INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Northstar Travel Group | January 09, 2023
Northstar Travel Group, the leading provider of information services, events, data, and marketing solutions focusing solely on the travel industry, recently appointed Jason Young as its new CEO. Young will replace Thomas Kemp, who served as Chairman and CEO since 2009, while Kemp will be assuming the position of Chairman.
A visionary in advertising technology and an innovative pioneer of the digital transformation of the media industry, Jason Young spent 20 years with Ziff-Davis Media, a leading IT information and media business, climbing to the CEO role. He established Smart Device Media, a mobile advertising network that Crisp Mobile eventually acquired. He then became the CEO of the joint company, after which Quotient Technology acquired Crisp.
Quotient Technology served the packaged goods industry as a data-driven advertising tech company and appointed Jason Young as Chief Media & Marketing Officer after acquiring Crisp. His most recent employment was as President of Chicory, a contextual commerce media company working in the consumer-packaged goods industry. Young has fueled product innovation around new advertising platforms and data-driven media with his 30+ years in the industry.
Alongside the leadership change comes the promotion of Bob Sullivan, a travel industry icon and President of Northstar's Travel Group, who will now serve as the company's Chief Commercial Officer.
"I am thrilled to have the benefit and opportunity to work and partner with a leader like Bob, whose industry knowledge and expertise will be critical as Northstar looks to expand on its leadership position."
-Jason Young, the newly appointed CEO
(Source: Businesswire.com)
Bob Sullivan said about the new CEO, I am excited about the passion, experience and skills Jason brings into the business and am eager to work with him to unlock even more value for our customers and partners. I could not be more excited about the opportunity ahead for Northstar.
About Northstar Travel Group
Northstar Travel Group is the travel industry's premier provider of information services, data, events, and marketing solutions. Its diverse audience encompasses every travel segment, including leisure, sports, business, incentives, meetings, hospitality, and travel technology. The company is also the majority shareholder of Inntopia, the market leader in marketing cloud, e-commerce software, and business intelligence operating in the activities, golf, mountain destination, and hospitality industries. With headquarters in Rutherford, New Jersey, the company operates out of five offices across the U.S., U.K., and Singapore. Northstar Travel Group is owned by funds managed by EagleTree Capital.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
RetailMeNot | February 27, 2023
Trip.com, an international travel services provider, has recently launched its solution TripGen, offering live travel assistance with chatbot-designed AI technology. The solution provides customized options for travel routes, travel booking recommendations and itineraries in real-time on the Trip.com platform.
It offers all the solutions needed for safe travel in one application, making it more accessible and customer friendly. Trip.com is committed to giving personalized all-inclusive search solutions for the best hotels, flights, hotels, and travel guides according to the traveler's desires. Furthermore, with the integration of an advanced context-based Natural Language Processing (NLP) chatbot, it extends its search capability.
This feature responds with exact answers to the user's vague and complex questions. It quickly suggests recommendations to any fragmented travel-related questions related to pre-trip decisions and in-trip arrangements. It also helps travelers at any stage of their travel, from arranging flights and hotels to tours and transportation, making the whole process stress-free.
COO of Trip.com, Schubert Lou said,"The goal of Trip.com is to become your trusted trip companion. The release of TripGen provides real-time, question-and-answer services in the Trip.com app, resulting in greater, faster, and more diverse support for the traveler". He added, "TripGen currently supports English, Japanese, Korean and traditional Chinese. More languages will be added depending on user needs. On the technical side, TripGen has integrated the OpenAI API, which developed ChatGPT based on GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture. In the future, we will consider other NLP model alternatives and continue on our journey to provide the ultimate product experience for the traveler.
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About Trip.com
Headquartered in Singapore, Trip.com, a global online travel agency, offers services for flights tickets, hotels booking, train tickets, and the internet. It enhances the travel experience from a short trip to a nearby city to a long adventure across the continent, helping travelers at every step of the journey. It has connected about 1.2 million hotels and over 500 airlines in approximately 200 countries to travelers. With a committed customer service team, it offers services non-stop 24/7 and assists travelers worldwide. It also provides an all-in-one travel application with features like trip coins, app-inclusive deals, easy trip planning, the latest travel updates, and worldwide coverage.
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DESTINATION AND TOURISM, COMMERCIAL TRAVEL
KAYAK | January 27, 2023
KAYAK, the leading search engine for travel, recently announced that it has partnered with Affirm, a payment network, to make its payment operations flexible and to empower its travelers in the United States.
According to KAYAK search data, flight prices are rising by about 40% per year. Despite increased flight prices, travelers are still searching for flight bookings in 2023. With Affirm, KAYAK is making it easier for travelers to plan and pay for their trips this year. Now, approved KAYAK travelers can split the cost of flights, hotels, car rentals, and car sharing over $150 into monthly payments by choosing Affirm when they check out. Thus, KAYAK can reach 15 million of Affirm's consumers and 245,000 merchants, including American Airlines, Priceline, Vrbo, Vacasa, and more thereby, enhancing its new reach, overall sales, repurchase rates, and average order value.
Paul Jacobs, General Manager and Vice President of KAYAK North America, says, "It's good to have choices, especially in this economy. In addition to showing travelers all their options on KAYAK, Affirm gives travelers the ability to plan how they pay."
(Source – Business Wire)
Geoffrey Kott, Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm, remarks, "This past fall, Affirm's consumers increased purchases at airlines over seven times compared to the prior year, demonstrating higher consumer demand for payment flexibility when booking travel." He adds, "By partnering with KAYAK, we are able to bring consumers a flexible and transparent way to pay for travel, especially at a time when many are looking for ways to regain financial control and spending power amidst rising costs."
(Source – Business Wire)
About KAYAK:
KAYAK is part of Booking Holdings Inc, one of the world's most prominent search engines for travel. It helps people find the vacation package, hotel, rental or shared car, and flights they want. The company enables travelers to search for the best flight deals and book with flexibility, as it's pretty reliable and completely free to use. With trip planning tools like a flight tracker, trip planner, and bag measure, KAYAK ensures that travelers' overall experience is more than just a flight search site!
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