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Dnata buys AI company in ‘travel industry game changer’
Dnata has acquired a majority stake in Bd4travel, a company that uses artificial intelligence technology to help online travel companies enhance sales.
Dnata has been a long-term customer of Bd4travel, whose technology ‘listens’ to the signals of travel website users in order to personalise their shopping experience in real-time.
The news was announced by Iain Andrew, dnata divisional senior vice president travel services, at this week’s Global Travel Group Conference in Orlando.
He said dnata hoped to exploit the technology across its brands.
Using machine-learning algorithms, the technology generates ‘probabilistic’ real-time user profiles and instant recommendations for the most relevant products, content and services to each customer.
Bd4travel, based in the UK and Germany, said dnata’s majority acquisition marks a ‘significant shift in the travel industry signifying that intelligent use of personalisation and AI-technology will define the future of the sector’.
It added acquisition will enable Bd4travel to improve access to AI-driven personalisation across the travel sector as a whole.
Andrew added: "We find their technology a game-changer in the travel industry and, as a global company, we are pleased to bring the team onboard to deliver on a broader scale."
Bd4travel’s clients include dnata-owned Travel Republic as well as Expedia and HolidayCheck. It will operate as a separate company within dnata following the acquisition.
Bd4travel was launched in 2013 and co-founders Melanie Sickenberger, Ibrahim Husseini and Andy Owen Jones will remain as minority owners.
Jones said: "Gaining a company like Dnata as a new majority shareholder was important for us.
"Their global backing will enable us to grow the business in areas of the world where we are not well represented today. They will also support us to expand our service for existing customers.
"As a long-term client of bd4travel, they now want to push the boundaries of our solution as well as being a sounding board for new ideas.
"In taking their position in bd4travel, Dnata has made a long-term and visionary bet on how the industry will evolve and how they can stay at the forefront of the coming transformation."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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