CEO Spotlight: Andres Spitzer of Civitatis

Andrés Spitzer took over as CEO of Civitatis on January 1, 2026, after leading product and technology at the tours and activities marketplace. In this conversation with PhocusWire’s Linda Fox, recorded in the PhocusWire Studio, he reflects on his first six months in the role. Conflict in the Middle…

CEO Spotlight: Julie Cheetham of Travalyst

Julie Cheetham is ten months into her role as CEO of Travalyst, the not-for-profit coalition of travel and technology companies founded by Prince Harry. In this conversation with PhocusWire’s Linda Fox, recorded in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright Europe 2026, Cheetham argues that sustainabili…

CEO Spotlight: Matthijs Welle of Mews

Mews CEO Matthijs Welle sits down with PhocusWire's Linda Fox to explain an eventful year for the hospitality tech company. Six months after raising $300 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, Mews cut 15% of its workforce. Welle says the two moves are unrelated. The restructuring…

Split payments and the future of checkout in travel with Samuel Flynn of Hands In

Hands In co-founder Samuel Flynn joins PhocusWire's Linda Fox in the PhocusWire Studio to explain how split payments differ from buy now, pay later. Flynn says Hands In targets insufficient funds at checkout, letting travelers combine payment methods and groups split costs across participants. He p…

From banker to luxury villa specialist with Natasha Martsekis of Bright Blue Villas

After 20 years in institutional trading, Natasha Martsekis left banking to follow her passion for hospitality. In 2014 she founded Bright Blue Villas, a luxury villa rental company built on the principles she learned on the trading floor: trust, accountability and treating owners as strategic partn…

AI in action in corporate travel with Nikita Miller of Perk

Perk (formerly TravelPerk) has launched an MCP connector linking Claude, ChatGPT and other AI assistants directly to its travel and spend management platform. Chief product officer Nikita Miller frames it around killing "shadow work," the time employees waste digging through reports and switching t…

Merger & acquisition trends in travel with Morgann Lesné of Cambon Partners

Q2 2026 was quiet for travel startup funding but busy for M&A. Only two Series B rounds stood out: hotel tech company Smartness raised €47 million, and India-based hostel operator The Hosteller raised $16 million. WeRoad closed the quarter's lone Series C, $58 million led by Airbnb. Clarasight rais…

What Revolut's entrepreneur in residence Stanislav Bondarenko thinks AI can do for travel

Revolut's AI travel push, a year after acquiring Swifty, is led by Stanislav Bondarenko, the startup's co-founder, now inside Revolut's lifestyle unit. His goal is unchanged: book flights and hotels from a single voice message. Speaking with PhocusWire's Linda Fox in the PhocusWire Studio, Bondare…

Navigating AI developments as a startup with Zerolook

Zerolook, a Switzerland-based startup that predicts flight prices, has raised US$1.9 million in pre-seed funding led by Playfair, with participation from Vento Ventures, TrueSight Ventures, Alpha Ventures and several angel investors. Its machine learning model predicts flight prices and itineraries…

Loveholidays' ambitions in the growing packaged travel market with Isabella Cheng

Loveholidays has quietly built one of the fastest-growing positions in European package travel, expanding from a UK-only startup in 2012 into eight markets and roughly 15% of the UK packaged travel market.  In this conversation, head of strategy Isabella Cheng unpacks the bigger shift behind that …