Ronan Daniel

📅 Expedia Group's TAAP connects travel agencies to over 3 million accommodations and 500 airlines globally. Robin Lawther highlights a focus on AI to enhance personalized travel experiences. In 2025, Expedia celebrated 15 years in France. Serving 40,000 agencies and 160,000 agents, Expedia offers 24/7 local support. AI optimizes content, assists with customer queries, and plans up to 80% of itinerary details, boosting agent efficiency. The rise in personalized travel demands is driven by young generations.

📈 Navifare, a Swiss startup founded by former Google Travel and Kayak executives, launched an AI-powered platform to re-check flight prices, achieving a 67% success rate during beta. Founded in Zug by Simone Lini and George Hadjiyiannis, it uses a 60-second reverse auction to find lower fares, offering an average 18% savings. Partner OTAs share revenue on each booking. This system exposes "invisible" inventories and benefits travelers with complex itineraries or during high-demand periods.

🏨 Aimbridge Hospitality, managing over 1,000 hotels, aims to enhance hotel performance in 2026 by leveraging AI and data. In 2025, it launched an all-inclusive division and integrated new properties. CEO Craig S. Smith emphasizes a strengthened leadership team and operational focus. By deploying AI in demand forecasting and resource allocation, Aimbridge seeks to improve visibility and decision-making, counter high labor costs, and capture market share. Founded in 2003, Aimbridge strives to be a trusted sector leader.

✈️ WonderMiles integrates Turkish Airlines into its Private NDC Pack, enhancing its business travel marketplace with direct access to the airline’s NDC pricing and services in a fully digital, enriched-content environment. This integration, announced in January 2026, aims to simplify booking for TMCs and enterprises by offering more transparent and flexible options. Turkish Airlines, known for serving the most countries globally, continues its investment in digital distribution, aligning with modern retailing standards.

🚢 MSC Cruises, January 20, 2026, globally equips 23 ships with Haskoning's Smart Mooring software. This platform enhances safety and efficiency during port calls by providing predictive analytics on mooring forces and movements. Ships exceeding 330 meters and carrying over 8,000 people benefit from real-time dashboards and alerts. Adapted to eight ship classes, it minimizes incidents like mooring line breaks, enhancing passenger and crew safety while streamlining operations. Industry-wide, it marks a shift towards onboard decision-making tools.

🛫 Companies might move away from traditional airline loyalty programs, like miles, in favor of data-driven, personalized experiences. Over 70% of customers expect relevant experiences, while 76% feel frustrated without them, according to McKinsey. Younger travelers value immediate utility over miles. The challenge is utilizing fragmented data for real-time engagement, as AI allows reactive and proactive customer interactions, rendering point-based systems obsolete. Data integration aims to enhance service personalization, rather than just rewarding loyalty.