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Booking.com isn’t waiting for anyone else to win social commerce

I was lucky enough this week to get quoted in Morgan Hines’ story on Phocuswire about the new social commerce tie up between Booking.com and TikTok that makes hotels directly bookable on platform.

To catch you up: traffic is drying up from the places it has flowed for the past 2 decades.

That isn’t just a you thing – it is happening to the big boys also. The main difference however is that the incumbents are moving quickly to replace it with where the eyeballs still are – on social media.

Expedia has its “Trip Matching” on Instagram. Booking has gone a step further with direct booking integration. They are not keen to give up incumbency.

For the rest of the industry, Videreo offers a solution that gets your brand exposed to content creator’s audiences and an audit and attribution trail all the way through to sale to measure success.

It can be as simple as adding just one extra deliverable in a creator campaign.

Videreo is the place for brands and creators to meet & create a new sales pipeline together.

Contact me to learn how we can make this happen for you.

This content is provided by the (interim) newsletter sponsor Videreo.com

Are consumer facing AI tools actually any good?

Last week I made the suggestion that trip planning tools weren’t that great which was driving their earliest users away from using AI at all for trip planning (as per the YouGov survey).

This week The New York Times weighed in with some editorial opinion. I found a non paywalled version for you.

They looked at Expedia Trip Match; Mindtrip, Layla, Gondola and Ray-ban Meta glasses.

I’ll let you decide who came out on top here.

Middle East is becoming a hotbed for AI

A couple of articles this week paint a picture of the Middle East as a region on the rise to be at the forefront of AI for travel and hospitality.

Emirates News Agency – WAM suggested “The United Arab Emirates continues to consolidate its leadership in employing technological solutions and artificial intelligence in the tourism and hospitality sector, entrenching its position as an innovative and digitally advanced global destination.”

Things like mandating smart door locks on apartment rentals were highlighted as a policy decision that is driving technology forward or as Qutaiba Al Ali, founder and CEO of The Digital Hotelier, put it “advanced regulatory frameworks for holiday homes and to require smart entry systems to protect guests and ensure the highest security standards.”

Meanwhile Cairo has been named as the venue for next year’s GITEX “Everything AI” summit. (Great name!)

With tourism being at the heart of the Egyptian economy, we can expect at least some focus on our industry at the conference as the article hints at when saying it will “encompass a broader range of industries where AI is a key driver of growth.”

If someone has a contact at GITEX – an intro would be awesome as I’d like to encourage tourism having a presence here. (You could just forward them this newsletter).

OYO thinks fake videos are the future of authenticity (!?)

I sometimes wonder if people realise what they are saying………

This week OYO were keen to tell everyone that they are going all in on Google’s VEO 3 AI image generation.

Shashank Jain, Group Head, Technology and Marketing, OYO, said, “Veo 3 is set to become OYO’s virtual production studio for its authenticity which is critical to our business. From sunlit balconies in Copenhagen to bustling city streets in Mumbai, everything could be rendered with realism.”

Umm – OK.

To be fair, when digging a little deeper it seems core to the plan is changing the language people are speaking in ads – which sounds fine. But enough of the fake being the solution to “authenticity”.

Want to know how you can and should use video in tourism? I’m hosting hands-on sessions as part of the Arival AI Forum in Washington DC on 29 & 30 Sept this year. See and do – to level up your game in video.

Google’s simple AI trick: Magic Cue on Pixel 10

The new Pixel 10 phone will apparently fish out your all-important Booking Reference number if it thinks you might need it by understanding who you are communicating with via phone.

I’m always dam looking for that number.

I’m sure everyone else will follow soon enough.

Holiwise raises pre-seed round

Anyone raising a pre-seed round these days has probably already achieved Seria A type metrics in their traction.

Was great to see news that money is still flowing for those hitting those milestones in the announcement of Holiwise’s raise.

“We’ve identified a clear gap in the market between mainstream online travel agencies and high-end travel concierges,” said Albin Eriksson Lippe, CEO and co-founder of Holiwise.

“Premium travellers are underserved, often forced to choose between impersonal, self-serve booking platforms or expensive concierge services that are slow to access.”

Concierges seem hot right now with GuestOS also making some great strides with their voice concierge solution.

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Marketplace Spotlight: COAX

Ivan Verkalets from COAX this week dug into the MIT report that suggested 95% of AI pilots deliver zero value! (Crikey).

Ivan took the 5% lens to try to uncover what IS working:

Build vs. Buy matters more than you think.
The problem isn't the AI, it's the integration.
Successful implementations follow a specific pattern.

Dig into the article for more granular analysis.

If you have a B2B business underpinned by AI and looking for people to notice you, you can sign up to the marketplace for peanuts (top right corner, 5 mins, bring your logo).

I’ve priced for bootstrapped startups but also accepting larger companies too.

Trip.com upgrade their AI tool

News out of Trip.com that their consumer facing AI tool has undergone an upgrade.

“The company said Trip.Planner acts as a concierge and offers real-time transport integration including pricing, availability and descriptions as well as live availability for restaurants, hotels and attractions.

Recommendations are also destination specific, such as relevant airport transfers and local tours. The service also provides in-app AI chat with “expert-vetted” recommendations.”

Told you concierges were hot right now!

Their earnings call was awash with green possibly demonstrating that the rollout is working.

Slack Group!

Podcasts and Sponsors

Podcasts now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts:

New podcasts are now showing up on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for your easy listening pleasure!

This week we caught up with Amir Mohajer to discuss his life travel GM in Iran to startup founder in AI and travel in Silicon Valley. It’s a great story with plenty of ups and downs!

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Most clicked last week was the link to YouGov report that young Americans are abandoning AI Trip Planning.

That’s it – you’ve made it to the end of this edition. I’ll be putting the result of the most clicked post in next week’s edition so you can see where others are focusing. If I’ve missed something, you’ve got a tip or any feedback at all – you can simply reply to this email and it will come straight to me. I’m doing this for You so please don’t be shy to tell me what you think

Glossary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Artificial intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind. (source IBM)

Generative AI (GAI) is a type of AI powered by machine learning (ML) models that are trained on vast amounts of data and are used to produce new content, such as photos, text, code, images, and 3D renderings. (Source Amazon)

Large Language Model (LLM) is a specialized type of artificial intelligence (AI) that has been trained on vast amounts of text to understand existing content and generate original content.

ChatGPT – Open AI’s LLM; sometimes referred to by its series number GPT3; GPT3.5 or GPT4. These are used by Microsoft & Bing.

Gemini – Google’s suite of LLM.

If wanting to go even deeper into the AI lexicon – check out this handy guide created by Peter Syme for the tours & activity sector