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🏖 Turin named European Capital of Smart Tourism for 2025. The European Commission is looking for the 2026 European Capital of Smart Tourism and Green Pioneer Smart Tourism City for destinations with 25,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. Selection involves a two-step process judged on sustainability, accessibility, digitization, and cultural heritage. Winners get marketing support, including a promotional video, a city sculpture, and increased visibility. Open to EU member states and Single Market countries, applications close on May 30, 2025, at 17h, with results announced in November 2025.

💳 Philippe Roy, founder of Red-Yucca.com, highlighted the significant, often underestimated cost of payments in the hotel industry. He pointed out that hotels partially fund the perks of credit cards, such as cashback and loyalty programs, from their own pockets. Roy also mentioned the payment market's oligopoly, with limited negotiation power for hotels, citing a recent U.S. government lawsuit against Visa for anti-competitive practices. Additionally, he discussed the major transformation of payment technologies like QR codes and mobile wallets, which are reshaping international traveler expectations.

📈 In 2025, the Grand Live du Voyages d’Affaires celebrated its 5th anniversary, a key event in the business travel sector organized by CDS and IFTM. The 8-hour annual event facilitates open dialogue among business travel community members, experts, and major witnesses, focusing on industry exchange rather than sales. Ziad MINKARA, CEO of CDS Group, reflects on the event's significance, crediting its success to the innovative responses and solutions developed by the industry since the unprecedented global Covid pandemic crisis in 2020.

🏠 Airbnb reopens for new experience submissions this spring, after a strategic pause to refine their offerings. Brian Chesky, one of Airbnb's founders, announced the return, aiming to better align with the millions of guests' expectations. In response to market competition, like Booking.com, Airbnb introduces new features to assist leading operators, hosts, and guides in growing their businesses. Notably, in the next six months, Airbnb plans to open its experience sales channel to third-party channel managers, such as elloha, and extend listings to include traditional attractions and licensed tourist guides. Candidates for the Airbnb listing must demonstrate high averages of 4.8 or more in reviews, exclusively guided experiences, and competitive pricing. Over 5000 experiences were removed for not fitting Airbnb's unique community-driven criteria, often being too traditional or expensive. Newly integrated experiences will benefit from Airbnb's significant marketing efforts starting this spring.

📈 Consumer buying behavior is a key element in marketing and digital communication strategies for businesses. It is influenced by psychological, social, and economic factors. The rise of online commerce has evolved buying habits, with social media becoming a significant channel of influence, sustainable products gaining importance, and hyper-personalization addressing the demand for tailored experiences. Companies can adjust their marketing approaches by understanding these mechanisms, influencing consumer decisions, and anticipating client expectations, thus optimizing conversion rates and customer loyalty. There are four types of consumer buying behaviors: routine, complex, impulsive, and those aimed at reducing cognitive dissonance. Strategies to analyze buying behavior include satisfaction surveys and online customer reviews, which offer detailed insights into consumer motivations and expectations. Effective management of customer feedback can enhance a brand's e-reputation and credibility. Guest Suite offers tools like multi-channel satisfaction surveys, automated customer review responses, and semantic analysis to improve customer satisfaction and business growth.

💸 According to an American Express study, 86% of consumers would pay more for a superior customer experience. Oracle reports that 74% of senior executives believe customer experience influences brand loyalty. A single bad customer interaction can lead 33% of consumers to switch companies. Meanwhile, 73% of customers expect more from other brands after a memorable experience, and 49% make impulse purchases following personalized customer experiences. CRM and e-reputation management tools are pivotal for optimizing customer experience, which encompasses all brand interactions, in contrast to the reactive nature of customer service. Guest Suite offers solutions to enhance customer experience and e-reputation, ensuring businesses stay competitive. 📈

🏨 The 142-room voco Zeal Exeter Science Park offers neutral tones, contemporary elements, a mini gym, gardens, a versatile meeting space, and 12 electric vehicle charging stations. Its restaurant, ISCA, emphasizes local ingredients, collaborating with regional farms and producers. Built with sustainable materials, such as Ecocrete (up to 85% less CO2 compared to CEM1 cement), the hotel aligns with voco's commitment to sustainable innovation. Joanna Kurowska, IHG's VP and General Manager for the UK and Ireland, highlights the hotel's addition to their sustainable offerings in the UK.

🏁 Simon-Kucher, a growth strategy consulting firm, analyzed data from 2,800 hotels in 24 Formula 1 host cities, revealing significant tourism impacts during race weekends. Two months before the F1 season, 32% of hotels in host cities are fully booked, emphasizing the need for early reservations. Canada tops the list with rates over €1,750 per night, followed by Abu Dhabi at €694, with the USA and Belgium close behind at €682 and €633 respectively. Prices in Australia, Azerbaijan, Miami, and Spain range between €400 and €500.

📷 Kleio, cofounded by ex-C3 AI colleagues Philippe Wellens (CEO), Adrien Mathieu (President), and Louis Poirier (CTO), aims to revolutionize travel interfaces with conversational AI. The startup plans to introduce a prototype in six months and further develop a sales team companion tool, Alex, by year-end. Kleio's platform uses OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google models, offering modular and agnostic components for ease of technological replacement. The AI has already tripled qualified leads within days of use. Deployment for travel distributors, dealing with inventories up to 100 million lines, takes about three months, including one month of configuration and two months of testing. Their conversational AI has notably attracted users aged 40-70, mostly on mobile devices, seeking either budget or premium custom travel options, with 70% using Kleio outside agency hours.

🌍 In 2023, Barcelona and its region attracted nearly 26 million tourists, with 15.6 million visiting the city and 10.3 million the surrounding area. Seasonal trends impact the hospitality sector, influenced by both leisure and business tourism. Large-scale events, strategic urban development, and infrastructure improvements have bolstered Barcelona's economy and international appeal.