Travel tech flashback: What made headlines in 2024?

For the fourth installment of PhocusWire’s flashback collection, we checked out 2024.

After it outlined a lot of 2023, with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, there isn’t a query that the journey business was enamored with synthetic intelligence (AI). 

In reality, whereas it conceded it was “a bit tricky” to resolve, when requested what single subject PhocusWire lined essentially the most in 2024, ChatGPT recognized AI in journey, “particularly AI-powered itinerary tools and discovery platforms.”

At the start of the 12 months, business stakeholders and Phocuswright analysts shared predictions for 2024, lots of which targeted on sustainability, company journey resurgence, sector consolidation, experiential journey demand and generative AI. And they had been spot on in predicting that AI could be a important character.

AI progress and hype

Travel firms continued to implement AI and discover its potential in advertising, distribution, operations, search, planning and in-destination experiences.

In late 2023, Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, brazenly expressed how his firm may evolve with generative AI. But the next September, he predicted change would take extra time.

“I don’t like to make promises, and not deliver on them … but, well, I’m not going to deliver on the promise of AI, and no one will,” Chesky stated. “I think AI is going to change the world much more than anybody realizes. I also think it’s going to take way longer than anyone realizes. This decade, things aren’t going to change as much as people think, and next decade, things are going to change a lot more.”

At the time, Mike Coletta, senior supervisor of analysis and innovation at Phocuswright, stated there was a dichotomy round AI making it difficult to completely perceive the know-how’s evolution.

“On the one hand, it’s by far the fastest-evolving technology in history,” Coletta stated in October 2024. “On the other hand, humans at large evolve at a set pace, both in our understanding of technology and our behaviors with it. So, it’s easy to believe that change will be rapid, but AI can only move as fast as humans are able to move with it.”

Travel M&A, funding

Travel mergers and acquisitions (M&A) exercise continued to warmth up in 2024 as properly.

“For the M&A side, we’re definitely on top,” Matt Zito, managing companion of TSI, a dealer for journey M&A and consultancy for startups, advised PhocusWire in a studio interview that November. “There’s a lot of activity coming from both buyers and sellers.”

Zito attributed the amplified surroundings to patrons realizing a recession wasn’t possible, which freed up steadiness sheets and improved earnings with the COVID-19 pandemic within the rearview mirror.

Min Liu, managing director at funding banking agency Cambon Partners, weighed in on the promote aspect, including that consolidation was trending in 2024, largely on account of the truth that older generations had been able to exit.

Eye-grabbing offers included American Express GBT’s plan to accumulate CWT for a whopping $570 million, which drew scrutiny from authorities within the U.Ok.

TravelPerk’s acquisition of AmTrav made waves, too, and the business took observe of Gray Dawes Travel Group’s buy of Verve Travel and VCK Travel, following greater than a dozen acquisitions in years prior.

Mews additionally acquired FrontDesk Anywhere, HS3 Hotelsoftware, Quotelo and Atomize, whereas elevating vital funding.  The firm secured $110 million in March 2024 and one other $100 million in September. 

Additionally on the funding aspect, Hostaway raised a whopping $365 million, bringing the corporate’s valuation final 12 months to $925 million. Lighthouse nabbed $370 million in its collection C elevate, and FLYR raised $295 million.

Big names, large headlines

It was a big 12 months for journey incumbents, with main gamers routinely making newsworthy strikes:

• Airbnb: Airbnb continued to make waves within the business with its pushback on short-term rental rules, the launch of its Icons program, its ongoing dialogue of shifting previous house leases and its quiet reopening of Experiences. 
• Booking.com: All eyes had been on Booking.com in May, when it was designated a gatekeeper underneath Digital Markets Act in Europe. In November, the corporate stated it enacted modifications to handle the ruling, together with the elimination of parity necessities for European Economic Area companions, introducing a device to present vacationers higher management and entry to their information and bettering companions’ information entry.
• Expedia Group: Expedia Group had a busy 2024, with CEO Peter Kern stepping down and being changed by Ariane Gorin, the launch of its media community for advertisers, the launch of Romie and Travel Shops, the ousting of CTO Rathi Murthy and the hiring of Ramana Thumu later within the 12 months.

Additional notable newsmakers included the antitrust ruling deeming Google a monopoly, the Crowdstrike outage and elevated curiosity in airline distribution, with a concentrate on the rise of New Distribution Capability.

Want to learn extra Travel Tech Flashbacks? PhocusWire has additionally revisited 2018, 2020 and 2022.