We have some important reads for you this week. First off we start with an interesting read about 4 major trends that will have an impact on the travel startup ecosystem. The second article is a new read about how Google wants to move forward in owning travel. The last read is about the hackability of digital hotel keys, a technology nowadays used in more and more major hotel chains.
Happy reading!
Business and leisure travel is a huge industry. Over the past several years there have been some major disruptions in the industry. Consumers have taken to online travel enterprises to book their flights, hotels, and rental cars through what has come to be known as “comprehensive” online travel agencies, such as Expedia
and Priceline.
Be innovative, use the latest tech, and offer customers an amazing experience
Google is trying to make it easier for consumers to use their smartphones to directly book travel from a Google search. The tech giant announced that hotel and flight reservations now can be scheduled directly from a search result on mobile—without the user ever having to leave their results list.
The new functionality is a continuation of Google's strategy to own travel.
More hotels are now offering a new convenience: digital room keys. They are the next wave in high-tech travel, but experts are worried you could pay a steep price for this convenience. Tech security expert Shawn Kanady says the convenience may come with risks. His company gets hired by hotels looking to secure their systems. He tries to hack the mobile keys to find - and fix - vulnerabilities before criminals do.
Digital keys work through a hotel's mobile app, typically paired with Bluetooth. It's a technology in place at some major hotel chains.