The travel industry is in the midst of a massive transformation. Driven by the API economy and new technologies, larger travel companies are morphing into global travel platforms with new business models. The Travel Platform trend is facilitating innovation throughout the entire industry and plays into the hands of travel tech startups developing micro-services and APIs that can deliver unique products and services to the platforms.
Akin to Amazon.com, travel platforms and travel marketplaces are emerging everywhere. At the core essence, it’s about the larger players, leveraging technology to sell more products and services to their customer.
At TSI, we believe, we are witnessing the beginning of the Rise of the Travel Platforms.
Growth & Survival
Traditionally operating in one vertical and targeting one segment of traveler, travel companies are transitioning into multiple travel verticals with the goal of providing multiple services and products to the entire lifecycle of the traveler.
AirAsia, a low-cost airline, is transforming into an OTA and travel technology company. In a Skift interview, CEO Tony Fernandes, recently said, “we intend to transform AirAsia.com into a platform of choice for all [guests] to fulfill any travel needs. We believe that this platform has enormous potential and will generate a significant increase in revenue for the group.”
Just view the AirAsia website and you can see the beginnings of the platform business model taking shape. There are multiple travel products, services and partnerships. Soon, you’ll see many of these directly integrated into the platform, driven through APIs.
To support the digital transformation, AirAsia announced the launch of a $60M fund to invest in travel technology startups.
American Express Global Business Travel has been innovating by launching new internal products, partnering with startups and acquiring new technologies. In late 2018, Amex GBT partnered with travel tech startup Lola.com.
Attend the TSI Travel API & Micro-Services Tech Symposium April 30th and meet one-on-one with the Amex GBT team to introduce your technology.
In a PhocusWire interview, David Thompson, CTO, said “at American Express Global Business Travel, we’ve partnered with, and even acquired, technology startups whose solutions were either directly integrated, or slightly modified, to satisfy the unique needs of our customer base.”
BCD Travel another global travel management company recently launched SolutionSource a travel tech marketplace that provides BCD clients an advantage by making it easy for them to discover and integrate new travel management solutions that “plug into BCD-managed programs.”
Attend the Symposium April 30th and meet one-on-one with the BCD Travel team.
Amadeus, Live Travel Space is a massive undertaking to transform the global company from a GDS into an open, dynamic and connected platform, where Amadeus customers can acquire Amadeus proprietary products and IT services as well as other 3rd party industry technologies. The Travel API & Micro-Services Tech Symposium is being held at the Amadeus Executive Center in Miami, Florida.
APIs, Micro-Services and Platforms
The opportunity for B2B travel technology startups to pilot and license their technology is increasing everyday. If your company can build a solution, provide unique inventory or content, provide technology infrastructure that facilitates the build out of travel platforms, you can grow a successful B2B company.
Below is a sampling of travel technology startups attending the Symposium.
GoHero.ai – Micro-Service, AI travel e-commerce and messaging bot with a unique social media marketing service. A TSI portfolio company.
3Victors – API, Data insights and solutions service, digesting over 500M travel searches and 90B itineraries in real time.
Yappes – Platform technology for Enterprises to build their own API & Micro-Services Travel Platform. A TSI portfolio company.
CultureMee – API, Micro-Service, Cultural video content for travel platforms and marketplaces. A TSI Traction Program company.
nXus Software – Micro-Service, bookable platform to help corporate travel managers find the most cost efficient travel location for small corporate meetings and events. A TSI Traction Program company.
Around Vector – Platform technology for TMCs & Travel Agencies to manage corporate travel. A TSI Traction Program company.
TripStreak – API, Micro-Service, TripScore helps corporates increase revenue and customer satisfaction by personalizing the search experience.
If you’re interested in joining us on April 30th in Miami, FL please visit the Symposium event page here and fill out a short form to tell us about your company. We will get back to you within 24-hours.