Travel Technology News Page 22
Access Hospitality Appoints Aravinda Gollapudi as Chief Technology Officer
Access Hospitality, the hospitality technology division of The Access Group, today announced the appointment of Aravinda Gollapudi as Chief Technology Officer. She will lead the organization’s global technology vision with a focus on embedding agentic AI across its platform to deliver smarter, more connected operations for hospitality businesses. Aravinda joins from Sage, where as Head of Platform Business Unit and SVP of Technology she led a globally distributed organization spanning product, engineering and platform strategy. Her 28-year career includes leadership roles at Intuit, Ellie Mae and VeriSign, with deep expertise in SaaS architecture, AI driven transformation and large scale platform development. She was recently named among Channel Insider’s 2025 Top 50 AI Leaders in the Channel and is a Stevie Award winner, recognizing her impact in bringing enterprise AI into commercial reality
GuideGeek Launches AI Travel Genius for New Brunswick Trip-Planners
GuideGeek, the AI travel technology from Matador Network, has partnered with ExploreNB to launch Explora, an artificial intelligence–powered travel chatbot designed to help visitors plan trips to New Brunswick with ease and confidence. Piloted in early 2025 and now rolled out more broadly, Explora provides instant, conversational answers to travel and tourism questions about the province. Powered by GuideGeek's award-winning AI platform, this tool has generated thousands of online conversations with prospective visitors.
H55 Battery Technology Helps Power Progress of RTX Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator
H55 today announced continued progress developing the 200 kWh Energy Storage System (ESS) for the RTX Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator, since the project achieved the significant milestone of its first full-power system test conducted in June 2025.
Manchester Airport enables mixed domestic and international operations with Amadeus biometrics
Manchester Airport has introduced a new operational model for its Terminal 2 that allows domestic and international passengers to seamlessly share the same arrival and departure infrastructure
A new digital experience: American gives customers more timely flight information
American Airlines operates nearly 7,000 flights every day, connecting 700,000 customers to the people and places that matter most. With a global network, travel plans can occasionally be disrupted by factors like weather, air traffic control or an aircraft that needs unscheduled maintenance. That’s why American is further enhancing the travel experience with a smarter digital platform that gives customers clear explanations when flights are delayed or canceled.
Three Years of TripGenie: How Travellers Around the World are Using AI Differently
As AI becomes an everyday part of travel planning, one thing is increasingly clear: while the technology may be global, how travellers use it is anything but uniform. New data from TripGenie, Trip.com's AI travel assistant, reveals that three years of real-world usage have surfaced new patterns in how travellers plan, decide and navigate their journeys.
“Hundreds of airports may need to replace their Safety Management Systems in 2026”, says OneReg CEO
Airports across Europe and beyond are quietly entering the market for new Safety Management Systems, with several operators signalling that their existing platforms are reaching end‑of‑life or no longer meeting modern operational and cybersecurity expectations. While the data is emerging, OneReg says the pattern is becoming increasingly visible through tenders, RFPs, and conversations with airport safety teams. Based on what airports are telling OneReg directly, dozens – and potentially hundreds – of operators may find themselves needing to transition to new Safety Management Systems in 2026.
eviivo releases new Owner Management feature to reduce reporting time for property managers
eviivo, the all-in-one property management system (PMS) for hospitality businesses, has announced a major new release of its Owner Management functionality that significantly reduces the time property management companies (PMCs) spend producing financial statements, one of the most manual, error-prone, and time-consuming tasks in property operations.
HotelREZ names Hadley O’Dwyer Vice President of Customer Success and Engagement
HotelREZ Hotels & Resorts has appointed Hadley O’Dwyer as Vice President of Customer Success and Engagement to reinforce the company’s continued investment in operational excellence, digital innovation, and customer‑centric growth.
IATA Advances AI Initiatives to Support Air Cargo Operations
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is advancing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in air cargo with three initiatives to improve operational efficiency, strengthen safety and compliance, and accelerate innovation across the global air cargo value chain:
AI sparks a SaaS shakeout in travel: TripWorks warns industry is entering a ‘reckoning phase’
TripWorks, the AI- and business intelligence-driven booking and automation platform for tours, activities, and attractions operators, today issued a warning that the travel industry is heading into a decisive consolidation phase as AI accelerates a long‑brewing SaaS shakeout. New research shows travel agencies and operators are relying on an unsustainable number of disconnected systems – a fragmentation problem that is driving up costs, eroding margins, and undermining customer experience.
60% of travelers still prefer human trip planning over AI, new Civitatis survey finds
Despite the rapid rise of generative AI tools in travel planning, 60% of travelers still prefer human-curated recommendations and verified information, according to a survey of more than 7,000 users conducted by Civitatis, a leading global marketplace for guided tours and excursions in Spanish and Portuguese.