News & Stories

Amsterdam. For a couple of weeks now, French hoteliers have been the victims of fraudulent activity via the extranet of Booking.com. One of them happens to be the Fabienne Ardouin, President of the Digital Commission at the GNI, one of France’s major hospitality unions. She shared some insights with hospitalityInside.com about the cyber attacks but also the total lack of support from Booking.com.

Frankfurt. Countries around the world invest in robotics to support developments in industry and society. However, the goals of the official funding programmes differ. The nation with the highest robot density in the world is currently South Korea, with Germany in a respectable fourth place.

Augsburg. Innovative, funny and frightening news from the digital world. Today: Service robot sales on the rise, including hospitality / First Volocopter at Rome Airport / Startup: Driving a rental car for 1 euro / Penta Hotel Bremen entices with tokens / ibis Styles sends Pop to the Metaverse / Expedia + Open World Accelerator / IDeas + Hyatt / Guestline + Newbridge.

London. Researchers have created a fleet of flying 3D printers that work together to build large, intricate structures together. Inspired by bees and wasps, the technology offers future possibilities to facilitate the construction and repair of buildings or infrastructure in hard-to-reach places, and to help reduce risks and costs.

Luxembourg. Google continues to be accused of a dominant position on the Android smartphone system. The EU court has now confirmed a record competition fine imposed by the Commission in 2018, amounting to 4.125 billion euros. Google must follow the EU Commission's competition rules.

Amsterdam/Montreal. In the United States, Hopper has already made super app status, but in Europe not everyone has heard of this booking portal, that has just one target group: the Instagram and TikTok generation, and they demand absolute transparency, totally individualised prices, booking flexibility and travel security. The young travellers pay for their bed not in euros or dollars, but with carrots. In truth, Hopper is a travel FinTech that makes money from other products. Hopper is disrupting the OTA and social media world.

Berlin. The real estate industry is once again pushing the pace in digitalization, especially in the development of digital neighbourhoods. The biggest obstacle is data quality, but another hurdle is politics.

Augsburg. Shopping carts are yesterday's news - the future of commerce lies in the Metaverse! Trend researchers and marketing experts are convinced of this, even if user figures do not yet reflect it. So far, it's mainly been gamers who have been trying things out. All the same, more and more pioneers from the hotel industry are venturing into the virtual world to playfully explore these new possibilities - and they're developing new business models.

Augsburg. Innovative, funny and scary things from the digital world.Today: First Spanish hotel in the Metaverse / Romantik print magazine with AR / Mews: More personalisation in real time. / Booking business trips via Teams and Outlook / Digital pop-up beer garden.

Amsterdam. For the first time, Booking.com shareholders voted against the payment of large bonuses, including for CEO Glenn Fogel. After two years of pandemic and on the eve of a probable recession, they want bonuses to be linked to performance. A slap in the face for the executive team!