Digital #10
Cvent partnered with HSMAI, offering its solution to the many events the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International organizes every year. HMSAI will use the whole Cvent ecosystem: OnArrival, Social Tables, and Cvent Appointments. If you want to know more about HSMAI events, check out this article I wrote for them in 2018.
Digital #9
As Google competition becomes fiercer, TripAdvisor had to reduce costs, and its first decision was to fire 200 of its 3,800 employees (around 5% of its workforce). No official comment from the company has (yet) been published.
Digital #8
(Rita’s pick) Accor Hotels and Sabre are working on a “full-service property management capability.” The first step of the partnership is Accor’s adoption of SynXis reservation system.
Digital #7
If something seems slightly different on Desktop Google’ SERP, don’t panic. It is. The new SERP features favicons, blurring the line between paid and organic results even more. Organic results now feature a small logo next to the URL, while paid ads feature a bolded black ad label. The change is not unexpected: I’ve already discussed this change back in May. At the time, the new design only affected mobile search, but it was quite obvious that desktop was next.
Digital #6
Yet another funding round for SiteMinder: the unstoppable channel manager raised $70M. With a valuation of more than $750M, it’s not so far-fetched to see these guys on the unicorns list before the end of the year…
Digital #5
Revinate launched a new, cloud-dased, AI-fueled data platform to clean and aggregate hotel guests’ profiles, aiming to solve one of the most pressing problems in our industry: guest data fragmentation. Marc Heyneker, CEO and Co-Founder of Revinate, stated: “For decades, technology companies have (managed) rooms, not guests. We are seeing a tectonic shift to a guest-centric approach (…) Our Guest Data Platform delivers the cleanest and most robust set of guest data intelligence ever made available (… ) Hoteliers now have access to unified guest profiles that power unmatched direct revenue performance and personalized guest experiences.”
Digital #4
Tesla is now worth $100B, more than Ford and GM combined. Tesla’ share price doubled in just three months, skyrocketing to $600/share. As the mighty Joe Rogan once wisely stated: “When you drive (a Tesla), you realize other cars are stupid.”
Digital #3
Skift published its sixth annual Megatrends Defining Travel magazine. If you’re looking for something to read over the weekend, here’s my best suggestion.
Digital #2
Google Cloud partnered with Sabre to “enable the travel provider to improve operational agility while developing new services and creating a new marketplace for its airline, hospitality, and travel agency customers.” The first challenge will be migrating the huge Sabre’s IT infrastructure to Google Cloud.
Digital #1
Ubisend delivers AI-driven conversational interfaces that enable brands to communicate in real-time, 24/7 in any timezone, across 29 digital channels. Its AI solutions provide a unified, cross-business unit and global solution, unlocking valuable resources and enabling brands to solve people’s problems with real care. During today’s episode of Digital. (3:00 PM CET), I will be joined by Jamie Gladstone, Sales Development Representative, and we’ll talk about AI, HI, and the future of our industry. Don’t miss it!
Welcome to Digital., your weekly recap of the best travel news of the week: day in, day out. Everything you need to know about hotel distribution, digital economy, travel, tourism, hospitality, startups, market stocks, reports, staff movements, industry events, innovation, and more. Hosted by best-selling author, journalist, futurist, founder of Travel Singularity, toy collector and retired punk rocker, Simone Puorto.