Linda Fox
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freelance journalist, travel technology, @Phocuswire, business travel
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Articles by Linda Fox
YGO secures €8M to expand AI infrastructure layer for travel
YGO, a specialist in connecting agents to travel industry suppliers using artificial intelligence (AI), has landed €8 million in Series A funding. Ventech led the round in the Germany-based company, and Sake Bosch, Caesar Capital and business angels also participated. The investment will enable YGO to continue to develop its AI platform, ramp up sales and expand its customer base beyond Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Ramp Secures $1.85B, Homes in on AI
Spend management platform Ramp has secured $1.85 billion in a primary financing round valuing the company at $60 billion. The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group and co-led by Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Sands Capital and Avenir Growth. Ramp said its revenue is growing 25 percent faster now than it was at the same time last year. "Ramp is the kind of company we love to back at Dragoneer.
Ramp secures $1.85B, homes in on AI
Spend management platform Ramp has secured $1.85 billion in a primary financing round valuing the company at $60 billion. The round, which was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, values the company at $60 billion. The investment was co-led by Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Sands Capital and Avenir Growth. Ramp said its revenue is growing 25% faster now than it was at the same time last year. "Ramp is the kind of company we love to back at Dragoneer.
Tracking travel startup funding rounds and acquisitions in Q3
While it might seem as if more funds were channeled into travel startups in the third quarter of 2026, the volume of rounds was down, and the majority of investments were under $10 million. The principles of investment for early stage companies—adding value and solving a problem—continue to apply, as Roger Sharp, chair of Web Travel Group and North Ridge Partners, alluded to at Phocuswright Europe 2026. And for scaling companies, it is about unit economics, he added.
Mindtrip brings AI discovery to Norwegian destination organizations
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered travel platform Mindtrip has announced a partnership with the Norwegian Travel Cluster, its first destination partnership in Europe. The partnership brings Mindtrip's travel discovery technology to “Norway by Locals,” an upcoming website created by Norwegian destination organizations. Norwegian Travel Cluster brings together 29 destination organizations to help travelers create personalized trips.
Flae Robotics secures €1M to bring AI hospitality agent to more hotels
Hospitality technology specialist Flae Robotics has raised approximately €1 million in seed funding. Purple Ventures and Garage Angels provided the investment, which will be used to accelerate product development, recruitment and geographic expansion. Flae expanded into Germany and Austria earlier this year following its launch in the U.K. in September 2025. The company also plans to enter the U.S. market.
ParkMundo adds €2.3M to scale airport parking platform
Airport parking distribution specialist ParkMundo has landed €2.3 million in seed funding. The investment in the Netherlands-based company comes from technology and travel industry angel investors with additional finance provided by Rabobank. The seed round, which follows a rebuilding of the company’s technology, a rebrand and the development of B2B distribution capability, will go towards scaling the company.
Duetto acquires FLYR Hospitality to boost AI capabilities
Duetto, a specialist in revenue management technology, has acquired Flyr Hospitality from airline retailing tech specialist FLYR, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition adds FLYR Hospitality’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven revenue strategy platform to Duetto’s revenue and profit operating system. FLYR Hospitality’s technology, including its pricing engine and business intelligence (BI), will help Duetto accelerate its own AI capabilities and broader product roadmap, the company said.
IAG's 3-question test for AI automation
There are travel startups building businesses entirely using artificial intelligence (AI). And there are established businesses who have taken the bold move of rebuilding using AI. But as an airline, or a group of airlines, that has to make safety the priority and is governed by huge amounts of legislation, it’s a different story. This is the somewhat unenviable role of Ben Dias, chief AI scientist at British Airways-parent IAG.
Dfinitiv unveils travel loyalty experiences platform for AI assistants
Loyalty commerce and media technology specialist Dfinitiv has unveiled a platform for travel loyalty programs to build experiences in artificial intelligence (AI) models such as ChatGPT and Claude. Dfinitiv co-founder and CEO Joe Fitzgerald said the technology would help travel companies drive engagement and revenue opportunities in their loyalty programs. “Every day there’s a new assistant and we’re not done. We see this is as both an opportunity and a challenge.
Choice Hotels acquires RV travel company Harvest Hosts for $130M
Choice Hotels International has acquired Harvest Hosts, an RV travel membership company, for $130 million, extending its reach to the outdoor travel market. Choice is acquiring 100% of Harvest Hosts in an all cash deal from growth equity firm Stripes and other shareholders. Harvest Hosts connects its members with more than 11,200 host locations from wineries and farms to breweries and museums.
Juniper Group acquires Bookassist
Bookassist, a company which helps hotel drive direct bookings, is the latest to be acquired by Juniper Group. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Ireland-based Bookassist will join Juniper, an operating group within Constellation Software, from January 1, 2027. Bookassist moves from its current parent, software holding company Vertus, which acquired it in 2017.
Choice Hotels acquires RV travel membership company
Choice Hotels International has entered the outdoor-travel market, acquiring RV travel membership company Harvest Hosts for $130 million. Choice is acquiring 100% of Harvest Hosts in an all-cash deal from growth equity firm Stripes and other shareholders. Harvest Hosts connects its members with more than 11,200 host locations from wineries and farms to breweries and museums. Harvest Hosts will continue to operate as a standalone brand.
Tryp secures €1.9M for geographic expansion and product development
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered trip planning specialist Tryp.com has closed a €1.9 million funding round bringing its total funding to €5.9 million The investment in the Denmark-based company was led by Point Capital Partners, with previous investor Iberis Capital and angel investors also participating. The funding will be used for geographical expansion to Asia and the Americas, onboarding more travel brands and launching experiences on the platform.
HyperGuest lands $25M investment, plans international growth
HyperGuest, a specialist in hotel distribution, has secured a $25 million investment from private equity firm Apax. The investment will speed up the company’s international growth. HyperGuest also plans to invest in its technology platform, with a focus on helping hoteliers compete as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the distribution landscape.
Princess Cruises launches ChatGPT app in partnership with Mobi
Princess Cruises is claiming a first with the launch of an app in ChatGPT, enabling real-time cruise planning on the artificial intelligence (AI) platform. Neena Vicente, the cruise line’s VP of digital commerce and experience, described the move as a “new entry point into cruise discovery.” “There is a broader shift in travel discovery as consumers increasingly use generative AI not simply to find information but to help evaluate choices and plan increasingly complex trips," she said.
Dextr AI secures $6.7M for agentic hospitality platform
Dextr AI, an agent platform for hospitality, has announced $6.7 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Elevation Capital, with Foundation Capital also participating. The startup provides hotel employees with teams of artificial intelligence (AI) agents covering voice AI, guest management, back office operations, staff management and sales and marketing.
AIHG secures $7.5M to implement AI-powered hotel management system
AI Hospitality Group (AIHG) has secured $7.5 million in seed funding as it looks to shake up hotel operations. The company takes over the management of hotels and uses its AI-powered proprietary technology to run the back office, freeing up humans to take care of the customer facing elements.
Expedia to offer hotel bookings through Meta's Muse AI agent
Expedia is enabling travelers to book hotels through Muse, the personal artificial intelligence (AI) assistant unveiled by Meta earlier this month. Travelers in the U.S. will be able to describe what they’re looking for, including dates, destination and hotel preferences, be presented with options that fit their needs and make a booking. Expedia remains the merchant of record for the bookings and payment is completed through Muse.
Accor unveils conversational AI concierge
Accor has unveiled ALL Concierge, an artificial intelligence (AI) travel companion embedded in its app and website and available on iMessage and WhatsApp. The initiative enables guests to connect with the company and property across various elements of the journey, including planning and booking hotels, checking loyalty status, updating stays, exploring what’s around locally and asking questions during the stay. Users can also get in touch with a human at any point.
Cellpoint announces $34M investment, leadership change
Payments specialist CellPoint has secured $34 million in fresh funding. The investment comes from Toscafund and is managed by its private equity affiliate Penta Capital. U.K.-based Cellpoint has also launched Zenith, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered decisioning engine for airline and hospitality payments. The technology sits above the payment orchestration layer and helps travel brands automate commercial decisions.
SiteMinder wants to close the gap between hotel pricing recommendations and distribution
SiteMinder has developed a solution that aims to help hoteliers generate revenue through pricing optimization and distribution insights. The Dynamic Commerce Engine will use artificial intelligence to surface optimization recommendations and execute them across pricing as well as distribution. SiteMinder’s managing director and CEO Sankar Narayan said that there many pricing solutions on the market but less available for distribution. “Are they set up properly? Do they have the right rate plans?
Trip.com's TripGenie to get booking capabilities through Mastercard partnership
Mastercard and Trip.com have partnered to offer artificial intelligence (AI)-powered booking experiences for the travel sector. Mastercard’s Agent Suite for Merchants will power Trip.com's TripGenie AI agent, enabling consumers to search, book and complete purchases. Agent Suite enables travel brands to offer agentic shopping experiences within their existing ecommerce environment.
European hotels maintain direct distribution lead over OTAs
Booking Holdings and Expedia Group control more than 85% of hotel bookings from online travel agencies (OTAs) in Europe, according to research. HOTREC’s European Hotel Distribution Study 2026, based on feedback from 2,713 properties, found the OTA channel accounts for 29.9% of bookings, while the remainder is made up of bookings from offline travel agencies, tour operators and wholesale companies.
Trip.com Group Q2 hit by fine from Chinese regulator
Trip.com Group’s second quarter was hit by the $763 million fine from Chinese regulators which made headlines in July. Accommodation revenue for Q2 was $969 million, up 6% year over year but offset by a “contra-revenue imposed by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR),” the company said. Net loss for Q2 was $361 million versus net income of approximately $730 million for the same period in 2025. The company attributed the loss to the SAMR anti-monopoly penalty.
Entravel Group secures additional $3M to launch Expereon settlement platform
Entravel Group, a specialist in white-label travel connectivity for fintech, has raised an additional $3 million in funding from existing investors. Last month, the company raised $7.5 million in a round led by Ethereal Ventures and Finality Capital. The latest investment will help the company launch Expereon, a platform to help travel companies improve settlement processes and address working capital challenges.
Navan increases revenue in Q2, acquires BoomPop to boost online meeting capabilities
Navan has acquired BoomPop, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered event planning platform, for an undisclosed amount. Michael Sindicich, president of Navan, said the company partnered with BoomPop a few months ago to offer customers wider online event planning capabilities.
Ryanair's CMO Dara Brady provides frank take on AI in marketing
Ryanair’s CMO Dara Brady describes the airline’s artificial intelligence (AI) efforts so far to sell more and drive personalization as not “overly inspiring.” “The concept is far greater than the reality,” he said, adding that there are a lot of improvements the low-cost carrier can make. The low-cost carrier applies the same business discipline and not a little skepticism to AI investment as it does to everything else.
Booking loses Etraveli acquisition appeal
European lawmakers have denied Booking Holdings’ appeal regarding its acquisition of Etraveli Group. The EU's General Court today upheld the European Commission’s (EC) decision that the deal would have boosted Booking’s dominant position “by increasing barriers to entry and expansion.” The EC barred the deal to acquire Etraveli Group three years ago, with Booking Holdings subsequently appealing the decision.
Flagship launches with 3 tours and activities brands, further acquisitions planned
Flagship Group, a portfolio of tours and activities brands including WalksDevour, Amigo Tours and Askos, has been unveiled by Walks founder Stephen Oddo. Flagship, which is backed by investment firm Shamrock Capital, has acquired the three brands and plans to add more companies to the portfolio as it seeks to become a global platform for day tours. Oddo takes on the role of CEO of Flagship Group while Charaf El Mansouri, who founded Dharma, is managing partner.
CEO Spotlight: Matthijs Welle of Mews
Earlier this summer, hospitality technology specialist Mews made headlines when it cut 15% of its workforce, eliminating 170 roles. Just six months prior, the company also announced significant funding in January, raising $300 million in Series D funding and driving its total valuation to $2.5 billion. According to CEO Matthijs Welle, however, the layoffs and funding are unrelated. “[The restructuring] came from a different level of thinking around an AI organization.
Amadeus is working with Anthropic to help developers access content
Weeks after shutting down its self-service APIs portal, Amadeus said it is working with Anthropic to help developers access its content within artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled development environments. The partnership with Anthropic also aims to help travel retailers by ensuring its solutions are “closer to the AI-powered workflows they use every day,” the company said in a blog post.
WeTravel acquires Tourwriter to broaden custom travel focus
WeTravel, a technology specialist for multi-day travel, has acquired Tourwriter, a system for targeting bespoke travel designers, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition follows Series C funding of $92 million announced by WeTravel just under a year ago.
What Revolut's entrepreneur-in-residence thinks AI can do for travel
It’s almost a year since Revolut acquired Swifty, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered travel agent, to help boost its agentic AI capabilities. Stanislav Bondarenko, a co-founder of Swifty, remains with the fintech company and has been absorbed into Revolut’s lifestyle unit. His mission—to build a tool for flight and hotel booking tool from a single voice message—remains the same.
Uber adds train booking from Ixigo to app in India
Uber has partnered with India-based online travel agency Ixigo to launch train ticket booking on the Uber app. The service enables travelers in India to book train tickets as well as arrange rides to their departure station as well as onwards from their destination. Uber already has a presence at a number of large railway stations in the country including Ahmedabad, Secunderabad and Howrah.
How Bright Blue Villas brought an institutional approach to luxury villa rental
After a 20-year career in institutional trading, Natasha Martsekis decided it was time to pursue a passion for hospitality and founded Bright Blue Villas. The business, which was founded in 2014, operates in the luxury market.
Case studies on AI in travel highlight data, trust and bottleneck challenges
Artificial intelligence (AI) can drive efficiency and deliver value in travel, and companies are beginning to share details of where it is making a difference. During recent earnings calls, the bosses of TUI Group, Booking Holdings and Expedia Group shared where AI is having the most impact and where it is expected to deliver results going forward. But most acknowledge that AI is pretty blind without the right data foundation, and getting systems to talk to each other is also crucial.
Entravel Group secures $7.5M to expand white-label model in travel
Entravel Group, a startup providing white-label travel connectivity, to fintech brands has raised $7.5 million in funding. The investment in the Denmark-based company was led by Ethereal Ventures and Finality Capital. GSR, Varrock, G1 Ventures, Seier Capital, Veris Ventures, Funfair Ventures and WTG Ventures also participated.
TUI Group credits AI-driven cost savings for Q3 results
TUI Group has said cost savings are the biggest benefit it has derived from artificial intelligence (AI) so far. Reporting the company’s third quarter 2026 earnings, CEO Sebastian Ebel said the company would not have had the results it announced without AI. “[It’s a] game change to customer service, game change in yielding, in how you do the production. Looking forward, for me, the biggest game change is in distribution.
Zerolook secures $1.9M to address AI search volumes
Zerolook, a startup that predicts flight prices, has raised $1.9 million in pre-seed funding. The Switzerland-based company uses machine learning to predict prices and flight itineraries to help reduce the volume of hits on airline systems. The investment was led by Playfair with participation of Vento Ventures, TrueSight Ventures, Alpha Ventures and a number of angel investors.
IHG working with Google agentic booking pilot, wider AI initiatives
IHG Hotels & Resorts highlighted its involvement in Google's agentic artificial intelligence (AI) booking pilot Tuesday as it reported half-year 2026 results. The hotel group said the pilot enables guests to book hotels, which are processed as direct bookings, within Google's AI Mode experience. Guests can also be redirected to the group’s website for loyalty member rates.
Moove secures $250 million to expand AV infrastructure
Autonomous vehicle (AV) mobility specialist Moove has raised $250 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $2.1 billion. The investment in the Dubai-based ride-hailing company was led by Mubadala Investment Company and co-led by Woven Capital, Toyota’s Growth Fund and Ion Pacific. BlueCrest Capital Management, Sona Asset Management and The Raptor Group also participated in the round.
Sabre ups 2026 guidance as Q2 exceeds expectations
Sabre reported second quarter revenue up 4% to $712 million year over year and operatating income of $93 million, also up 4% compared with Q2 2025. The company said Q2 results exceeded revenue, air distribution and adjusted EBITDA guidance, supporting its ongoing growth and cost management strategies. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $143 million, up 21% year over year, helped by a decrease in labor costs.
Google Maps updates Ask Maps with hotel, event discovery
Google Maps has updated its Ask Maps conversational interface and extended the service to more countries. Ask Maps, which was unveiled earlier this year, now enables users to find the latest information about hotels and local events. Using natural language, travelers can ask for a hotel with a certain price range and rating and Ask Maps will return real-time prices and availability. It will also present ideas of things to do nearby, including concerts and other entertainment with links to booking.
Faye secures $50M for geographic expansion, AI developments
Travel protection platform Faye has announced Series C funding of $50 million. The investment was led by Madrona, with participation from BRM and existing investors Portage, F2 Venture Capital, Viola Ventures and Lumir Ventures. The round brings Faye’s total funding to $100 million.
Expedia Group's investment in AI that doesn't convert yet
Expedia Group is investing in artificial intelligence (AI) in two categories, one of which is not yet delivering conversion, the company said. During the online travel agency’s second quarter 2026 results, CEO Ariane Gorin split the AI development in products to what is delivering results to the core business and some of the conversational developments that are not.
AI and technology investment driving business travel growth
Global business travel spend is forecast to hit $1.71 trillion in 2026 with the number of trips expected to exceed 1.84 billion. The figures from the GBTA Business Travel Index (BTI) Annual Global Report and Forecast represent a 7.2% increase in spend year over year while the volume of trips is up 1.3%.
Amadeus adjusts 2026 guidance, air distribution hit by Middle East conflict Original
Amadeus has adjusted its outlook for 2026 in light of the Middle East conflict impacting air distribution. The company had guided for high single digit growth of around 4.5% in group revenue during full-year 2025 earnings but adjusted this to mid to high-single digit growth of around 2%. Air distribution revenue growth is now estimated at low to mid-single digit down from the mid to high-single digit forecast provided in FY 2025 earnings.
Expedia calls on Layla to speed up its AI strategy
Expedia Group has acquired artificial intelligence (AI) trip planning and booking app Layla for an undisclosed amount. The online travel giant said the move accelerates its AI strategy by combining Layla’s planning and personalization capabilities with Expedia Group’s supply, scale and technology.
Beyond chatbots, is AI working in travel?
Aside from artificial intelligence (AI), trust was the most used word at Phocuswright Europe 2026 last month. Perhaps that’s not surprising, given how often the word has been used by the bosses of online travel giants recently as they figure out their futures. “I do have to wonder, though, whether trust is just a new word for something actually working,” said Lisa Katsouraki, an independent advisor for Ennea Capital Partners.
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