like spa, restaurant, and golf. This disjointed approach leads to high-value guests being treated as newcomers, missing out on cross-sell and repeat business opportunities. Effective CRM is hindered as a result. The solution lies in integrating data into a single guest profile to understand guest behavior comprehensively, enhancing revenue through improved relationship management.

📱 A proposed "Doomsday Trolley" could enhance hotel operational resilience during system failures by providing a mobile setup with tools like UPS-powered POS, tablets, a built-in printer, credit card machines, a 5G router, and backup room keys. This setup aims to maintain operations for cloud-based systems and offer structure for on-premise environments. It may not eliminate disruptions but can reduce panic and protect revenue. Is this necessary or over-engineering for rare scenarios? Share your thoughts!