Airlines are getting serious about robots. Think ticketing kiosks on wheels, turbocharged with Siri. Air New Zealand just finished a test that involved using a robot to check-in passengers. The flag carrier is not the first to use robots to revamp customer service. There have been similar experiments in Seattle and Amsterdam. Eva Air uses … Continue reading Robots Streamline Air Travel
Hoteliers Hit Privacy Wall
Companies embrace technology because it helps them to cut costs. But there may be limits to hoteliers’ ability to integrate artificial intelligence into their product mix. Realigning room-service overhead by using bots to process breakfast orders is straightforward, but tapping into multiple data sources to offer length-of-stay customization may be a bridge too far. One … Continue reading Hoteliers Hit Privacy Wall
Travel Industry Meets Venture Capital
Civil aviation is unlikely candidate to be backing venture capital, but JetBlue has announced that it is getting into the startup game. The investment focus will be on nurturing young firms that offer the “right strategic fit,” although it is unclear what that means. We suspect that the firm is conceding that outside forces may … Continue reading Travel Industry Meets Venture Capital