PhocusWire

PhocusWire serves as a daily news resource for the travel industry, backed by Phocuswright, a leading name in travel research and events globally. Utilizing a wealth of in-depth, research-based resources, PhocusWire offers daily insights into essential research, important industry statistics, and expert commentary. As technology and distribution are fundamental to the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors—recognized as the largest industry in the world—PhocusWire focuses on reporting, analyzing, and discussing the key developments within this field.

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Cloudbeds launches lab to drive innovation

1 week ago | phocuswire.com | Morgan Hines

Hospitality management technology provider Cloudbeds has unveiled a lab initiative, Cloudbeds Labs, which aims to accelerate the travel industry’s transition to artificial intelligence (AI)-based operations. “With Cloudbeds Labs, we recognize that behind every data point is a human experience,” Adam Harris, co-founder and CEO of Cloudbeds, said in a release.
Latin America-based corporate travel startup Onfly raises $40M

1 week ago | phocuswire.com | Morgan Hines

Brazil-based Onfly, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2022 that provides corporate travel expense management technology, has raised $40 million. Onfly will use the funding for artificial intelligence integration, marketing and sales efforts and international growth. The company plans to onboard 2,500 clients in Mexico by 2027. Tidemark led the Series B funding round, and Endeavor Catalyst and Left Lane Capital also participated after leading Onfly’s Series A round with Cloud9 Capital.
How travel businesses choose the right AI model

1 week ago | phocuswire.com | Mark Frary

It used to be so easy. If you were embedding artificial intelligence (AI) into your travel business back in 2023, the choice was almost binary: Use the newly announced ChatGPT large language model (LLM) from OpenAI or build it yourself. The AI world has changed dramatically since then. Anthropic introduced the Claude family of LLMs, Google released Gemini and in January 2025, China’s DeepSeek upset the AI applecart by announcing its own, vastly cheaper AI model.
HostAI becomes Conduit, raises $3.1M

1 week ago | phocuswire.com | Morgan Hines

Artificial intelligence-powered short-term rental (STR), hotel and housing platform HostAI has become Conduit and raised $3.1 million. Cole Rubin, co-founder and CEO of Conduit, shared the news in a lengthy post on LinkedIn and said the seed funding will accelerate growth and enable the company to work with more real estate operators. Conduit, which started out calling itself “Shopify for Travel,” has grown from an automated guest messaging tool for STRs “into something much bigger,” Rubin said.
Vacation rental techs talk investment, acquisitions and organic growth

1 week ago | phocuswire.com | Linda Fox

The ink is not yet dry on Casago’s proposed acquisition of Vacasa, but the deal continues to spark discussion in the vacation rental space. The chatter has mainly focused on Vacasa being eight times larger than Casago, a fact which led to Casago's CEO Steve Schwab being asked if he is “crazy” at a recent event.
Investors discuss the state of IPOs in travel

2 weeks ago | phocuswire.com | Mark Frary

Globally, the initial public offering (IPO) market turned a corner in 2024. There were 1,340 IPOs, generating a deal value of more than $126 billion—up from $120.13 billion in 2023. However, the IPO market is not back to 2021 levels, when low interest rates and markets being at an all-time high helped generate $606.68 billion from 3,136 IPOs. “I don't think anyone is predicting a return to 2021 levels. The question is, when do we come back to a normal year?
Sustainability-focused travel management platform Goodwings raises nearly $3M

2 weeks ago | phocuswire.com | Morgan Hines

Sustainability-focused travel management platform Goodwings has raised almost $3 million to bolster its presence around the world and invest in the development of additional features. The raise will also allow the Denmark-based company to create its Sustainability Suite 3.0, which will include new tools for businesses to limit their travel-related carbon footprint.
How AI and visual search are reshaping travel discovery

2 weeks ago | phocuswire.com | Marisa Garcia

Dating back to the artistic travel posters of the mid-20th century, the inspiration to travel has long relied on visual appeal. While stories and guidebooks also spark the imagination, seeing is believing. And since the launch of digital travel search on the internet, language-based searches have dominated. Inspiration can come from a social media post, be it an image, a reel or a YouTube vlog posted by an influencer. Converting those posts to bookings is more complex, but now, that’s changing.
Diamo lands $4M to help smaller hotels with revenue management

2 weeks ago | phocuswire.com | Linda Fox

Hotel revenue management specialist Diamo has secured $4 million in seed funding. The investment in the United States-based business, which focuses on independent hotels, was led by Thayer Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from Avalon Capital Group and angel investors. The funding will go towards product development and global expansion.
MSC, Vision-Box partner to offer biometric travel, digital ID for cruises

2 weeks ago | phocuswire.com | Morgan Hines

MSC Group’s cruise arm, MSC Cruises, has partnered with Amadeus-owned digital identity solution provider Vision-Box to offer an end-to-end biometric experience for its cruise passengers. News of the collaboration coincides with the inauguration of MSC's new terminal in Miami, which the company said is now "the most advanced cruise terminal in the world" and can process 36,000 passengers each day using biometric capabilities from Vision-Box.