PhocusWire’s weekly travel tech news briefs: Traxo, Mews, Guestline and more

Here’s our roundup of the people, product and partner news from the global travel industry this week.

Mews appoints new president

Mews, a leading platform for hospitality, announced the appointment of Michael Coscetta as president.

Prior to Mews, Coscetta was chief revenue officer at Paxos, a regulated blockchain infrastructure company. His previous roles also include chief commercial officer and strategy officer at Compass and head of global sales at Square.

Joining the leadership team, Coscetta plans to continue the evolution of Mews’ management structure to ensure success and scalability.

“Mews has a huge opportunity to further transform hospitality and help hoteliers grow their businesses through modern cloud technology and fintech,” Coscetta said. “With the ambition I’ve already witnessed firsthand, I’m certain Mews will make a lasting, meaningful impact.”

New Civitatis chairman

Civitatis, a curated online marketplace for guided tours and
activities for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking customers, has appointed Mariano
Dima as the new chairman of the board of directors.

Dima brings over two decades of executive and board
experience at companies such as Visa and Vrbo/Expedia and will strengthen Civitatis’
strategy in Latin America, which is the main objective for the coming years for
the company. 

Alberto Gutierrez, the company’s founder and CEO, said, “I
am thrilled and fully convinced that he is the ideal person to take Civitatis
to the next level, allowing us to exploit the enormous potential of Spanish and
Portuguese-speaking countries as a region, and of tours and activities as a
category. Much of the market remains offline still but we’re changing that
rapidly thanks to our technological platform that is committed to quality and
constant innovation.”

New business development leader at Vibe

Vibe, a travel technology company, has welcomed Danny
Girling as their new business development and head of partnerships. The company
said this appointment signifies a new phase of expansion and growth with plans
for the EMEA and APAC regions.

Girling, with over 14 years of experience at Travel
Counsellors and Inspiretec, plans to lead Vibe’s business development and
industry partnership initiatives. He will expand the company’s footprint in
EMEA to create new relationships and drive growth.

Martin Eade, Vibe’s CCO, said, “Over the past year, we’ve
significantly invested in customer service, software development, marketing
and design. These efforts have prepared us for substantial growth, enhancing
our ability to deliver cutting-edge solutions and exceptional service to our
clients. With Danny’s appointment, we’re now poised to capitalize on these
investments and advance our expansion plans in the EMEA and APAC regions.”

Guestline’s new self-service tools

Guestline, part of Access Group, has introduced a
self-service portal to its GuestStay product,
incorporating artificial intelligence to reduce pressure on hotel staff while
empowering guests.

The new platform enables guests to manage their hotel
reservation with options to modify or update dates, rate plan or room type and to
pre-order products and services in advance to their stay.

In addition, Guestline has integrated ResDiary, a provider
of bookings and table management software, which will allow guests to secure a
restaurant booking through the portal.

Chris Jones, senior product manager at Guestline, said, “By
empowering the guest to manage their own stay, our hotel partners are not only
liberated from administrative tasks, they also benefit from faster access to
more accurate first-party data, which can drive better efficiency and personalization.
With AI we can provide even further automation to support hotel teams.”

Traxo expands Partner Marketplace

Traxo, a platform for comprehensive travel data solutions,
has announced the expansion of its Partner Marketplace.

The marketplace showcases the company’s partnerships with
travel suppliers and solutions providers across various categories. New
partners include Healix, Global Guardian, Everbridge, TravelBank, Emburse and
Zoho Expense.

The company said the hub extends the value of Traxo, which
enables comprehensive travel booking visibility, actionable insights and data
portability for organizations.

Rebecca Sheehan, senior vice president of strategic
partnerships at Traxo, said, “Leveraging the Traxo Marketplace is turnkey and
enables travel sellers and solution providers to meet the diverse needs of
corporate travel buyers today who have significant blindspots in their travel
programs and need visibility and portability of their traveler’s booking data
in real-time.”