Innovation

📚 Sabre, January 2026, released “The Secure AI Advantage” white paper on AI governance in travel. They propose a governance framework with four pillars: data privacy, continuous agent identity, real-time resilience, and transparent governance. Sabre’s Travel Data Cloud and SabreMosaic platform, developed with Google Cloud, support secure, controlled AI operations. Chief Information Security Officer Scott Moser emphasizes the need for trust in autonomous systems to transform the travel industry. Competitive advantage lies in governed, traceable, real-time controlled autonomy.

💻 Best Western and Tripadvisor launch "Go for the Goal," an AI-powered trip planner for the 2026 World Cup. Over 200 BWH hotels within 40 km of stadiums in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are highlighted. The platform offers personalized itineraries in English and Spanish, integrating accommodations, travel routes, and cultural recommendations. It's the first World Cup across three countries, making travel planning complex. Available at goforthegoal.ai, it leverages data for seamless, flexible planning.

💸 S4BT, a company managing over €800 million in hotel bookings and processing nearly €4 billion in business travel-related flows, has launched Trevium. This innovative financial solution replaces outdated systems with a unified infrastructure for managing payments and expenses in business travel. It aims to modernize and streamline operations, providing a cohesive and scalable platform for the entire group, enhancing synergy and innovation.

💸 S4BT launched Trevium, a unified financial platform for business travel, on January 2026. This solution automates payments, invoicing, VAT, and reporting, integrating with existing systems via a modular, API-first architecture. Already accessible to S4BT clients, Trevium enhances data quality, reduces manual input, and improves compliance, including VAT recovery across Europe. It also supports sustainability reporting by measuring CO₂ emissions, addressing fragmented financial processes in business travel. CEO Ziad Minkara emphasized its transformative power.

💸 Développée par S4BT, Trevium est une solution financière end-to-end pour le voyage d'affaires. Elle unifie et automatise les paiements, factures, et rapports financiers pour réduire les frictions entre agences, entreprises, et hôteliers. Lancée en réponse à l'évolution des voyages d'affaires post-Covid, Trevium répond aux besoins accrus de contrôle et transparence. L'objectif est d'améliorer la visibilité financière et la sécurité des flux dans un environnement historiquement fragmenté.

📰 Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) extends its contract with HotelHub for three more years, starting January 26, 2026. The partnership, which began in 2021, supports FCTG's brands, FCM Travel and Corporate Traveller, with enhanced hotel distribution solutions. Kelly Spencer from FCTG highlights HotelHub's scalable technology for improving cost control and compliance. Paul Raymond of HotelHub emphasizes the successful collaboration, which aggregates multi-source hotel content for improved booking experiences.

📅 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.

📱 ONOMO, a pan-African hotel group with 23 establishments in 13 countries, partners with D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions to modernize digital operations. This strategic move enhances customer experience through a 100% connected journey. The rollout includes a guest app and targeted campaigns, ensuring service consistency and brand recognition in cities like Dakar, Abidjan, Kigali, and Casablanca. Centralized CRM enables personalized service and efficient management across multilingual, multi-currency environments, solidifying ONOMO’s role in African hospitality.