Japan’s New Mobile Payment Tech and 6 Other Digital Trends This Week

Japan Adopts New Payments Tech in Response to Chinese Tourism Boom: Americans and Europeans who used to scoff at QR-style bar codes are going to need to learn how to use them to pay for meals, attractions, and tickets whenever they visit Japan. The reason? Swelling Chinese tourism is prompting the country to adopt China’s preferred mobile payment method.

Why Online Travel Agency eDreams Odigeo Couldn’t Find a Buyer at Its Price: Not surprisingly, the CEO is backing his own turnaround plan, but he’ll have to deliver if the company is ever going to live up to its lofty IPO.

Google Adds Vacation Rentals to Evolving Hotel Site: The new feature is clean, intuitive, and easy to use. As Google’s booking platform rapidly expands, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes the go-to booking site for all things travel.

American Express GBT Reports No Major Indigestion After 2 Big Acquisitions: It’s one thing to buy a competitor, and another to successfully integrate its systems. American Express Global Business Travel has had to do it twice in recent years, and the company says the new tools have been a big boost.

Travel Tech Execs Take Shine Off Cloud Computing by Highlighting Hidden Perils: Executives from Expedia and other travel companies acknowledged at an Amadeus tech conference that cloud computing can lead to hidden waste. Mistakes include not monitoring costs and allowing internal strife to delay cross-department projects.

TravelSky’s Monopoly in China Helped Boost Annual Revenues: TravelSky, China’s state-owned airline distribution and software services company, reported solid revenue growth in 2018. But the company’s insulation from market competition risks creating complacency, and some signs suggest Chinese airlines are frustrated.

Lola Raises $37 Million to Manage Business Trips: Travel Startup Funding This Week. This week corporate travel tech startup Lola, attractions software builder Bookingkit, and hospitality job marketplace Jitjatjo collectively raised more than $53 million in funding.