Workcations, boats and more ⛵

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This week we are jumping straight into our curation of the top news on innovation, trends and startups in the travel industry. Here we go.

  • Train or plane? Joining the exciting trend of rail and fly, German rail company Deutsche Bahn is due to integrate its services with Spanish airline Vueling. This means that airline passengers will be able to easily book trains at the same time – connecting transport and mobility to encourage more sustainable choices. Great to see partnerships like this moving forward!
  • Uber is upping the game. Moving around cities since 2009, Uber is now going full force in capturing the end-to-end travel journey. Already offering trains and car rentals, many new features are coming soon on its app, such as Uber Travel, Uber Explore, Uber Cash and even a party bus option. Taking an Uber on a night out now definitely has a double meaning…
  • Holiday frenzy’s financial hit. Hotels are getting booked up – fast and with a price. It’s now thought that European hotel prices, from Ireland to Spain, are now even higher than pre-pandemic levels. What else has been high? Costs.
  • Localization, crypto and corporate takeovers. Omri Morgenshtern has had quite the journey within the travel tech industry. The soon-to-be CEO of Agoda recently gave a fascinating interview revealing his takeaways from the experience, including how to survive a corporate takeover as a startup, how to keep innovating, and what’s next on the travel agenda.
  • Taking the brakes from travel. Global fintech provider Fly Now Pay Later is now teaming up with Portuguese carriers, SATA Air Açores and Azores Airlines to offer passengers the chance to pay off their trip over 12 months. Safe to say that new innovations and options like ‘pay later’ and subscriptions are opening up travel experiences for a whole wider audience.
  • Aye Aye, Captain! While travel innovation is firmly on the agenda, more and more travelers are looking for new and interesting ways to spend their well-earned vacation. At the same time, Europe is growing an interesting marketplace economy. Combining the two, UK-based Borrow A Boat is making renting a boat as easy as renting a car. The company just raised over £1 million in just 24 hours!
  • Business travel is sky high. American Express Global Business Travel has just reported that transactions have recovered to 72% of 2019 levels – it’s a fact: in-person is the preferred option and businesses are getting back to the sky. And they just started trading as a public company in the NYSE – bravo!
  • Carbon neutral travel is a new reality. Air travel has long had a bad rep for its carbon footprint and many providers have been looking for ways to be more sustainable. Swiss is now giving passengers a simple way to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by their travel while they book. It not only makes travel more sustainable but it also gives travelers more agency over environmental impact.
  • Workcations push more expansions. With the steadily growing trend of people traveling for extended periods of time – likely driven by the workcation phenomena, UK-based Situ has just announced further expansion into APAC.