Innovation

📱 SG Entertech, a leader in VR from South Korea, is expanding its Snack VR platform in Southeast Asia as of 2025, seeking local partners across tourism, education, and commerce sectors. Their VR kiosks, equipped with headsets, offer mini-games and digital postcards to enhance visitor experiences. COO Kook Sun Pyo emphasizes the cost-efficient design of Snack VR, aiming for rapid, widespread deployment in geolocated entertainment, contrasting with traditional VR arcade challenges.

🚀 Virgin Voyages collaborates with Google Cloud to deploy 50 AI agents, enhancing operations and customer experience. 🚢 Aeroitalia extends its tech partnership with Navitaire to streamline processes. ✈️ Travelport partners with Farenexus to automate commission management, boosting profitability. 💼 Hostaway joins France's UNPLV to promote vacation rentals. 🇫🇷 Compass Hotel Consulting launches a proprietary tech system for hotels. 🏨 SITA and Tellabs introduce a scalable fiber optic solution for airports on October 9, 2025. 🌐 Chubb unveils Travel Pro, a digital travel insurance, at Lisbon's World Aviation Festival. 🏥

📈 Boom, une start-up américaine, a levé 12,7 millions de dollars (11 millions d’euros) en octobre 2025. Basée à Miami, elle utilise l'IA pour automatiser les opérations hôtelières dans 20 pays. Le financement, dirigé par Avenue Growth Partners, implique des figures comme Ian Carter (ex-PDG de Hilton International). La technologie de Boom gère jusqu’à 80% des messages clients, libérant du temps pour le développement commercial. L'investissement vise l'expansion internationale et l'amélioration technologique.

💻 Booking.com, the online booking leader, announced AI-driven tools on October 9, 2025, to automate and personalize the travel experience. New features like Smart Messenger and Auto-Reply aim to improve communication with hotel partners, increasing satisfaction by 73%. AI Trip Support and AI Voice Support assist travelers 24/7. Auto-Reply is globally available, while Smart Messenger is for English-speaking partners in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The deployment aligns with Booking.com's ChatGPT integration.

📶 9 octobre 2025, Genève – SITA et Tellabs ont dévoilé la solution SITA Passive Optical LAN (PON), offrant une connectivité ultra-fiable, évolutive et sécurisée pour les infrastructures aéroportuaires. Ce système remplace les câbles en cuivre par la fibre optique, réduisant la maintenance et les limitations de bande passante. Le partenariat promet une infrastructure moderne et durable, couvrant plus de 145 pays. SITA soutient 1000 aéroports et 19,600 avions, et vise la neutralité carbone d'ici 2050.

🚀 Amsterdam, le 9 octobre 2025 - Booking.com lance Smart Messenger et Auto-Reply pour améliorer la communication client. Disponibles sur l'Extranet, Auto-Reply est accessible mondialement, tandis que Smart Messenger est disponible pour les partenaires anglophones dans certains pays. Satisfaction des partenaires a grimpé de 73%. Avec 79% des Français intéressés par l'IA dans leurs projets de voyage, ces innovations répondent à cette demande croissante. AI Trip Support et AI Voice Support sont également déployés dans plusieurs pays pour enrichir l'expérience utilisateur.

🌐 Expedia Group introduced a new suite of AI-driven tools for Asia-Pacific partners in October 2025. Featuring 350 AI models, these tools enhance service personalization and effectiveness. Key offerings include Smart Trip AI for travel planning, an API for optimized merchandising, and Typehead for destination suggestions. Additionally, a beta-stage affiliation API facilitates monetizing sponsored ads. Alfonso Paredes and Karen Bolda emphasize enabling partners to grow intelligently amidst a dynamic tourism landscape.

💻 DEBENAPS, a French platform, is revolutionizing hotel bookings with AI. It charges a fixed 10% commission on deposits. The system offers dynamic pricing and full automation, giving hoteliers control over reservations and pricing. Algorithms use over 100 million data points to optimize pricing. The launch features Hotel Mas Trader in Catalonia, Spain, as the pilot. DEBENAPS aims to expand beyond France, enhancing its AI and automation technologies for sustainable distribution.

📚 ChatGPT, as of October 2025, integrates Booking.com and Expedia, allowing reservations directly through conversations. Users can now book hotels or flights via Expedia or Booking.com within the ChatGPT interface. This feature initially serves 800 million ChatGPT users, available globally except in the EU for Expedia. This innovation positions Booking.com and Expedia at the forefront of digital travel services, aiming for a predictive, proactive, and personalized user experience.