20 global travel tech trends we're tracking at Skift this week
Every week we post hundreds of stories across various sectors in travel, connecting the dots across various global trends. We're now highlighting the posts that tackle these global trends pointing towards the future of travel. This one looks at top travel technology and digital trends:
- In-flight wi-fi: Why Southwest should make its free TV and Wi-Fi promotion permanent
- In-flight wi-fi: British Airways isn’t sold on benefits of offering in-flight Wi-fi
- In-flight wi-fi: Air China starts free Wi-Fi service on flights, but not for mobile
- In-flight tech: Air France relaxes in-flight TV rules, now on door to door
- Airline single function mobile apps: Iberia mobile strategy: 5 single-function apps replace one all-purpose download
- Airline tech using mainstream tech: Norwegian loads Android apps into Dreamliner entertainment system
- Aircraft tech: Touchscreens will be all over the cockpit of the future
- Hotel mobile apps: Marriott Rewards members can skip registration desk with mobile check-ins
- Hotel mobile apps: Mobile apps that attempt to take the place of the human concierge
- Hotel wi-fi: Hyatt offers free Wi-Fi to track guests’ spending and searching habits
- Hotel tech: UK budget hotel chain Premier Inn shows off it's new high-tech hotel concept
- Mobile travel: The 10 ways in which travelers are using Twitter for tips
- Mobile travel: Google Glass and running of the bulls part of travel company promotion
- Mobile fees: Someone has finally done something about roaming charges
- Mobile ticketing: Rail booking gets real easy via text message in India
- Data: New York state park transforms visitor sign-ins into strategic data
- Data: Google Maps tracks all Android phones to build live traffic maps
- Car-sharing tech: Hertz learns from car-sharing startups, launches 24/7 self-serve service
- Digital travel: Five travel startups take adventurers from dreaming to scheming
- Digital travel: Automating your digital life while traveling: the new smart service from O2
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