Hotelbeds Looking Outside Itself for Tech Innovation
Skift Take
Hotelbeds is joining some other travel tech companies in looking outside for innovative ideas. It's not on the level of adding a venture capital arm as some major travel companies have done, but it follows a similar idea.
Travel Tech Briefing
Editor’s Note:Â Exclusive reporting on technology’s impact on the travel industry, delivered every Thursday. The briefing will guide executives as they decide if their companies should “build, buy, or partner” to stay ahead.In an effort to accelerate tech innovation in travel, Hotelbeds is putting out a call to startup founders with ideas that could solve problems in the industry.
The primary business for Hotelbeds is as a wholesaler of hotel rooms to travel agents, but the company has been working on adding other business-to-business tech products.
That’s where this 15-month program comes in, said José MarÃa Pestaña, innovation director for Hotelbeds.
Hotelbeds is working with Wayra, the tech innovation hub of Telefónica, to identify worthwhile ideas that could lead to a small monetary investment by Hotelbeds as well as resources toward developing a minimum viable product.
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