The inaugural flight unfolded under overcast skies and serene winds. Positioned along the runway, the Samson Sky team observed with anticipation as the Switchblade gracefully ascended, reaching an altitude of 500 feet. Soaring above the expansive airport and adjacent foothills, the Switchblade maintained flight for nearly six minutes, executing a gentle touchdown to complete its maiden journey. Test pilot Robert Moehle remarked, "The Switchblade handled superbly. I'm thrilled to be the first to pilot it beyond the ground." Moehle, with extensive flight testing experience at The Boeing Company, served as the Test Director for the 787, contributing valuable insights over the preceding months to refine the Switchblade flying prototype.

Global demand for the Switchblade is evident, with over 2300 reservations from 57 countries and all 50 U.S. states. The vehicle's dashboard is adaptable for both right-hand and left-hand drive, reflecting the diverse future ownership base. Sam Bousfield, CEO and Switchblade designer, expressed, "After 14 years of design and rigorous testing, our inaugural flight is a monumental milestone." The Samson Team will leverage flight test data to finalize production engineering and construct multiple prototypes, paving the way for the production of thousands of Switchblades to meet the burgeoning demand.

The Switchblade boasts a maximum driving speed of 125+ mph and an estimated maximum flight speed of 190 mph. Featuring a unique hybrid electric system utilizing unleaded auto gas, the Switchblade offers the convenience of refueling at any auto gas station. With over nine patents issued or applied for internationally, the Switchblade represents a revolutionary concept in personal transportation.

Owners can securely park the Switchblade in their home garage, drive it to a nearby airport, transform it into flying mode in under three minutes, and cover up to 500 miles before refueling, cruising at 160 mph. The two-seater accommodates side-by-side seating, with storage space for smaller travel bags. Its wings and tail fold in to protect them in driving mode, and the engine powers both the wheels on the ground and the propeller in the air.

With an estimated starting price of $170,000 (about £135,000), the Switchblade includes the Samson Builder Assist Program, allowing owners to assemble their portion of the vehicle at the Build Center. No special skills are required, as Samson professionals guide the process. While a Private Pilot's license is necessary for flying, there is growing interest from non-pilots, indicating a broader audience for the Switchblade.

Sam Bousfield shared his sentiment, stating, "Today marks the culmination of many years of hard work and perseverance to realize the vision of a flying sports car." Reflecting on the experience, he added, "Someone asked me how it felt to see the Switchblade fly. I thought about it and realized this is what it feels like when your dreams come true."

For additional details on the Switchblade and to monitor its progress into production, visit SamsonSky.com.

The 100^th customer, Fairfield Inn and Suites in Columbus, Ohio, decided to integrate the WrkSpot platform into their hotel operation for two key areas of support – HR management and panic & safety. "In prioritizing the safety of our employees and recognizing the need for a panic solution, the WrkSpot solution emerged as the most comprehensive and cost-effective choice," says Alan Hardway, VP of Operations. "The Human Resource and Housekeeping modules will improve visibility and accountability, ultimately saving us both time and money."

Launched in 2017, WrkSpot has continued an exemplary rate of growth coming out of the pandemic, working with hotel properties in all industry segments across the US. The 100^th property is a pivotal milestone in the company’s growth – which now supports hotels from coast to coast, both full and limited-service locations. The WrkSpot platform seamlessly integrates with multiple PM systems, allowing individual and multi-unit hotel owners, managers and staff complete visibility and extensive controls within all areas of hotel operations.   

“We are so thrilled to have activated our 100^th customer this past month,” says Brent McMahan, Head of Strategy & Growth at WrkSpot. “Hotels are seeing the value of our product and what makes WrkSpot different - the breadth of platform features and its customizable solutions. Many companies offer parts of what we do, but nobody else offers a complete solution.” 

Key features of WrkSpot include multi-property visibility, activity monitoring for staff, tasks and performance, top-level controls for maintenance, cleaning and HR, budget and scheduling management, as well as panic solution software for end-to-end hotel safety.   

About WrkSpot     

Founded in 2017, WrkSpot is the developer of a revolutionary software suite for hotel portfolio management that integrates HRIS, operations management, and communication in a single app. By managing and engaging staff, controlling costs, streamlining operations, and improving compliance and safety, WrkSpot optimizes hotel operations. To learn more about WrkSpot, visit wrkspot.com.   

The study from Jerne, a platform connecting creators with experience providers, revealed that a hosted experience on average results in 170,944 content impressions, 16,921 "likes," 913 content comments, an average creator rating of 97% (from experience providers) and an average experience provider rating of 99% (from creators).

Tim Morgan, CEO of Jerne, said, "The creator economy is a billion-dollar industry with millions of people producing all types of marketing content for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogs and other platforms. And those marketing efforts with hotel, cruise and tour companies are increasingly providing marketing cost savings and driving bookings to retail channels including travel advisors, [online travel agencies] and direct sales."

The research also looked at the expectations of the travel providers including hotels, cruises and tours that are providing a hosted experience. Hotels are typically looking for four social media story posts per day, a social media feed/blog post per partnership and five high-resolution images or videos per day. Cruise and tour companies have similar expectations but typically seek fewer images and videos

Similarly, a Phocuswright paper "The Future of Social Media, Influencers and Social Commerce in Travel" said a site visit to a hotel, activity provider or destination is as vital when it comes to trip inspiration as the "fit" of an item in fashion.

"The equivalent of the try-on for travel is the site visit," the report said. "Photos and videos taken on-site deliver far better engagement when compared to textual mentions associated with stock or brand-provided photos. This need for authentic social proof raises the bar considerably for travel brands when selecting influencers and planning campaigns."

The Jerne study analyzed 23,453 partnership applications between 4,723 creators and 325 experience providers between September 2022 to October 2023.

The management consulting firm surveyed more than 1,000 travelers in the United States and Canada in August to learn more about the consumer attitude toward generative AI. The results were enlightening and “exciting,” said Scot Hornick, partner and head of pricing, sales and marketing for the Americas for Oliver Wyman.

“It was surprising how many people have already been using generative AI considering these tools were just introduced earlier this year,” Hornick said. “We didn't expect to find so many.”

The report, which looked at chatbots including Google’s Bard, Booking.com’s AI Trip Planner, Expedia’s ChatGPT integration and Priceline’s Penny, among others, found that more than 1 in 3 leisure travelers have recently used tools powered by generative AI.

The adoption rate was quite high for technology that had been on the market for only about six months when the research was conducted, said Lawrence Burka, principal for Oliver Wyman in transportation and services and pricing, sales and marketing practices.

“But not only was the adoption high, the satisfaction rate was high,” Burka said, noting that the amount of travelers who booked based on AI-generated recommendations was also high.

Travelers who use GenAI find it helpful 

While it’s significant in itself that travelers are using the AI tools that hit the market so recently, it’s perhaps even more impressive that many are finding the technology helpful.

Of the travelers who used one of these chat tools, Oliver Wyman found 84% were satisfied and more than half took most or all of the recommendations provided by the AI.

And it goes beyond just trying the technology. The research found that 54% of leisure travelers already trust generative AI for travel inspiration and planning purposes and 81% of them said they would book based on its recommendations.

There are some features that Oliver Wyman found were more important to travelers, including comparative pricing, the ability to book all trip aspects in a single place and the ability to integrate loyalty programs.

Travel suppliers should consider how to incorporate GenAI

Oliver Wyman’s data also looked at loyalty travelers and found 63% of elite travel loyalty members and 50% of non-elite members would, in the future, choose a booking platform because of its generative AI capabilities. 

With that in mind, Hornick said travel suppliers should be considering the incorporation of this technology. 

“If you're trying to figure out how to drive more direct bookings, and you're counting on your loyalty, elite members or loyalty program members to be your most likely and sticky group that's going to use your channels to book, you better think about whether or not you need to equip those channels with these kinds of generative AI capabilities,” Hornick said.

He cautioned: “If those customers find that they're getting more value from non-direct channels that actually help them plan a vacation or inspire even where they want to go, then that's a possible loss of direct booking volume.”

GenAI is already a focus for travel brands

Generative AI and large language models have been a constant topic of discussion for the travel industry for months. And Oliver Wyman’s research comes on the heels of OpenAI’s first developer conference on Monday, which brought together developers from across the globe to preview the ChatGPT creator’s upcoming tools.

And, according to experts, the level of excitement around AI and its advancements is only growing - part of that is due to how search has changed as a result of AI.

There’s a big shift happening, Pablo Laucirica, regional vice president of advertising for Microsoft, said during a PhocusWire Let's Hear It! LinkedIn audio event. 

“If you think about a year ago, the traditional search experience is you were typing a query and you were getting tons of links,” Laucirica said. “Now we are shifting from searching to finding.”

Tripadvisor vice president and head of data Rahul Todkar said, “this is a pretty big moment.”

Top travel brand CEOs have been open about their experimentation with generative AI. So far, the results seem promising. 

Tuesday in its third quarter earnings call, Tripadvisor CEO Matt Goldberg said its members who are using the AI-powered trip planning tool “generate on average three times higher revenue than the average Tripadvisor member.”

And during Expedia Group's third quarter earnings call last week, CEO Peter Kern said the company recently started promoting its ChatGPT tool, which has been incorporated into the Expedia app and on its website since April. Kern said Expedia is seeing “much more engagement” with the tool - though he added it’s too early to notice a major impact.

Likewise, Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, said during its earnings call last week the company is focused on integrating generative AI into its business strategy. Hotel brands including Marriott, Wyndham and IHG are looking at how to incorporate the tech too.

GenAI could be the future of leisure travel planning

Not everyone will rely on generative AI for travel planning, Hornick said, pointing to someone booking there-and-back trips for work, for example.

But per Hornick’s estimation, this technology could be at the root of travel planning for many in the future.

“I think generative AI will become almost a de facto standard for how [some travelers] think about their travel plans and how they even dream about their vacations,” he said. “I can imagine the family getting around the laptop or getting around somebody's iPad and looking at the recommendations that come out of generative AI and using that as their guide.”

Hornick said it’s “inevitable” that GenAI will become an important piece for “all of the major booking channels.”

The Jetson ONE is an electric personal flying vehicle capable of vertical take-off and landing that you can fly without pilot license in the US. Jetson is on a mission to define the future of air mobility and transportation. Please share and subscribe. With your support the future of personal aviation begins now!

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Airbnb created the Plus program in 2018 as a way to identify certain properties for top placement and support. Plus required hosts to apply to receive the designation, and Airbnb inspected properties against a 100-point checklist heavily focused on the property’s design.

The new “Guest Favorites” badge is a more automated – some might say objective – designation. Bunch said that in conjunction with the existing Superhost label, these two designations will “capture the very best hosts and properties. And I think having a third category [of Plus] was just kind of confusing,” Bunch said.

On average, Airbnb said properties that currently have the Guest Favorite label have ratings of at least 4.9 out of 5 and host cancellations and quality-related customer services issues of 1%. The fact that the designation is dynamic can also serve as a motivator for hosts, Bunch said, to address issues that may be hindering their listing.

Also as part of Airbnb’s 2023 Winter Release, the company is redesigning its ratings and review functions. Guest can now sort reviews by date, rating and characteristics of the reviewer – such as those traveling with pets – and to see a chart that shows the distribution of reviews from one to five stars.

And it’s making several updates for hosts, including a simplified interface to add property details and check-in information. Airbnb is also integrating AI to automatically organize photos of listings by room to make it easier for users to understand the layout of a property. And hosts can now connect compatible smart locks to their Airbnb account to automatically generate unique codes for each reservation. 

In Airbnb’s earnings call last week – when it reported revenue of $3 billion in the third quarter this year - co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky spoke of multiple growth opportunities for the company, including international expansion and more use of AI to refine products and services. 

In September, Chesky announced several updates including a new system to verify listings to prevent fraud and increase trust.

DidaTravel, a leader in China and Asia Pacific source markets embarked on its global expansion strategy in 2018, and the results since have been exceptional with year-to-date 2023 sales significantly outperforming the same period comparing both 2019 and 2022. This growth highlights Europe’s increasing significance in the companies’ business which now represents over 20% of its total revenue and continues to grow in significance. The top four European source markets for the company are Spain, UK, Italy, and France.

Spain: In the Spanish market, DidaTravel has witnessed an extraordinary surge in growth. Comparing year-to-date (YTD) 2023 sales figures with YTD 2019, the growth rate stands at an astounding 358%. Even comparing the same period of the previous year (2022), the growth rate is still a remarkable 182%. The top five destinations for the Spanish market booked via DidaTravel’s platform are the USA, Japan, Thailand, Italy and UAE.

United Kingdom: The UK is another source market where DidaTravel is making a big impact. Its YTD 2023 sales growth rate versus 2019 stands at an impressive 341%, indicating a steady ascent in its influence in this important market. Even comparing to the year prior (2022), Dida has achieved a remarkable growth rate of 224%. The top five destinations for the UK market, include the USA, Italy, UK, Thailand and Turkey, highlighting the global appeal of DidaTravel’s portfolio.

Italy: Italy has also witnessed a steady upward trajectory within DidaTravel’s portfolio. YTD 2023, the growth rate versus 2019 hit 312%. And comparing 2022, DidaTravel posted a sales growth rate of 97%. The top five destinations for the Italian market, include Italy itself, USA, France, Spain and UK.

France: DidaTravel’s entry into the French market (which commenced after 2019), has been nothing short of remarkable with the growth rate comparing YTD 2022 standing at an impressive 356%. This rapid rise highlights the company’s ability to establish a strong presence in new markets quickly. The top five destinations for French travellers are: France, USA, Italy, Spain and the UK.

DidaTravel’s growth rates across top European markets reflects not only the quality of Dida’s technology and product portfolio but also its client acquisition team which includes the following industry veterans:

Frank Wöller, VP of Business Development, EMEA leads the EMEA client acquisition team. Frank joined DidaTravel in April, focusing on new API client acquisition, with a special emphasis on the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

Patrice Vales, Sales Director South Europe. With over 30 years of experience in the tourism and tech industries, Patrice brings a wealth of knowledge to DidaTravel, having held key roles in various prestigious industry companies.

Paul Riches: Serving as a sales consultant, Paul’s experience is helping to develop DidaTravel’s client acquisition efforts across the UK and Ireland.

Jessica Cifuentes: Jessica plays a key role as a Sales Development Representative for EMEA, contributing to the company’s new client acquisition approach across the region.

DidaTravel’s flight business is also experiencing rapid growth. The company’s product portfolio includes 500+ global airlines and 20,000+ routes. In the first nine months of 2023, the airline ticketing business saw remarkable growth, especially in its Asia, Europe, North America, and the UK markets with growth rates respectively of 388%, 195%, 188% and 174% quarter-on-quarter in Q3.

DidaTravel is thrilled to showcase this outstanding growth at WTM, underscoring its commitment to be a leading B2B travel distributor across Europe and worldwide. The company’s dedication to leading technology, global expansion and customer satisfaction continues to drive its success.

Visit DidaTravel at WTM London, stand N10-311, from November 6th to November 9th, hosted at the ExCeL centre in London.

The funding round was led by Vanneck Ltd., with participation from other angel investors. The company says the new funding will be used to launch a series of functionality and design enhancements, as well as to support its expansion into other regional markets.

InterLnkd’s intelligent matching engine enables travel sellers to earn a new and free revenue stream by tapping into their customers’ shopping habits across fashion, beauty, and essentials.

Barry Klipp, Chief Executive Officer of InterLnkd, said: “This new round of investment marks a pivotal moment for InterLnkd. It not only validates our mission to help the travel industry capitalise on a new and free stream of ancillary revenue, but also empowers us to deliver an even more tailored experience to our partners and their customers. We look forward enhancing our capabilities, expanding our global footprint, and reshaping the world of travel shopping.”

Heneage Stevenson, Director of Vanneck Ltd., added: “InterLnkd has built a truly unique and disruptive solution for the travel industry, where relevance and personalisation are paramount. At Vanneck Ltd., we see enormous potential in the start-up’s innovative approach to unlocking a new source of ancillary revenue for travel sellers and are excited to support their growth into new markets.”

Thanks to its intelligent matching engine, InterLnkd seamlessly curates a personalised selection of products that align with a customer’s travel booking from over 20,000 brands across fashion, beauty, and essentials.

The UK-based company’s white-label technology enables travel sellers – including airlines, tour operators, and Online Travel Agencies – to earn a cost-free incremental revenue stream from the items their travellers want and need for their holidays.

The announcement follows a string of recent partnerships with travel brands including Thomas Cook, HolidayPirates, and LeShuttle (Eurotunnel).

Having won this year’s Startup Competition at World Aviation Festival, InterLnkd has been shortlisted in two coveted categories at the prestigious Travolution Awards 2023: Startup of The Year and Disruptor of The Year.