As Traveloka drops off from the once-hot special purpose acquisition company race, a $200 million funding would stand the travel tech unicorn in good stead, in case it decides to take the conventional IPO route.
Most hoteliers would rather not think about their payment tech, as long as it works. But payment habits are changing, and so is payment tech. Hoteliers — and hotel tech vendors and investors — will want to be on top of these changes, especially now that revenues are suppressed.
The stronger dollar by itself won't suddenly compel the people who've never been abroad to take a foreign trip this year, but for the travelers who have been overseas before, this only fuels an oncoming spending spree.
PayPal is a very popular payment solution in Europe, so this was a smart move; but whether this will encourage more international passengers to choose Ryanair is yet to be proven. We wonder how soon PayPal will be visiting easyJet's offices.
A prepaid model or third-party booking engine has emerged as possible alternatives for hotels looking to streamline their online payment process for all potential guests.
PayPal Price Matching requires some heavy lifting, but it will be good for collecting some fare drops, and you can approach some airlines for travel credits, too. Double the fun.