PhocusWire

With #artificialintelligence (AI) becoming central to travel strategy, "AI-native" has emerged as the sector's favorite new label. The term has become a strategic catch-all, carrying various meanings for companies at different stages. In a legacy overhaul, Sabre restructured its leadership team, later unveiling a “once-in-a-generation rebuild” of its tech stack with #AI compatibility in mind. @Airbnb said it is layering AI across its experience to transform service, while Riyadh Air partnered with @IBM to make #Riyadh an AI-driven #airline. Continue reading the full article on #PhocusWire bit.ly/4d0uL4e

@CapitalOne has launched a standalone mobile application for its #travel platform, allowing #cardholders to book #travel, redeem #rewards and track trips in real time, including #airportlounge capacity and waitlist updates. The #app provides a travel-specific mobile channel separate from the company’s core #banking functionality. The existing web version of #CapitalOneTravel will continue to be available. Read more on #PhocusWire bit.ly/4rNZhlB

An #AIeval is a structured process used to systematically test and measure an #AI system's quality, performance and reliability, assessing whether it meets goals like accuracy, safety and usefulness. Generic evals and benchmarks are insufficient—custom evals are the only way to truly understand an AI's readiness for deployment. Read the full story on #PhocusWire now bit.ly/4sQb8QX

What impact will #artificialintelligence (AI) have on the #NewDistributionCapability (#NDC) standard first introduced by #IATA in 2012? Will #AI confine it to the history books? Will AI mean structural change or just become an optimization layer on top of existing services? What’s the right mix between direct and indirect business for airlines? These were some of the questions discussed during sessions at the #AirlineDistribution2026 conference last week. Below, we’ve shared some of the key insights, thoughts and concerns from airlines and technology specialists at the #UATP-hosted event. Continue reading the entire story on #PhocusWire bit.ly/4lzwX4Q

Spend management platform Ramp has acquired guest travel startup Juno, with plans to have it operate independently within Ramp while supporting its own travel offering capabilities, the companies announced Monday. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Juno—developed by Devon Tivona and Sam Felsenthal, the founders of guest travel management app Pana—launched last year as a solution for coordinating, booking and managing guest travel. Over that time, it's announced attracting $6 million in funding and broadened its focus to tackle "complex travel" uses cases outside of guest travel, including meetings management capabilities. Now with Ramp, Tivona said Juno will have additional resources to continue its growth. Read the full article on #PhocusWire. bit.ly/3PmQ2eo

@Google has launched a conversational interface and updated navigation features in Maps, both powered by @Gemini. #Travelers can use natural language within the #AskMaps experience, asking questions about recommended scenic stops on the way to a destination or to identify something specific, like public tennis courts with lights to play at night. Read the full story now on #PhocusWire. bit.ly/4sPq6Xv

#ElectricAirTaxi developers @jobyaviation and @flyarcher plan to deploy #aircrafts in multiple U.S. states as part of a federal pilot program designed to test how electric vertical takeoff and landing (#eVTOL) vehicles operate in real-world conditions. The eVTOL Integration Pilot Program aims to accelerate regulatory progress and infrastructure development by facilitating early operations as advanced air mobility aircraft are integrated into the national airspace. Read the full article on #PhocusWire now bit.ly/4ryMrHs

#Stablecoin is being viewed as gamechanger for the #travelindustry for its ability to save costs, drive efficiency and help eliminate #fraud. “It's a #cryptographic transfer of #money, and it's backed one-to-one with a #fiatcurrency. So you have stability with a U.S. dollar, with a Euro, with a British pound, and then it's transacted in a very secure way. When you talk about a transaction, it's on-chain, so it's fully visible and trackable. You have your identity connected to the transaction,” says #AlexTaskey, founder and CEO of #Frame (a stablecoin orchestration layer). Get the full story on #PhocusWire now. bit.ly/4dpdvWi

@Expedia has partnered with @PredictHQ to bring contextual data around global events to the online travel agency’s (#OTA) hotel partners. The #PredictHQ data is integrated with #ExpediaPartnerCenter and aims to give hotels access to insights, such as demand #data, to boost #revenue strategies. Continue reading the fully article on #PhocusWire. bit.ly/3N55jQu

#Autonomousvehicle (AV) company @zoox has partnered with @Uber to launch #robotaxis on the #Uber app. This marks #Zoox’s first partnership with a third-party platform like Uber. The companies intend to launch robotaxis in #LasVegas this summer, with plans to launch additional vehicles in #LosAngeles by mid-2027. Once enabled, Uber users will see the option to match with a Zoox robotaxi for eligible trips. Zoox, which was acquired by Amazon in 2020, will continue to offer its rides through its app as well. Currently, Zoox robotaxis trips are free in Las Vegas and select neighborhoods in San Francisco. Read the full article on #PhocusWire bit.ly/4seI8T6

Spend management platform #Ramp has acquired #guesttravel startup #Juno, with plans to have it operate independently within Ramp while supporting its own travel offering capabilities, the companies announced Monday. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Juno—developed by Devon Tivona and Sam Felsenthal, the founders of guest travel management app #Pana—launched last year as a solution for coordinating, booking and managing guest travel. Over that time, it's announced attracting $6 million in #funding and broadened its focus to tackle "complex travel" uses cases outside of guest travel, including meetings management capabilities. Get the full story on #PhocusWire now.

An #AIeval is a structured process used to systematically test and measure an #AI system's quality, performance and reliability, assessing whether it meets goals like accuracy, safety and usefulness. Generic evals and benchmarks are insufficient—custom evals are the only way to truly understand an AI's readiness for deployment. Read the full story on #PhocusWire now bit.ly/4sQb8QX

While the tours and activities industry remains fragmented and largely offline, the sector is viewed as having significant growth potential. Recent research by @Phocuswright and #Arival revealed the sector is projected to reach $340 billion by 2029, up from today’s $271 billion. The Outlook for Travel Experiences 2019-2029 report also revealed that only a third of gross bookings take place through online channels, compared to 64% for the #globaltravelindustry. Experts from @civitatis, @Expedia and #Nezasa joined a panel at the recent #ITBBerlin event to discuss how #artificialintelligence (#AI) might transform the experiences segment. Continue reading the full story on #PhocusWire bit.ly/4cQuwZo

What impact will #artificialintelligence (AI) have on the #NewDistributionCapability (#NDC) standard first introduced by #IATA in 2012? Will #AI confine it to the history books? Will AI mean structural change or just become an optimization layer on top of existing services? What’s the right mix between direct and indirect business for airlines? These were some of the questions discussed during sessions at the #AirlineDistribution2026 conference last week. Below, we’ve shared some of the key insights, thoughts and concerns from airlines and technology specialists at the #UATP-hosted event. Continue reading the entire story on #PhocusWire bit.ly/4lzwX4Q

Spend management platform Ramp has acquired guest travel startup Juno, with plans to have it operate independently within Ramp while supporting its own travel offering capabilities, the companies announced Monday. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Juno—developed by Devon Tivona and Sam Felsenthal, the founders of guest travel management app Pana—launched last year as a solution for coordinating, booking and managing guest travel. Over that time, it's announced attracting $6 million in funding and broadened its focus to tackle "complex travel" uses cases outside of guest travel, including meetings management capabilities. Now with Ramp, Tivona said Juno will have additional resources to continue its growth. Read the full article on #PhocusWire. bit.ly/3PmQ2eo

Spend management platform #Ramp has acquired #guesttravel startup #Juno, with plans to have it operate independently within Ramp while supporting its own travel offering capabilities, the companies announced Monday. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Juno—developed by Devon Tivona and Sam Felsenthal, the founders of guest travel management app #Pana—launched last year as a solution for coordinating, booking and managing guest travel. Over that time, it's announced attracting $6 million in #funding and broadened its focus to tackle "complex travel" uses cases outside of guest travel, including meetings management capabilities. Get the full story on #PhocusWire now.

@Google has launched a conversational interface and updated navigation features in Maps, both powered by @Gemini. #Travelers can use natural language within the #AskMaps experience, asking questions about recommended scenic stops on the way to a destination or to identify something specific, like public tennis courts with lights to play at night. Read the full story now on #PhocusWire. bit.ly/4sPq6Xv

#Stablecoin is being viewed as gamechanger for the #travelindustry for its ability to save costs, drive efficiency and help eliminate #fraud. “It's a #cryptographic transfer of #money, and it's backed one-to-one with a #fiatcurrency. So you have stability with a U.S. dollar, with a Euro, with a British pound, and then it's transacted in a very secure way. When you talk about a transaction, it's on-chain, so it's fully visible and trackable. You have your identity connected to the transaction,” says #AlexTaskey, founder and CEO of #Frame (a stablecoin orchestration layer). Get the full story on #PhocusWire now. bit.ly/4dpdvWi

@Expedia has partnered with @PredictHQ to bring contextual data around global events to the online travel agency’s (#OTA) hotel partners. The #PredictHQ data is integrated with #ExpediaPartnerCenter and aims to give hotels access to insights, such as demand #data, to boost #revenue strategies. Continue reading the fully article on #PhocusWire. bit.ly/3N55jQu

#ElectricAirTaxi developers @jobyaviation and @flyarcher plan to deploy #aircrafts in multiple U.S. states as part of a federal pilot program designed to test how electric vertical takeoff and landing (#eVTOL) vehicles operate in real-world conditions. The eVTOL Integration Pilot Program aims to accelerate regulatory progress and infrastructure development by facilitating early operations as advanced air mobility aircraft are integrated into the national airspace. Read the full article on #PhocusWire now bit.ly/4ryMrHs