Here’s a summary of the latest news from the travel industry, highlighting new partnerships, product enhancements, and technology integrations.
Cendyn Integrates AI
Hotel technology provider Cendyn has upgraded its business intelligence solutions with AI-driven analysis. These advancements give hotels actionable insights and data-driven recommendations. By incorporating AI into its CRM and Knowland platform, Cendyn simplifies data management, helping hotel sales and marketing teams lessen manual tasks. A new CRM Analytics feature gives real-time guest behavior insights to assist in optimizing marketing efforts. In addition, Knowland’s upgraded AI search capabilities enable hoteliers to input long-form queries for faster access to business intelligence. Cendyn’s goals with these AI advancements are to improve direct bookings and streamline hotel operations, making their clients more competitive in key markets.
TUI, Oman Air
Oman Air and TUI have launched a digital platform for customizable holiday packages, enabling travelers to combine flights, hotels, ground transportation, and tours. The platform covers Oman Air’s network, including destinations in Oman, Europe, and the Far East. This collaboration aims to provide an easy, streamlined booking experience for a wide range of travelers. Both companies aim to reach new customer bases, increase revenue, and offer a more convenient, affordable way to book full holiday packages while promoting Oman as a travel destination.
Mindtrip, Visit California
Mindtrip has integrated its AI-powered B2B platform into Visit California’s Road Trips Hub. This integration enables visitors to create personalized driving itineraries from over 74 curated road trips. The partnership leverages Mindtrip’s AI to provide tailored, real-time travel recommendations, including route planning and updates on closures. The platform supports travelers planning multi-stop trips and automatically plots routes, with content offered in nine languages. This strategic partnership enhances the travel experience by delivering customized itineraries and demonstrating how AI can transform travel planning.
Phocuswright, Travel Again Advisory
Travel Again Advisory and Phocuswright have entered into a strategic partnership. Through this collaboration, Travel Again Advisory will integrate Phocuswright’s industry-leading research, data, and event access into its consulting services. The partnership includes joint thought leadership initiatives, enriched market insights, and access to Phocuswright events. The alliance strengthens Travel Again Advisory’s position as a trusted partner in the evolving travel landscape.
Rome2Rio expands advertising business
Rome2Rio is expanding its advertising business to enhance connections between travelers, destinations, and partners. The company, owned by Omio and with over 600 million annual visitors, is shifting from programmatic to integrated advertising. Rome2Rio is modernizing its travel product to offer native ads to destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and travel suppliers.
“Connecting people to new places and experiences has never been more important, and Rome2Rio is the only travel company that can help a broad and diverse range of travelers and travel companies discover each other,” said Wendy Olson Killion, CEO of Rome2Rio.
Sunrate, Atlas
Sunrate announced a strategic partnership with Atlas at ITB Berlin 2025, integrating its travel payment solutions with Atlas’s ATRIP platform. The partnership aims to tackle global travel distribution issues, offering virtual and physical commercial cards that allow customers to settle payments in over 15 currencies. These cards also allow for financial control with custom limits and provide real-time transaction monitoring. Sunrate’s goal is to increase the efficiency of travel payments.
Way, Auberge Resorts Collection
Way has announced an expanded partnership with Auberge Resorts Collection, expanding its experiential platform across the brand’s broader portfolio. Guests can now discover and book experiences directly through each property’s page on Auberge’s website. Way’s interface is designed to improve the guest journey by simplifying the booking process before and during their stay, while optimizing hotel operations.
Expedia Group, Emirates
Expedia Group and Emirates have deepened their partnership by fully integrating Emirates’ New Distribution Capability (NDC) API with Expedia’s platforms. This integration gives travelers direct access to the airline’s full range of fares and services. The collaboration also explores deeper integration of loyalty programs, personalized travel experiences, and end-to-end bookings, including tailored air and hotel packages. This partnership aims for more customization, improved flexibility, and expanded rewards, enriching the travel experience for customers worldwide.
Separately, Expedia has partnered with Upgrade to offer Flex Pay, its flexible payment option, for cruise bookings across five of its brands, including Expedia Cruises and Travelocity. This partnership aims to make travel more accessible by dispersing payments over 3 to 24 months, supporting over 20 cruise lines.
HolidayHero Supplier Connections
HolidayHero has launched Supplier Connections, a feature enabling hospitality businesses to directly connect suppliers to upsells and guest experiences, which streamlines communication by giving suppliers, such as bike rental companies or private chefs, their own portal to manage guest inquiries. The feature automates payments and commission handling, removing the need for manual tracking.
Shiji rebrand
Shiji, a global provider of hospitality technology, unveiled a rebrand to unite its solutions under a cohesive brand identity. Key solutions include Daylight PMS, Infrasys POS, and Reviewpro Reputation, among others. The company’s new “Day and Night” concept reflects the constant nature of the hospitality industry.
Daytrip expands offering
Daytrip, a travel platform offering private car transfers in over 130 countries, has launched “day trips,” expanding its services beyond one-way and return transfers. Travelers can book from March, with more than 1,000 day trips available across 200+ locations, mainly in Europe. This expansion allows customers to explore local sights and return to their origin within a day. Daytrip also updated its app and localized its website into seven languages.
Avantio pricing tool
Avantio, a property management technology specialist, has launched its native dynamic pricing tool. This tool assists property managers in increasing revenue and optimizing occupancy. The tool uses historical trends, real-time market data, and insights from platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo to suggest optimal rates, considering seasonality and guest behavior. It offers flexibility with custom discounts and minimum stay rules, while automating updates across all booking channels.
Sojern’s email marketing
Sojern has launched a fully managed email marketing service as part of its multichannel Commission offering. Now available in the U.S. and Canada, the service helps hotels drive direct bookings, build guest loyalty, and reduce reliance on OTAs, all within Sojern’s pay-for-performance model. The service is powered by AI, connecting with property management systems to deliver focused email campaigns and automate operations.
Yanolja, OpenAI Operator
Travel technology company Yanolja has joined OpenAI’s global launch of the Operator research preview, which launched in January, advancing its mission to revolutionize travel with AI-driven services. Yanolja will leverage insights from the research preview to enhance its travel-specific AI capabilities. The company reported $19.8 billion in transactions in 2024 as it expands its global presence.
