Martin Cowen

Last week’s Travolution Connects event closed with an investor-focused panel and keynote, concluding that “the smart money” is avoiding consumer-facing businesses which are either too small to succeed on razor-thin margins or too big to offer a niche, premium service.

Optimised payment flows are becoming a non-negotiable part of the new travel tech stack, with marketplaces increasingly interested in payments, according to panellists at last week’s Travolution Connects. Paul Batchelor from global payment and treasury management solution, Sunrate, told attendees: “From a payments perspective, we're working with a lot more marketplaces now. They're much more involved in the payment flow than before and they're seeing it as an opportunity in capitalisation.

Artificial intelligence is helping marketers optimise operations and processes, with its real influence on how travel is promoted to consumers still to emerge, according to a panel of experts at last week’s Travolution Connects.