Innovation

✈ By 2030, the EU anticipates 80% of its citizens will have a digital identity portfolio. Helsinki Airport's pilot project, led by Mikko Väisänen from August 2023 to March 2024, revealed that Digital Travel Credential (DTC) checks averaged under 8 seconds, compared to manual checks at 30 seconds and biometric gates taking 15-25 seconds. The Helsinki Airport trial with 446 testers had a 76.18% success rate, doubling efficiency expectations as air travel demand may reach 8.6 billion passengers by 2043.

💻 Choice Hotels International partnered with Mews for hotel management system (PMS) integration. Mews PMS will enhance connectivity, operations, customer loyalty for Choice Hotels' international franchisees, and integrate with Choice's proprietary, cloud-based central reservation system, choiceEDGE. Benefits include real-time data access, operational excellence through automation, and scalable infrastructure adaptable to Choice Hotels' brand portfolio.

💾 Choice Hotels adopts Mews Cloud PMS to support its international franchise network, aiming to boost operations, customer experience, and franchisee growth. Mews to integrate with Choice Hotels' cloud-based central reservation system, choiceEDGE, for real-time updates on pricing and availability across booking channels. Benefits for franchisees include real-time data access, operational excellence through automation, scalable growth infrastructure, and enhanced customer experiences.

📱 easyHotel partners with Wifirst for connectivity at upcoming hotels in Spain: Barcelona and Valencia in 2025, Alicante in 2026. This deployment across the new properties will provide guests with high-speed, reliable WiFi in both rooms and communal spaces. Wifirst now equips 29 easyHotel locations in six countries, exceeding 3,000 rooms. The expanded partnership ensures a frictionless WiFi experience for easyHotel's commitment to affordable, low-carbon travel. COO Louis Poisson emphasizes high-speed WiFi as key to customer experience.

💸 ROH, a New York-based startup founded in 2023, secures €8 million in funding to automate hotel payment procedures. The round led by Highgate Technology Ventures and Acrew Capital adds Raja Goel, Kurien Jacob, and John Gardner to ROH's board. ROH's platform, which includes AI tools launched in 2024, addresses the manual intervention required in over 80% of the hotel industry's annual $4 trillion in payments, encompassing OTAs, corporate bookings, and event revenues. The investment will help ROH expand its platform and enhance data processing from contracts, invoices, and payments.

🏨 Brussels Airport unveils a major investment plan including the construction of a new four-star hotel with over 300 rooms, enhancing its hospitality vision. This development is part of a larger transformation aiming to accommodate passenger growth, with expansions to the terminal, a new intermodal hub, a green boulevard with a landscaped park, and improved transport links (train, tram, bus, bike, taxi). The new hotel is designed to meet the increasing demand, particularly from business and MICE segments, and to support the Zaventem hub's anticipated growth by 2032. It complements the existing Sheraton Hotel, offering a sophisticated extension of the premium airport experience.

🎭 TeamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, a 17,000 m² cultural landmark offering a revolutionary multi-sensory artistic experience, was officially inaugurated on April 17 by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The VIP opening featured Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, Hollywood's Andrew Garfield, Stranger Things' Natalia Dyer, DC Comics' Grant Gustin, spiritual leader Sadhguru, and a spectacular show with 6,000 synchronized drones and pyrotechnics, set in Saadiyat's cultural district.

📱 Evancy residences, located on the Côte d'Azur and Côte d'Opale, offer 401 apartments blending comfort and authenticity, focusing on digital experience with high-quality Wifi. The main clientele, families with children, prioritizes reliable connectivity. Evancy addressed this by implementing Passman's connected solutions, leveraging Aruba's high-quality equipment to ensure a seamless digital experience in their coastal properties.

📱 Santa Monica launched an AI-powered travel assistant using Guidegeek by Matador Network, offering real-time pricing data and personalized itineraries. SK Telecom introduced hassle-free, automatic roaming Wi-Fi on South Korean domestic flights, starting with Korean Air, and plans to expand nationwide. Tour Partner Group partnered with Nezasa's TripBuilder platform for a three-year term to streamline operations and launch a B2B portal, aiming to reduce request processing time by 25%. Zenmer from India released Zenia V2, an AI-based travel assistant for business travel management, enabling natural language planning and one-click booking. Hilton, in collaboration with Conferma, rolled out a cardless payment solution for business travel across its global properties. NextTrip acquired luxury online travel agency Five Star Alliance, with its inventory of over 5,000 five-star properties and 35 cruise lines, in April 2025, after initially purchasing a 49% stake in February, aiming to enhance its upscale travel segment.

✈ Archer Aviation begins testing flying taxis in New York, targeting connections between major airports and heliports in under 15 minutes. Adam Goldstein, Archer's co-founder, targets “9 main nodes”: JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, plus three major heliports and regional airports Teterboro, Westchester, and Republic Airport. Partnership with United Airlines aims to use 'vertiports' for the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft called 'Midnight,' which carries 4 passengers. Pending FAA certification, commercial operation could start in 2026. Archer raised $301 million in February 2025 and $3.36 billion since its 2021 IPO.