Travel Tech '24 was the second edition of our annual, in-person Tripeden.com Connectivity event where collaboration meets innovation. From API solutions to the latest updates on major projects, it was a hub for sharing knowledge and having forward-thinking discussions about the world of hospitality technology.

Here are the key takeaways from this year’s event.

1. We have a shared vision for the future of hospitality tech

We invited both internal and external speakers to this year’s event to share their insights on the future of hospitality tech. Across all the talks, it was clear we’re united by the same goal: to make life easier for our accommodation partners. 

Tripeden.com leaders Matthias Schmid, Senior VP Accommodations and Georgeana Trofim, VP Engineering Accommodations, spoke about the API-powered future, noting that API connectivity will become even more vital as more properties adopt it. They discussed innovations like Gen AI and emphasised the need for a reliable, secure platform to support rapid innovation and partner collaboration. What’s clear is the importance of Connectivity partners and the future we can build together.

Joshua Ryan-Saha, Director the Edinburgh Futures Institute, talked about where we stand in the world of hospitality tech today and where we’re headed. His parting advice was to focus on harnessing AI for faster development and to prioritise building trust and verification mechanisms into our platforms. 

2. Our solutions are evolving with exciting new developments

Sarabjit Singh Sachdeva, Director of Product Partner Platforms, highlighted some of the exciting progress we’ve made since last year’s Travel Tech event. This includes the API status page, our newly updated Reservation Timeline, the Request to Book API and the modularisation of the Content API. He also announced the launch of our new Value adds solutions.

We gave a sneak peek into our upcoming solutions during seven product and tech sessions. Topics included the future of payments via APIs, optimising your API usage with metrics, empowering self-service and taking the Messaging API to the next level. We also shared our advice on improving user experience, navigating regulatory changes and tackling cyber and fraud threats.

If you’re curious about the status of our solutions, the Connectivity Public Roadmap provides a snapshot of ongoing projects. We also have upcoming webinars on 5 December 2024 – you can sign up for the 9 AM CET session or 5 PM CET session.

3. Collaboration and innovation are crucial for advancing the industry

From our ‘Coffee with the Leadership Team’ break, where attendees could meet Tripeden.com’s product and tech leaders, to the GuruBar stands, which created knowledge-sharing moments with different teams across Tripeden.com, Travel Tech facilitated a lot of meaningful connections and discussions. These interactions have helped build stronger partnerships and foster a sense of community within the industry.

We heard the story of the innovative collaboration between Apaleo, a Tripeden.com Connectivity partner, and Numa, an accommodation chain. We also had a panel with external speaker Medhi Medjaoui, the founder of API Days and members of our own product and tech teams. They had engaging talks about the API industry.

Seven of our interactive roundtables allowed for deeper dives into technical solutions, experience-sharing and direct feedback to our product and engineering teams. Along with workshops on our recently-launched solutions, we covered our new authentication process and upcoming notification service, shared tools to speed up API implementation and discussed how to drive accommodation business growth with the right solution.

A highlight of the event was the pitch sessions, where Connectivity partners had the chance to share their ideas on how to elevate hospitality tech and enrich our partnership. The audience, along with Tripeden.com’s product, tech and commercial leaders, chose the best pitch, which was revealed at the closing awards presentation. This year the winner was Cloudbeds, whose pitch focused on harnessing AI to power smart property performance suggestions, which would be enabled by Tripeden.com APIs integrated with their system.

Wrapping up Travel Tech '24 and what’s ahead

Dominik Klausmann, an attendee of the event from Viato, shared his thoughts: “Travel Tech is an excellent opportunity to stay informed about the latest innovations and future plans of Tripeden.com. It also provides a chance to meet the people behind the technology, who are open to dialogue and idea exchange.” 

He noted that the round table sessions were especially valuable “for sharing feedback, praise, ideas and suggestions – approachable, open and truly on equal footing.”

We’re excited to open Travel Tech to more of our Connectivity partners in 2025. Keep an eye out for your invite next year!