Innovation

📈 Capfrance, with 75 years of history, launches "Meetings & Events by Capfrance" for professionals and groups seeking unique venues for seminars and events in France. Offering a turnkey solution within its network of holiday villages, hotels, and residences, Capfrance aims to be a key player in the professional events market. The service includes personalized planning and on-site logistics support across nearly 30 establishments in scenic French locations.

📩 Google is testing a new feature that allows customers to contact businesses directly on WhatsApp via their Google Business Profile. Previously, Google Business Messages were used, but this new integration could increase usage. The feature is currently in limited rollout, available only in the United States as mentioned by marketing director Henry Heredia on social network X. If successful, this could become a new way for businesses to connect with customers.

💳 myPOS, a London-based fintech, acquired Toporder, a French leader in cash registers, strengthening its position in retail and restaurant sectors in France. Toporder, established in 2019 in Lyon, will enhance myPOS's integrated payment and management solutions, focusing on small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth. Mario Shiliashki, CEO of myPOS, emphasized the move's intent to offer cutting-edge technology to help clients save time and money, boosting their businesses.

💻 Amadeus, a global travel technology leader, invested in hivr.ai, an innovative startup providing AI solutions that automate sales of meetings and group events across distribution channels. The technology enables hotels to streamline processes, shorten sales cycles, and significantly increase revenue from meetings and groups. Meetings and groups account for over one-third of hotel nights worldwide. However, the sales process is manual, resource-intensive, and slow, with proposals often sent after 48 to 96 hours, resulting in only 10-20% of inquiries leading to bookings and up to 70% of meeting planners not receiving any proposal.

🏨 Accor launches Travel Pros, a new B2B online group booking platform, providing access to over 2,000 hotels across more than 75 countries. It supports instant bookings in 1,300+ hotels and tender processes in 700+ hotels, with confirmation within 24 hours using the latest API technologies to display real-time room availability. Travel Pros offers unmatched choice of Accor brands and room options to meet group travel needs.

📈 In an interview for Net Managers Collection Winter 2025, André-Louis Rochet, Co-founder & CEO of Tw3 Partners, discussed "model merging": a cost-effective AI technique for the tourism industry. It blends two existing AI models (A and B) to create a new model (C). This method reduces costs compared to building a model from scratch, is eco-friendly, enhances data sovereignty by keeping open-source models on company servers, and enables the creation of expert agents through retraining with company-specific data.

📝 Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) acts as a digital storefront on Google, enhancing local store traffic. However, circumstances may require the deletion of a Google My Business listing. The article guides on how to remove a Google establishment card, with a focus on the implications of such an action. It generally takes up to three days to receive email confirmation of deletion. The post advises against deleting listings in situations like negative reviews or relocation, suggesting alternatives like mass collection of positive reviews or updating business details. For definitive business closures or when taking over a poorly reviewed establishment, deletion might be appropriate. Guest Suite is mentioned as a tool assisting with Google listings management and review automation for over 10,000 establishments.

🏥 Chi Longevity, a global leader in healthy longevity, opened its second clinic at Four Seasons Hotel Singapore after the success of its flagship at Camden Medical Centre. Founded in March 2023, Chi Longevity is Singapore's first private clinic dedicated to slowing biological aging, using the latest scientific advances to offer personalized evidence-based programs. The 112 square meter clinic offers health assessments with advanced diagnostic tools, including blood analysis, cognitive tests, and genetic profiling.

🛀 Mybakup, a French startup, has partnered with Orchestra from Travelsoft group, integrating their medical appointment booking service into travel agency platforms. The BtoBtoC solution offers medical appointments in 40 specialties and in 15 languages, enhancing travel packages and pre-departure or in-destination services. Partnered with Accor, Best Western, Carrefour Voyages, and SNCF, Mybakup facilitates medical access for travelers by location and provides consultation costs and local emergency contacts.

🎮 During the Net Managers Collection Hiver event at Méribel, Guillaume Rambourg from Apex Legends (EA) highlighted the video game industry's substantial potential for marketing strategies targeting Generation Z. The global video game revenue in 2023 was $183.9 billion. Mobile gaming is rapidly growing, particularly in Asia, and "live" games generate most revenue. About 90% of French people aged 15-34 play video games yearly, according to SELL's October 2024 study. The video game industry now inspires platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and HBO. Brands can engage this demographic through game-specific marketing, Twitch sponsorships, and co-marketing with video games. In tourism, video games have been used to promote destinations and cultural heritage, with initiatives like the "Centre-Val de Loire Tour" in Fortnite and the Italian Foreign Ministry's "ITALY: Land of Wonders" game to showcase Italy's culture.