Here are some of the stories that caught our attention over the week with some of our takeaways.
Travelperk Dives into AI Alongside $200m in New Funding: Travel Weekly reports that “Business travel platform Travelperk has attracted $200 million in new funding while acquiring an AI-powered expense, invoice, and card payment processing firm” and that “The investment, led by European venture capital firm Atomico, almost doubles TravelPerk’s valuation to $2.7 billion”.
Vertical Integration of Travel & Expense definitely appears to be the way forward for modern TMC’s like Travelperk.
And then there is increasingly the AI-First Approach with a strong emphasis on AI capabilities across two dimensions:
- Travel Management: Using AI to enhance booking experiences and service delivery
- Financial Operations: Leveraging AI for automated expense processing, invoice management, and payments
And last but not least valuation growth – the dramatic increase in valuation (nearly doubling to $2.7B) suggests strong market confidence in this integrated, AI-powered approach to travel and expense management.
The 2025 State of Digital Nomads: Remote work is now on an exponential trajectory and growing fast. This dynamic and interactive report from Nomads.com, provides some brilliant insights into who these people are, what work do they do, and how they spend their life based on data from tens of thousands of Nomads.com members.
OpenAI Debuts “Operator” Agent That Can Book Travel: According to this analysis by Alertify, Open AI says that the new model bypassed the need for APIs, mechanisms that allow software components to communicate with each other, and “unlocks a whole new range of software we can use that was previously inaccessible.”
So what does this mean for all the hotel tech that is built on API’s? If such tech becomes widely available, are we in for seamless tech in the hotel sector finally?
New Report From .Trends & Statista Reveals How AI Search is Changing the Web: This report “Online Search After ChatGPT,” published in December and highlighted by SEMRush, examines how artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, is transforming online search.
So what could this mean for hotels and their “findability” in the new world of search? Here are some key findings that could impact how hotels are searched for and booked:
AI Search is becoming a primary tool for online searches: A significant number of people are using generative AI as their primary search tool, and this number is projected to increase dramatically in the coming years. Specifically, 13 million people in the U.S. used generative AI as their primary search tool in 2023, with a projection of over 90 million by 2027. This shift indicates that hotels will need to optimise their online presence for AI search engines, as well as traditional search engines.
Conversational queries are replacing keyword-based searches: Users are shifting from keyword-based searches to conversational queries. This means that hotels should update their content strategy to address questions naturally, as users now engage with search tools through dialogue. Hotels will need to think about how their content can be structured to answer specific questions users might ask when planning a trip.
AI search optimisation is critical: With platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini dominating the AI search market, hotels should optimise content specifically for these platforms’ ways of processing information. This suggests that hotels should consider how their content is interpreted by AI, including a focus on natural language processing and clear, question-based answers.
Content distribution and adaptation: Hotels should consider developing content that serves both AI and traditional search patterns. As users move between AI and traditional search depending on their needs, optimizing content to answer direct questions (AI-friendly) and broader informational queries (traditional search) will be important. Hotels may need to present information in different ways, depending on whether a user is accessing it via a traditional search engine or an AI search tool.
Platform diversification: The growth of platforms like Brave Search, alongside ChatGPT, indicates that users want options. Hotels should consider how their content can serve privacy-conscious users while maintaining a presence on major search engines.
Trust Building: With over 60% of users stating they would increase their use of GenAI if it were more secure, hotels should address the need for data accuracy and emphasise their sources in their content, thus building credibility while maintaining the conversational tone that AI search users expect.
Demographic segmentation: The report indicates that men and younger age groups tend to be more engaged with AI search. However, women also represent a significant proportion of users, especially in the 18-24 and 55+ age groups. Hotels may want to consider these demographic differences in their outreach.
The Starwood Hotels Name is Coming Back: Travelweekly and many others have reported the return of Barry Sternlicht and Starwood with great enthusiasm and excitement. So what do we know so far?
Barry Sternlicht is reviving the Starwood Hotels brand in February 2025, through his current company, SH Hotels & Resorts.
Current Portfolio: Sternlicht is rebranding SH Hotels & Resorts as Starwood, starting with three existing hotel brands: Baccarat: Ultra-luxury hotels, 1 Hotels: Eco-conscious properties and Treehouse: Nostalgic, vintage-styled hotels
Expansion Plans: The new Starwood will begin with 14 hotels across five countries, with ambitious plans to “expand to 22 hotels by 2028”. Planned locations include:
- 1 Hotels: Austin, Seattle, Crete and Riyadh
- Treehouse: Miami, Manchester and Riyadh
- Baccarat: Dubai, Rome, Maldives and Riyadh
The hotel sector is rebounding after the pandemic, with JLL projecting 3-5% revenue growth in 2025 and an expected 15-25% increase in hotel investments this year.
All of this indicates a potentially very exciting year ahead for the new Starwood family!
Sources: Skift, One mile at a time, NY times, View from the wing, Travel Weekly