Innovation

💻 Wyndham Hotels & Resorts launched a native app within ChatGPT, a first for major U.S. economy and midscale franchisors. The app facilitates hotel discovery and booking for 8,400 hotels globally. Following a $450 million investment since 2018, Wyndham migrated to cloud systems in 2020. AI tools have reduced call center handle times by 7%, boosting conversions. Engaged hotels earned $60,000 to $200,000 extra in 2022. The company plans further AI integrations by 2025.

📱 New York Mag offers subscribers a free perk monthly, like coffee at La Calabra, aiming to solidify subscriber engagement amidst declining ad revenue. 🍰 Toast and DoorDash launch AI marketing tools, such as Toast IQ Grow, to automate restaurant marketing, freeing owners from tasks they often lack time and budget for. 📞 An AI agent was created to call 3,000 pubs to find the average Guinness price, highlighting how automation could reshape customer interactions with businesses like restaurants.

💸 Despegar's CEO, Gonzalo Estebarena, highlighted key developments in a recent discussion. Prosus acquired a significant stake in Despegar, enhancing its market position. The company is leveraging AI innovations internally and externally to boost customer experience. Growth plans include expanding services across Latin America, focusing on improving travel services and platform efficiency. These strategic moves aim to solidify Despegar's leadership in the region's travel industry.

🏨 Journey announced a deal on March 15, 2023, integrating dining, wellness, and additional services into its loyalty platform for independent hotels and short-term rentals. This enhancement aims to elevate guest experiences and encourage repeat bookings. The expansion affects over 500 properties globally, offering guests access to exclusive benefits and rewards. By providing a comprehensive range of services, Journey seeks to differentiate itself in the competitive hospitality market, targeting increased customer loyalty and satisfaction.

🌎 Weather Company and Steller partner to enhance travel content. Weather Company, with its extensive data resources, joins forces with Steller to leverage creator-led travel videos. This collaboration aims to enrich user experiences by integrating weather insights into travel storytelling. Their synergy promises to offer real-time, data-driven content, catering to travelers’ needs for up-to-date weather conditions. This strategic alliance underscores the growing trend of using data analytics to personalize and improve digital content delivery in the travel industry.

💻 DirectBooker partners with five of the top ten largest hotel groups, including BWH Hotels and Radisson, to integrate real-time hotel data into ChatGPT and Claude. Their platform covers brands with over 250 million loyalty members. By leveraging the Model Context Protocol, DirectBooker enables up-to-date information sharing, redirecting bookings to official hotel sites. The initiative offers hotels a strategic edge by reducing reliance on OTAs, which typically charge 15-25% commission.