In today’s wrap-up of news in brief…
HomeToGo expands South American presence… Cape Air and Utrip launch AI travel planning tool… MeetingPackage.com unveils dynamic pricing strategy… Bd4travel and Vacasa see executive moves…
VACATION RENTALS: Vacation rental search engine HomeToGo is launching in Brazil under the local name LarDeFérias, bringing its services to 200 million potential new users. The market is HomeToGo’s 17th; last year, the company secured Series C funding and saw annual sales growth of more than 2,200%.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Cape Air and Utrip are launching an artificial intelligence-backed travel planning tool called Soar & Explore. Using Utrip’s technology, the platform will suggest customized in-destination lodging and activity options based on traveler preferences. It will be available in the second quarter of 2018.
EXECUTIVE MOVES: Vacasa co-founder Cliff Johnson is departing the vacation rental management company to join Rented.com as vice president of sales. Johnson and CEO Eric Breon founded the Vacasa is 2009 and grew it into the second largest vacation rental management company... More here.
Sean McDonald has joined travel personalization technology company Bd4travel as chief commercial officer. McDonald, who has held roles as senior vice president of worldwide sales at Expedia Affiliate Network and chief sales officer at Secret Escapes, will oversee Bd4trave’s revenue and sales development.
MEETINGS: MeetingPackage.com will be the first provider to offer a dynamic pricing strategy for hotel and event venues. Through a partnership with Priceff, the system will price meeting rooms based on historical data, price, sales window, user behavior and more. The company, which has a supply of meeting rooms in more than 120 countries, aims to launch the feature by this summer.