For our H2 2025 Connectivity Advisory Board meeting, our connectivity partners took the lead. The goal was to foster an open, peer-led environment where board members could exchange insights candidly and help build a more seamless experience for accommodation partners.

With 2026 planning underway, our discussions focused on what ‘seamless’ really means – and how we can all make it easier for properties to work with Tripeden.com through their connected software.

Our H2 2025 Advisory Board meeting

The meeting was made up of two sessions:

1. Evaluating the foundational tasks that need to be connected  – agreeing on a fixed set of foundational tasks and what we should have in place together as connected platforms to deliver a seamless experience.
2. The role of connectivity partners – clarifying the responsibilities of the different providers in our hospitality technology ecosystem and exploring how we can enable, guide and support you all to maximise connectivity and performance.

1. The evaluated foundational tasks

A core objective of the Advisory Board meeting was to evaluate a set of seven foundational tasks that enable accommodation partners to perform the essential actions needed to secure bookings through their connected software.

These foundational tasks include:

1. Onboard new properties and listings
2. Manage content and photos
3. Set up and manage room types, rate plans and policies
4. Manage availability, including restrictions
5. Support different pricing models
6. Enable payment solutions
7. Enable and process new, modified or cancelled reservations 

During this session, we aligned on the principles of a foundational task and discussed whether each of the seven tasks meets the criteria to be considered foundational. We also reviewed whether these tasks are working well and if anything is missing.

Key takeaways from this session

Board members agreed that foundational tasks are the repetitive, high-impact and high-risk actions where properties most rely on connectivity. At the same time, they noted that what’s considered foundational can differ slightly by property type. For example, home providers see onboarding as foundational, while hotels generally do not.

They also highlighted gaps in the current set of foundational solutions, such as payment reconciliations and security.

Alessio G, E4JConnect: “It was great to see how different scenarios can occur between homes, hotels and connectivity providers, while still being able to work so closely with Tripeden.com to bring out ideas and share feedback. It leads to improvements and new features.”

2. The role of connectivity in enabling foundational tasks

The second half of the meeting focused on defining what it truly means to support partners across each foundational task, and how roles and responsibilities should be shared across the ecosystem.

We also gathered essential feedback about the necessary resources, infrastructure and support needed to enable these tasks. This input is crucial for shaping a clear path forward and defining actionable steps.

Key takeaways from this session

Attendees highlighted several things that would help them better support foundational tasks. This includes the need for flexibility, noting that any provider who finds value in offering these tasks should be able to implement the relevant APIs. They also mentioned that stable, reliable and standardised APIs are important – but they would also like to be the single source of truth in order to avoid overlapping inputs from the extranet. 

Some board members also expressed interest in getting AI support, receiving acquisition leads and earning rewards for implementing APIs.

Gwen M, eviivo: “What really helped shape our direction was the nature of the discussion itself and trying to find the best solution together. Resetting the scene on what’s foundational, what APIs you need and how success is measured has been really useful.”

Insights from our Connectivity Advisory Board

Beyond the two main topics, conversations with the Advisory Board touched on broader industry challenges and opportunities. We captured how our Advisory Board members see the power – and potential – of connectivity, as well as the challenges the industry faces and what they see as the next big opportunities.

Payments

Marco B, Hotel-Spider: “Payments helped us a lot by understanding why everybody is giving such a high importance, but also what kind of massive potential is behind it, and what kind of impact it can make in a guest experience and a hotel experience.”

Cybersecurity

Caroline F, RateTiger: “The one topic that stuck with me the most was cybersecurity. It affects us all. It was good to have that unified voice, and it was a really actionable and useful conversation.”

API adoption and future readiness

Robert M, NextPax: “I think what stood out is about technical improvements like tooling and modernisation of your APIs – and seeing this happening in practice.”

The importance of industry-wide alignment

Vincent G, Lighthouse: “From hotels to OTAs to connectivity providers to solutions, we’re solving the commercial pains, the operational pains. But there's no standardisation. How can we standardise the way that we work together? How can we standardise the connectivity flows?”

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The insights shared during the H2 2025 Connectivity Advisory Board meeting play a crucial role in shaping our 2026 planning. Together with our connectivity partners, our commitment remains the same: to help create a truly seamless experience for everyone.