Latest news with #hotelbookings
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former Heads of Google Travel and Tripadvisor Form AI Startup to Head Off Online Travel Agencies
DirectBooker, a startup backed by former Tripadvisor CEO Steve Kaufer and ex-Google Travel head Richard Holden, wants to feed hotel listings directly into AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini — challenging the role of online travel agencies like 'The default behavior is going to be for the OTAs to win again,' said Sanjay Vakil, a co-founder and the CEO of DirectBooker. 'And I would like to head off that outcome. But it's going to take more than three people to do that, so we're looking to grow a little bit.' Vakil held various product management leadership roles at Google Travel and Tripadvisor. The other two co-founders of DirectBooker are Chief Product Officer Theresa Meyer and Chief Technology Officer George Madrid. The Problem to Solve With increasing numbers of consumers searching for travel on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Anthropic, and Gemini, online travel agencies such as and Tripadvisor are establishing partnerships with them to deliver hotel inventory. Vakil said DirectBooker wants to establish relationships with hotels and deliver more robust and comprehensive hotel data to the LLMs. The would be for hotels to attract direct bookings –bypassing the OTAs. Holden, Kaufer, and Vakil published their thoughts in a post called 'Winning the AI Era: How Hotels Can Break Free From OTA Dependence.' Vakil believes that most travelers want to book directly with hotels, and that they would benefit from more detailed hotel information, lower prices, and additional perks. 'There's this opportunity for hotels to showcase themselves to best advantage that's really been missing,' Vakil said. The startup is calling these 'direct bookings' though travelers would still be going first to LLMs – it's not as direct as going to, say, What Is the Competitive Moat? DirectBooker claims it has a tech advantage. It plans to use Model Context Protocol (MCP) technology, which is an open standard and, it argues, can deliver better data. But the same technology is available to competitors as well. 'There's a world in which the OTAs sort of put an MCP layer on top of that [their feeds] and provide that information to the LLMs,' Vakil said. 'I haven't seen it happen yet, and I can imagine technological mismatches that make that more difficult than it should be. We're building our stuff from the ground up.' DirectBooker Is In Startup Mode DirectBooker is at a very early stage. It received pre-seed backing from venture firm Baukunst, and has raised around $2 million from investors, including Kaufer and Holden. The three co-founders are working on DirectBooker, as well as a half-dozen contractors, Vakil said. The startup doesn't have a product or hotel partnerships yet, although it has been speaking with hotels for about a year. Vakil thinks the startup would probably use traditional CPC and CPA models to get paid, but the business model isn't the focus for now. 'I think the industry has settled on particularly expensive transactions, but they don't need to be that expensive,' Vakil said. 'We should be able to get people to them inexpensively, partly because I get to avoid a bunch of the costs that the OTAs have. I don't need customer service. I don't need to worry about protecting customer data. I'm just handing people directly over to the hotel, who already has to do that.' For now, a consumer website, is just turf to test ideas. The real play would revolve around hotel and LLM partnerships. Get breaking travel news and exclusive hotel, airline, and tourism research and insights at
The Sun
16-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Holiday warning for anyone with a hotel or car hire booked this summer as you could save cash
HOLIDAYMAKERS have been issued a warning over hotel bookings or car hire this summer as one trick could save them cash. You can slash costs if you notice the price has dropped after you've booked and you are able to cancel and re-book for free. 1 The tip, included in latest newsletter, could save you hundreds of pounds. The website also advises using comparison sites like Skyscanner, Kayak, Carrentals and Trivago to check whether prices drop after you've booked. The newsletter said: "Rebook trick: Is hotel or car hire cheaper than when you booked? "If your booking has low-cost or free cancellation, regularly check if you can get the same for less." One MSE reader said they booked car hire for a week away in France six months in advance at a cost of £609. They checked the price on the same month of travel and found it had plummeted to £248 - £361 less - with the same terms and conditions. Most hotel providers and booking sites offer a free cancellation option for each room type, which tend to cost more than non-refundable bookings. So MSE says you need to decide if paying more for free cancellation is worth it. However, even if you can't cancel your booking for free, it's worth weighing up how much the cancellation charge is compared to how much the price has dropped. If the charge is small, it could be worth cancelling and you could still save money. Avoid these common holiday booking mistakes for a stress-free vacation Some sites also offer price promises on hotel stays, meaning you are refunded the difference if the price drops before you arrive. HotelsCombined and On the Beach all offer price promise guarantees. How else to slash holiday car costs and hotel stays You can cut the cost of car rentals while abroad by ditching expensive rental company excess cover and buying standalone cover instead. Make sure you take photos of the vehicle before taking off as well, so you are not forced to cover any damage you didn't cause. If you can, show the snaps to staff at the time of collection so you don't get stung with extra costs when returning the car. Rentals can prove more costly when picking up from the airport - it could make more sense to get a cab to your hotel and hire a car from a local rental branch after arriving in your destination. Just make sure you compare prices to ensure you're actually getting the best deal though. When it comes to booking hotels, Which? Travel has found simply making the booking on your mobile instead of computer or laptop could save you £270. If you can, book your hotel stay at the end of the summer season too - demand will be lower and you'll likely get a cheaper price. Holiday Pay: Your Rights, Advice & Entitlements Here are your rights when it comes to taking time off work: Can my boss deny my holiday request? As a general rule, you need to give your boss a notice period of twice the amount of time you are taking for your holiday. For example, if you request five days of holiday you have to provide a minimum of ten days' notice. Your boss can force you to take a holiday at certain times of year like Christmas and New Year or bank holidays when your workplace may be closed. Companies can also set limits on how many days in a row you can take off to stop just taking a whole month off at once. My boss won't let me take any of the dates off that I have suggested: See how much time off the people you work with have taken off as well as how far in advance they let their boss know they were going to take time off. See if they got similar treatment or if you are being unfairly treated. You have a statutory right to your holiday and if you feel that is being infringed upon you can go to court. Before you make a claim you need to talk to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas). They will try one last time to reconcile the issue, and if that fails they will give you guidance on how to make an employment tribunal claim How do I calculate my holiday entitlement? You can use this tool to calculate your holiday entitlement depending on your work status.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marriott CEO talks summer travel demand, AI implementation
Hotel bookings are holding steady this summer despite concerns over a potential slowdown. Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano joins Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi at Cannes Lions 2025, where he discusses summer travel demand, the growth of group bookings, and how Marriott is implementing artificial intelligence (AI) into its hotels. Click here to watch more of Yahoo Finance's coverage from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Travel Daily News
09-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Cardiff hotel bookings nearing 90% for Oasis Tour
Cardiff leads hotel bookings for Oasis Live '25 tour with 89% occupancy, as smaller markets see strong concert-driven demand spikes. ARLINGTON, VA. – With less than a month until the Oasis Live '25 tour kicks off, Cardiff shows the highest hotel booking levels at nearly 90%, according to CoStar's latest forward booking data. CoStar is a leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information, and analytics in the property markets. The European leg of the tour runs from early July through mid-August. As of 2 June, Cardiff was reporting its highest occupancy on the books for concerts on 4 July (89.0%) and 5 July (77.8%) at Principality Stadium. At the same time last year, Cardiff's levels for those nights were at 51.2% and 47.1%, respectively. Manchester's highest occupancy on the books is on 19 July (67.0%), while in Edinburgh and Dublin, booking levels have climbed as high as 73.6% (8 August) and 74.5% (16 August), respectively. 'Oasis will play to sold-out venues all around the world in the coming months, and the hotel industries in most of the host markets will see compression nights,' said Alexander Robinson, STR's regional director. 'In the smaller markets especially, levels are pacing well ahead of the comparable time last year. As we often see around major concert tours like this, those levels will continue to rise through the night of the shows. 'The only exception right now is London, but that's to be expected given the size of the market as well as booking trends for comparable events in the past. Even Taylor Swift's tour last year did not produce massive demand spikes in London compared with other smaller markets.'
The National
04-06-2025
- Business
- The National
UAE hotels set for busy Eid as travel boom continues
Hotels across the UAE are gearing up for a busy Eid Al Adha break, with more than half of the rooms already booked and some industry experts forecasting full occupancy. Experts believe bookings can be attributed to the continued popularity of staycations; a growing number of visitors from neighbouring Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries; and the public holiday landing outside of school holidays, meaning families want to make the most of the long weekend. In Dubai, Saturday is set to be the busiest day with 55.6 per cent of rooms booked so far, according to data shared with The National by the CoStar Group, parent company of hotel analytics provider STR. In Abu Dhabi, Friday is the busiest with 51.6 per cent of rooms booked. Kostas Nikolaidis, STR's senior account manager in the Middle East and Africa region, said the data suggests there is strong demand between Friday and Tuesday. Surge in demand 'Demand for accommodation will continue to rise as we get closer to the dates and people finalise their plans,' he said. 'Staycations are one of the main drivers, coupled with international visitors, primarily from neighbouring GCC countries.' The figures relate to bookings made up to May 26, the most recent available, but are expected to have sharply increased since then. Rove Hotels chief operating officer Paul Bridger is forecasting close to full occupancy. 'We're seeing strong demand across all the Rove hotels, with the highest demand at our beachfront locations like La Mer, JBR and Al Marjan Island, as well as hotels near shopping and entertainment hubs such as Downtown Dubai,' he said. 'We are forecasting our 4,000 rooms to be over 95 per cent occupied during the Eid period.' Mr Bridger said bookings are typically made within a week of the holiday starting. Nightly rates currently range from Dh399 to Dh899, depending on the location, and the chain is offering special Eid deals such as complimentary breakfasts and upgrades. 'Since this Eid doesn't coincide with extended school holidays, we're seeing stronger demand for staycations from families looking to make the most of the long weekend,' he said. Jan Hanak, managing director UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt for Radisson Hotel Group, said bookings are up on last year. 'Eid is always a busy time and this year, especially in our Dubai hotels, we are seeing significant growth in bookings from GCC countries and strong demand from our other traditional source markets,' said Mr Hanak. 'We expect standout results in both average rate and occupancy.' Travel boom continues The travel boom in the UAE shows no sign of slowing down. Dubai, for example, recorded a three per cent annual increase in international visitor numbers to 5.31 million during the first three months of the year, according to the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. The city attracted 18.7 million international tourists in 2024, nine per cent more than the previous year. Data shows that Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, had 1.4 million overnight guests in the first quarter of this year. Its hotels generated Dh2.3 billion ($626.2m) in revenue, which 18 per cent more than the same period in 2024, according to the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi. But the boom extends across the country. Ras Al Khaimah, which recorded 1.28 million overnight visitors last year, is aiming to grow that number to 3.5 million by 2030. The mammoth $5.1bn Wynn Al Marjan Island resort is expected to transform the hospitality industry when it is set to open in 2027. Godly Babukutty, managing director of Epic Travel, a travel agency based in the UAE, is seeing a mix of staycations and UAE residents opting to travel abroad – primarily to the Caucasus and Central Asia – to places where visas are easier to secure. 'Most of our packages were sold by last week,' said Mr Babukutty, adding the post-Covid boom in travel had not ended. 'Destinations within three to four hours are popular.' Mr Babukutty said a package to Georgia, for example, with his agency, including hotels, would have cost about Dh3,000 a few weeks ago but now some direct flights from Dubai alone are more than that. The high temperatures in May and April had also persuaded more people to travel abroad to cooler climates, he said, while Eid Al Adha's dates outside of the school break means many are staying in the country to save money for summer travel.
