Letter from Barcelona: From Gaudi dreams to Dali metaverse, a whimsical journey through old and new
My first night in Barcelona after having spent a week traipsing around the coast of Costa Brava and rambling through the vineyards and isolated, mountainous villages of Priorat without encountering many tourists, indeed many humans, was a bit of a shock.
Back in this big, busting, beautiful city, [...]
Look out for the “Uber of generative AI” in travel
“I hope to be around when the next big thing arrives,” says Chris Hemmeter
Who will be the first travel startup to create the “Uber of generative AI”? That’s the challenge Chris Hemmeter, managing director of Thayer Ventures, issued at the Innovation Roundtable at Phocuswright Europe taki [...]
Rakuten STAY: Japanese e-commerce giant unveils new, unmanned vacation rentals model
Alibaba has its future hotel, FlyZoo, launched in Hangzhou inn 2018. Tencent launched an AI Smart Room at the Atour S Hotel in Beijing. There was a time when Amazon sounded out the idea of Amazon-operated hotels.
Where these projects are right now is unclear but Rakuten the Japanese e-commerce gi [...]
Letter from Girona: The stuff of legends and travellers’ dreams
I suppose it is fitting that I should be staying in the Hotel Museu Llegendes in Girona because this ancient Catalonian city is so full of legends that even the locals have trouble keeping up with the stories.
The family-owned 15-room boutique hotel, opened 12 years ago, is like a homage to saint [...]
AI will allow more meaningful human service, says Montara Hospitality chief
“Hospitality is about innovation, creating a product ahead of its time”
“My job is going to be replaced soon,” laughs second generation Thai hotelier Kittisak (Kitt) Pattamasaevi when we were discussing generative AI and its impact on both our jobs during a breakfast catch-up at Trisara, Ph [...]
From baseball hotel stay to Suica integration, SQUEEZE hits home run with hospitality innovation
Fancy staying in the middle of a baseball stadium? Try tower eleven hotel
Shinichi Tatebayashi, CEO and founder of SQUEEZE, is understandably very excited about his newest hotel, which he says is a world first. “tower eleven hotel” is a 12-room lifestyle accommodation, with a sauna and hotspr [...]
Letter from Phuket: A destination for all seasons, all tastes, Zombies included
As I boarded my Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Phuket this week, I couldn’t help but reflect on that first flight I took to New York back in November 2021 when travel was still largely restricted in Asia, and I was literally crying over my satay from the emotion of being at 30,000 fee [...]
Let’sfly sets up HQ in Singapore to “go deep” into low cost airline content
Dusting off the aftermath of the pandemic, Let’sfly, the Chinese flight platform which prides itself on providing good quality low cost airline content via direct API, is building up its global team to expand beyond China.
The flight platform, which started in 2014 focused on providing low [...]
Meet the 15 semi-finalists of the Global Startup Pitch
After an almost five-hour marathon of startup pitches that went around the world, 15 companies have been chosen to proceed to the Semi-Finals of the Global Startup Pitch, run by WiT and Phocuswright.
They are:
Asia Pacific
Igoroom
Roady Travel
Tour Amigo
Middle East & Afric [...]
Dancing in the rain: ZUZU raises $9m, ready to use AI to empower independent hotels
Coming out of the pandemic, Vikram Malhi, CEO and founder of ZUZU Hospitality Solutions, told his team that “we didn’t just weather the storm but we danced in the rain”.
Well, he and his team now have US$9m more reasons to dance following the successful completion of an oversubscribed Ser [...]
