Innovation

📍 Flight-free travel tech start-up Byway raised £5 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round, led by Heartcore Capital and with contributions from Eka Ventures and returning Byway angels. The funds will fuel team expansion, entry into new markets, and development of Byway's JourneyAI, the world’s first 100% flight-free holiday planner. Byway, riding the wave of sustainable travel demand, plans to enrich holidays by making journeys integral to the experience. Upcoming months will see new tech, product, finance, business development, and customer support roles launching. CEO Cat Jones expresses delight at investor enthusiasm for flight-free travel's future.

🛠 Häfele partnered with Like Magic to create 'Work and Sleep' hotel rooms, transforming spaces into offices or meeting rooms with digital furniture and software, aimed at utilizing vacant rooms and reducing costs. Innovative features include adjustable lighting, smartphone-controlled amenities, and keyless room access. Piloted at ibis Styles hotel in Nagold, Germany, this collaboration seeks to redefine hospitality, offering personalized services and enhancing operational efficiency, with staff managing 80% of tasks from one system, and guests enjoying a digital journey.

🏖️ Travelgenix integrates Darina Holidays as a premium supplier, offering Travelgenix clients access to DMC services in UAE, Qatar, and Oman via API. This partnership enables travel agents to deliver better service, particularly for popular British travel market destinations like Dubai. CEO Andy Speight highlights the enhancement for tour operators and travel agents, and anticipates client benefits from the enhanced booking capabilities.

📞 Character.AI introduces "Character Calls," a new feature allowing two-way voice conversations with AI characters, now available on their app for free. Users can engage with AI in various languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. The update offers reduced latency, diverse voices, pitches, accents, and the ability to switch between texting and talking. Since launching "Character Voice" months ago, over a million Voices have been created, supporting language learning, interview practice, game development, and storytelling.

🏩 Peter Feeney, DISH Business VP, highlights the importance of integrating live TV and streaming services in hotel in-room entertainment systems to meet the expectations of Millennial and Gen Z travelers, who are increasingly dominating bookings and prefer content outside traditional broadcast channels. No specific dates or numbers provided.

🖥 Autonomous agents in GenAI emerged over the past year, offering decision-making without constant human supervision. Precursors like Auto-GPT and BabyAGI, launched in early 2023, faced practical limitations. Boosts followed: November 2023, Bill Gates blogged about AI agents; February 2024, OpenAI confirmed development, hinting at a release aligning with GPT-5 in mid-2024, expected to be smarter than GPT-4. Autonomous agents may soon control computers directly, raising questions about autonomy, liability, and agent-to-agent interactions without human involvement.

🛫 Thai Airways, the flag carrier of Thailand, has announced an upgrade in their modernization process through advanced Amadeus technology solutions. The airline renewed and expanded its distribution agreement with Amadeus, aiming to increase revenue and improve the passenger experience post-pandemic. Thai Airways' website and mobile booking channels will be revamped for a smoother, personalized experience, including a more robust booking flow. The Amadeus Reference Experience will provide a new user interface, and Amadeus Travel Ready will enable document verification during online check-in to expedite airport processes. Additionally, Thai Airways will employ Amadeus Network Revenue Management to optimize pricing and accept various payment methods through Outpayce's Xchange Payment Platform. Nuthaphol Amawatana, head of pricing and revenue management, envisions this as a significant step in Thai Airways' business transformation.

📊 Custom Business Solutions (CBS) celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2024. Jeremy Julian, the CRO, discusses 2024 innovations like a new all-in-one kiosk solution, tipped distribution model, and earned wage access. He highlights that 90% of restaurant employees live within 10 miles of their workplace. The average restaurant integrates over 10 solutions to their Point of Sale (POS) system, presenting significant integration challenges that CBS Northstar aims to address.

💸 Otamiser, an OTA ranking management platform, raised $3 million USD in funding led by Pitchdrive VC, targeting global expansion to 1,000 hotels and 100,000 short-term rentals. Achieving $1.9 million USD in ARR and expanding to a 32-employee team, Otamiser promises an average occupancy rate increase of 11% and profit rise of 24% for their clients. The investment will enhance data-driven tools and launch a new AI product for Airbnb operators.

🚀 Otamiser, an OTA ranking management platform, secured $3 million USD in its initial funding led by Pitchdrive VC. The platform plans to grow to 1,000 hotels and 100,000 short-term rentals globally. Currently, over 76 hoteliers and PMCs in nine countries use Otamiser, generating an ARR of €1.8 million ($1.9 million USD) with a 32-employee team. Customers have seen occupancy rates increase by 11% and profits by 24%. The capital will enhance tools, launch a new AI product for Airbnb, and expand the commercial team.