News & Stories

Amsterdam. Overnight, Google faced an unexpected challenger: the AI tool ChatGPT. The global tech scene has been buzzing ever since. The hospitality industry is facing the next disruption. "The Thing" changes the entire interaction with guests: they no longer type their profile into forms but speak their wishes. Google and the OTAs will have to come up quickly with similar AI products because there are immense profits behind them, say experts from H2C, hotel chains, and booking platforms like Kayak and Expedia.

Amsterdam. Giant platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com are the biggest beneficiary of short-term rentals. In 2022, over 355 million nights were booked through rental platforms, yet they seem to fail to pay their fair share of taxes across the continent. They also seem to ignore EU rules when it comes to tax collection. After France, Italy is going after them for tax fraud, claiming hundreds of millions of unpaid taxes.

Berlin. Digital progress in German companies continues to tread water. As in the previous year, they gave it an average grade of "satisfactory". The companies are doing a lot to catch up. But they are hardly making the leap forward.

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.