Here Are the Winners of the 2026 IDEA Awards

hospitality Projects defining the future of hospitality and the guest experience. Virgin Hotels Collection Virgin Hotels Collection Blueprint for Purposeful Travel Virgin Hotels and Virgin Limited Edition (VLE) are redefining modern luxury through a combined focus on regenerative hospitality and radical inclusivity, ensuring travel actively heals communities and welcomes all individuals. Virgin Limited Edition operates on a core concept of purposeful travel, where its ten global properties—including a new 2027 Marrakech opening—act as environmental and social providers rather than consumers. Its key objective is to safeguard regional resources and empower local communities. This is achieved through renewable energy, ecosystem restoration (like Necker Island’s mangroves), and dedicated charitable foundations funding healthcare and education. Virgin Hotels focuses on closing the accessibility gap for neurodiverse travelers. Its core concept integrates specialized staff training, community-minded employment, and intentional room design. The key objective is to eliminate travel anxiety for autistic and neurodivergent guests. This is achieved via a patented, two-chamber room layout featuring advanced noise control and adjustable lighting, property-wide sensory guides, and the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) hiring program. Together, both brands transform traditional vacations into meaningful, secure journeys, ensuring guests leave a lasting positive legacy while feeling entirely valued, safe, and comfortable. TOURISM Projects defining the future of leisure tourism, destination marketing and management, and the visitor experience. Ljubljana Tourism LUV Fest: How a DMO Turned Its Quietest Months Into Its Most Loved Festival LUV Fest is Ljubljana Tourism’s answer to one of city tourism’s hardest structural problems: seasonal concentration, with almost half of all overnight stays historically occurring in just four summer months. Running from February 8—Slovenia’s national cultural holiday, when museums open free of charge—to March 12, the traditional folk celebration of love and spring known as Gregorjevo, the festival was designed and built entirely in-house by the DMO, which acts as initiator, coordinator, and producer, not simply a promoter of existing content. Rather than importing a foreign festival format, Ljubljana Tourism wove together the city’s own cultural institutions, independent artists, craftspeople, hoteliers, and restaurateurs under one shared theme. In its fourth edition (2026), the festival reached its largest scale yet: 120+ partners, 220+ events, and a public art program spanning multiple districts. The program ranged from Nika Erjavec’s light installation Brstenje and Marina Abramović and Ulay’s Art Vital exhibition at Cukrarna Gallery, to the Cvetilke lantern installation created entirely by Ljubljana primary school pupils, and the first-ever opening of working artists’ ateliers in a Gornji trg courtyard directly to the public. BUSINESS TRAVEL Projects defining the future of corporate travel planning and experience. OverSee The AI Optimization Layer Powering the Future of Managed Travel The business travel industry is rapidly embracing AI, creating new opportunities for Travel Management Companies (TMCs) to improve savings, service delivery, and operational efficiency. As technology providers consolidate across the travel ecosystem, the need for independent, flexible optimization platforms has never been greater. Oversee was built to meet that need. As a GDS-agnostic AI optimization platform, Oversee helps TMCs and corporate travel programs continuously improve performance across savings, operations, and traveler service. Rather than functioning as a point solution or add-on to a single booking platform, Oversee operates as a continuous optimization layer that integrates into existing technology stacks without workflow disruption or system replacement. The platform brings together automated air and hotel reshopping, AI-powered operational automation through AgentSee, and sourcing analytics within one architecture built specifically for managed travel. Over two million bookings have been optimized, generating more than $300 million in savings. Oversee supports more than $14 billion in annual travel spend, serves over 7,000 customers globally, and works with more than 50% of the BTN 100. AgentSee grew from zero to over 650 live corporate clients in just 12 months. Oversee delivers measurable value across the full lifecycle of managed travel – capturing savings, improving efficiency, and optimising performance at scale. AIRLINES & AIRPORTS PRESENTED BY AIRLINE WEEKLY Projects defining the future of aviation, airlines, airports and the traveler experience. Virgin Australia Virgin Australia: Redefining flight search through conversational AI Virgin Australia has launched an Australian-first flight search experience in ChatGPT, giving travelers a new way to explore fares, destinations, and Velocity Frequent Flyer Reward Seats through natural conversation. Rather than asking guests to navigate separate pages, forms, calendars, and fare filters, the Virgin Australia app in ChatGPT lets customers describe what they need in everyday language—such as where they are departing from, their budget, flexible dates, preferred payment method, or desire to use Velocity Points—and be guided to relevant options. The experience can surface destinations based on budget or departure city, highlight best-value travel periods, compare cash fares or Points + Pay options, summarize lowest fares across multiple days, and surface Reward Seat availability on Virgin Australia-operated flights. Customers are then seamlessly handed into Virgin Australia’s digital booking path to complete their transaction. The core objective is to create a more intuitive, accessible, and future-ready front door to air travel: one that meets travelers where they already plan, compare and decide, while preserving airline control over fares, availability, trust and booking outcomes. TOUR OPERATORS Projects defining the future of multi-day tours. Butterfield & Robinson Butterfield & Robinson: Multi-Gen Legacy Multi-Gen Legacy is Butterfield & Robinson’s first dedicated collection for multi-generational family travel—a purpose-built product architecture comprising 72 vetted properties across 27 destinations and six continents, organized across three distinct pillars: Villas & Exclusive Stays, By Sea, and Safari & Wildlife. Launched in November 2025, the collection was built in response to a fundamental shift in how affluent families want to travel together. Revenue from B&R’s multi-gen and skip-gen segment has more than doubled since 2018, and yacht charters grew 130% year-over-year in 2025—clear signals that this wasn’t a niche, but an emerging cornerstone of luxury travel demand. The collection’s core objectives were threefold: to formalize B&R’s multi-gen expertise into a dedicated, discoverable product line; to curate accommodation and experiences through the specific lens of multi-generational dynamics—balancing togetherness and independence across age groups; and to position B&R as the defining operator in the legacy travel space. Multi-Gen Legacy is not a repackaging of existing trips. It is a new product category, built from the ground up to meet families where they are, and to give multi-generational travel the architecture it deserves. ACTIVITIES & ATTRACTIONS Projects defining the future of day tours, activities, and experiences Heritage Corridor Destinations The Landing Pad Standing 30 feet tall, the Gemini Giant has been a symbol of community pride in Wilmington, Illinois and a Route 66 icon since 1965. When the Giant was put up for auction in 2024, residents and Route 66 enthusiasts feared losing a symbol of community pride and one of America’s last remaining Muffler Men. Through a state-funded acquisition by the Joliet Area Historical Museum, the Giant was “rescued” and relocated to its new home: The Landing Pad. The Landing Pad reimagines how travelers experience a classic roadside attraction. More than just a souvenir shop, it transforms a quick photo stop into an immersive destination where visitors can discover the Giant’s story, shop exclusive Route 66 merchandise, support Illinois artists and makers, connect with locals, and spend more time (and money!) exploring Wilmington. Developed through a partnership between Heritage Corridor Destinations, the Joliet Area Historical Museum, and the Wilmington Park District, The Landing Pad has welcomed thousands of visitors from around the world while creating local jobs, increasing visitor spending, and turning the preservation of an iconic landmark into a sustainable driver of community pride and economic impact. SUSTAINABILITY PRESENTED BY SKIFT CLIMATE HUB Projects creating a positive impact for people and the planet. Ted Turner Reserves A Lasting Legacy of Conservation & Hospitality Ted Turner Reserves is a hospitality brand grounded in conservation with a mission to connect people with nature. A leader in species recovery and land stewardship, Ted Turner Reserves properties (Vermejo, Ladder, Armendaris, and Sierra Grande) provide unparalleled experiences for guests to visit and experience luxurious hospitality, outdoor activities, and unfettered access to nature, and in doing so, enables them to become active participants in Ted Turner’s mission to “Save Everything”—including bringing back endangered species and re-wilding vast swaths of the American West. At its core, Ted Turner Reserves exist to manage vast, private landscapes in an ecologically sustainable manner that restores and conserves native ecosystems while connecting people with nature through high-end, purpose-driven tourism. Ted Turner Reserves is committed to not only reducing but reversing human impacts to the land. The Ted Turner Reserves properties encompass 1.9M acres of wild working lands, including 750 miles of streams and tributaries protected for native fishes and a population of more than 40,000 native plains bison. The Reserves are home to more than 30 ongoing projects to protect and restore imperiled native species, including the Bolson Tortoise, Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout, and Mexican Wolf, plus ongoing riparian and forest restoration projects that reduce wildfire risk, restore natural forest structure, protect watersheds and ensure healthy waterways, improve wildlife habitats and create mosaics that allow for healthy stands of trees for continued carbon storage. As stewards of spectacular biodiverse lands, Ted Turner Reserves’ passion is to share the transformative power of nature with guests through authentic and meaningful experiences at these unique wilderness properties. Projects that lead to social change or benefit communities. Banyan Group Banyan Gallery is the lifestyle and retail arm of Banyan Group, extending artisan craftsmanship, wellbeing rituals, and purposeful living beyond the hotel stay. The Gallery traces its origins to when Claire Chiang, Co-Founder of Banyan Group, met a feminist activist who asked Chiang to help fund education for village girls by purchasing handmade “maun” triangular cushions from the Yasothorn community in Northeast Thailand. Chiang’s decision to place a large order, and her belief that commerce could fund opportunity and education, became the founding conviction behind Banyan Gallery. The first Banyan Tree Gallery opened in 1996 at the Group’s first resort in Phuket to support artisan livelihoods and preserve traditional crafts. What began as a single retail outlet has grown into a social enterprise platform present at more than 70 destinations worldwide, sourcing handcrafted textiles, basketry, ceramics, metalwork, and paper crafts from artisan groups and social enterprises. To date, it has supported 339 artisan communities and 240 social enterprises, delivering more than 1.5 million products. Alongside its artisan collections, the Gallery offers Banyan Tree Essentials, a personal care range of formulated with botanical ingredients and a corporate gifting business under its Gift for Good program. LEADERSHIP Highlighting a specific leader whose career has been dedicated to creating a positive impact in travel. Banyan Group Claire Chiang: Weaving Craft, Conscience, and Community into the Fabric of Global Hospitality Claire Chiang co-founded Banyan Group over three decades ago alongside her husband, Ho Kwon Ping, turning a restored tin mine in Phuket into the Group’s first resort and the foundation of a 100-property, 13-brand global hospitality company. She currently serves as Chairperson of China Business Development and Global Head of Learning and Talent Development, and she is founder & chairperson of four Group institutions: Banyan Gallery, the artisan retail platform she founded in 1996 on a principle she calls “community capitalism” (direct commissioning from artisan cooperatives, bypassing intermediaries); the Banyan Global Foundation, the Group’s philanthropic and governance arm; Banyan Academy, the Group’s corporate learning institution; and SILK (Step-Up International Laguna Kindergarten), the bilingual early childhood program at Laguna Phuket for children of associates working at the resort. A trained research sociologist before entering hospitality, she brought a community development framework to it all. She served as inaugural president of the UN Global Compact Network Singapore in 2005 and completed two terms as Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament (1997–2001), raising policy on family, women, and social services. She was named Her World Woman of the Year, Singapore in 1998, inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018, and received the Hospitality Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. RISING STAR Recognizing individuals whose career within the industry is on an upward trajectory. SkyTeam Yuliia Gelion: Shaping the Future of Aviation Sustainability Yuliia Gelion is Sustainability Program Manager at SkyTeam, where she leads initiatives that bring together 18 member airlines to accelerate progress on some of aviation’s most important environmental and social priorities. After joining SkyTeam as an intern in 2021, she quickly established herself as a trusted collaborator and now leads the alliance’s ESG program, demonstrating exceptional growth early in her career. Originally from Ukraine, Yuliia holds a Master’s degree in International Economic Relations and a second Master’s degree in International Communications. Her academic background, combined with a strong interest in gender studies and cross-cultural collaboration, has shaped her ability to build consensus across diverse international stakeholders. Since joining SkyTeam, Yuliia has played a central role in launching and growing several alliance-wide initiatives, including the RISE Women’s Leadership Development Program, The Aviation Challenge, SkyTeam’s Anti-Human Trafficking initiative and its Sustainability Standards. Known for her responsiveness, thoughtful leadership and ability to understand the unique needs of each member airline, she builds trusted partnerships that turn collaboration into lasting industry impact. DEI CHAMPION Celebrating individuals, teams and organizations who inspire a more inclusive and equitable experience within travel. FORA Embedding Inclusion Into Every Trip Fora’s Accessibility Program was formalized in 2024 after a group of advisors with lived experience surfaced persistent operational failures in luxury travel. Rather than treating accessibility as a side project, Fora responded by creating a staffed business unit with training, resources, advisor support, supplier engagement, technology tools, and growth targets. Central to this work is Accessibility lead Karen Morales. Morales had already traveled to 45 countries before a fall in 2020 marked a turning point in her muscular dystrophy, and she had to use a wheelchair. She was determined to change the status quo, joining Fora in 2023. The program launched with wheelchair accessibility, including accessible rooms, step-free transportation and quickly expanded as advisors identified a broader range of client needs, including chronic illness, severe allergies, service animals, sensory considerations, autism-friendly travel, and aging-related mobility changes. Today, more than 400+ advisors are engaged in accessibility-focused planning and thousands more through education, playbooks, office hours, vetted supplier resources, and real-time community support. The program has also expanded who can build a career in travel, opening doors for those with lived experience. Fora’s Accessibility Program is grounded around one conviction: accessibility isn’t adjacent to hospitality. It is how excellent hospitality is delivered. Trailblazer Award: Women Shaping the Future of Travel PRESENTED BY WOMEN LEADING TRAVEL Recognizing a female leader whose career in the travel industry has been defined by success, resilience and influence. The Sandals Foundation Heidi Clarke: Building the Future of Travel Through Purpose, People and Place Born and raised in Jamaica, Heidi Clarke has a deep connection to the Caribbean and a lifelong commitment to strengthening the communities that call it home. A fifth-generation Jamaican with a background in child psychology and education, she was already volunteering in schools and supporting community initiatives when she was invited to help launch the Sandals Foundation. Seventeen years later, that initiative has grown into one of the Caribbean’s leading nonprofit organizations, operating across the nine island destinations where Sandals and Beaches Resorts are located and transforming thousands of lives through programs focused on education, community, and the environment. As Executive Director of the Sandals Foundation, Clarke has led some of the region’s most impactful initiatives, including expanding access to clean water and healthcare, advancing marine conservation, introducing renewable energy through a solar schools initiative, supporting sustainable livelihoods through artisan and agricultural entrepreneurship, and strengthening educational youth opportunities. Recognized for her strategic vision and leadership, she brings together governments, nonprofit organizations, local communities, and private-sector partners to create sustainable, long-term solutions. Through her work, Clarke has helped redefine the relationship between tourism and community development, positioning travel as a catalyst for lasting social, economic, and environmental progress across the Caribbean. MARKETING Advertising campaigns created with the intent to drive action. The St. Joe Company / WaterSOUND NoFlo: Introducing Cold NYC to the Hottest New Neighborhood Winter travel marketing is crowded with predictable promises of sunshine, beaches, and escape. Rather than competing on the same messages as every warm-weather destination, Watersound sought to connect with New Yorkers through a deeper cultural truth: New Yorkers don’t aspire to be tourists. They aspire to discover what’s next. Inspired by the way New Yorkers identify with neighborhoods like SoHo, Tribeca, and DUMBO, the campaign reframed Northwest Florida as “NoFlo” – immediately introducing it in a way that felt culturally relevant. And in the middle of winter, this nickname was combined with a descriptor as “New York’s Hottest New Neighborhood,” which played into the local pursuit of the next big thing, along with a subtle wink to its sunny weather. To bring the idea to life, the strategy focused on creating unavoidable presence within the daily rhythms of New York life. The campaign flooded contextually relevant environments where culture-minded New Yorkers spend time, including neighborhood-centric out-of-home placements, experiential activations, social content, influencer partnerships, and earned media. The result was a destination that felt less like a tourism product and more like a discovery circulating through the city’s cultural conversation, generating awareness, curiosity, and visitation during the highly competitive winter travel season. CONTENT Innovative branding or video content, intended to inform or inspire. TRAVEL ALBERTA Anti-Algorithm Artwork: How Vanishing Portraits on a Frozen Lake Ignited Viral Awareness of a Hidden Gem Destination An 80-foot human face, eyes closed mid-breath, rendered in charcoal and chalk on the frozen surface of Abraham Lake, built to dissolve within days. That portrait, and the two others that briefly lived in a remote and wild part of Alberta, Canada, became the highest-performing piece of organic social content Travel Alberta has ever produced. Internationally recognized land artist David Popa came to Alberta’s Nordegg region for a two-week commission in January 2026, creating a trio of works collectively titled “RENEWAL.” Painted across the ice bubbles of Abraham Lake and the rocky floor of Cline River Canyon, the portraits ranged from about 75 to 135 feet in size. They were made with natural materials and reshaped in real time by warm Chinook winds, subzero temperatures, and shifting ice. With on-the-ground support from regional tourism operators, a hardy winter-film production crew and Travel Alberta, the project came to life across some of Alberta’s most striking winter terrain. The resulting content (teaser reel, hero reveal, behind-the-scenes reel, and two complementary web articles) turned a colossal, but fleeting, work of art into sustained interest in a barely known Canadian region most travelers have never considered. CREATIVE DESIGN Websites, apps, UX/UI, and creative technologies that transform the user experience Visit Austin VisitAustin.org: A Website Built for What’s Next In November 2025, Visit Austin launched a fully redesigned visitaustin.org—the most significant website investment in the organization’s recent history and the digital expression of a new brand identity. The rebuild addressed a strategic reality: AI-powered search has changed how travelers discover destinations. Rather than only refresh the design, Visit Austin rebuilt from the ground up—retiring 97 microsites, consolidating 500+ pages, removing 600+ low performing blog posts and restructuring content architecture around actual visitor behavior. The result is a single platform that serves two distinct, primary audiences without compromise: leisure travelers exploring Austin’s culture, food, and neighborhoods, and meeting planners who need a professional, conversion-oriented experience. A dedicated meetings microsite—with its own navigation, content logic, and direct pathway to the Convention Sales team—addresses both audiences’ needs with intention. Core features include AI-powered chat, integrated live hotel rates, trip planning tools, and a target towards WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance. Built on the Granicus Destinations CMS with a total investment of $136,300, the site launched into one of the most challenging digital environments DMOs have faced, and delivered engagement metrics that outperform industry peers across every key measure. physical experiences Spaces, events, activations, or in-person experiences that utilize a physical environment to impact an end user. Tripadvisor Abu Dhabi is Calling To drive interest in Abu Dhabi among global travelers, Tripadvisor and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism aimed to create their most ambitious immersive experience to date—one that would transform passive awareness into active travel consideration and booking intent through unforgettable, in-person encounters. The result was Abu Dhabi Is Calling, a campaign that unfolded across three activations in three global epicenters: VivaTech Paris, Hudson Yards New York, and Jio World Plaza Mumbai. Each activation featured four core elements: immersive domes showcasing digital art and 360-degree video of top-rated Tripadvisor recommendations; interactive AI conversational pods that enabled visitors to ask their AI travel agent anything about Abu Dhabi; expert travel guides providing authentic storytelling; and sweepstakes offering Abu Dhabi getaways alongside curated takeaways from artisanal ice creams to traditional dates. Interactive details, such as passport stamps, photo moments, and culturally inspired gifts, made the journey feel participatory from start to finish. The campaign focused on three core experiential objectives: create unforgettable physical encounters, demonstrate experiential innovation through AI and human-centered design, and generate authentic emotional connection by turning abstract destination awareness into tangible travel planning. BUSINESS OUTCOMES A B2B service provider who drives sales, marketing, operations, and other business outcomes. WENRIX Wenrix DeepFlow: Transforming the economics of travel servicing Post-booking flight servicing has been travel’s largest operational cost centers. While booking has become increasingly digital and automated, the complexity of refunds, exchanges, disruptions, etc. has meant that most servicing requests require manual intervention. For decades, the industry has accepted this as an unavoidable cost of doing business. DeepFlow was built to change that. DeepFlow is the first AI execution infrastructure purpose-built for post-booking flight servicing. Rather than just understanding traveler requests, it executes—automating +93% of servicing scenarios across refunds, exchanges, disruptions, no-shows, schedule changes, ancillaries, booking enquiries, and special requests. Built on over eight years of engineering, more than $50 billion in real-world servicing data, and verified agent actions from 60+ of the world’s largest OTAs and TMCs, DeepFlow accurately performs the complex operational tasks that have historically required specialist human expertise. Available as an API suite or MCP server, it integrates seamlessly, working across EDIFACT, NDC, LCCs, aggregators, and direct connects while adapting to each agency’s business rules and workflows. Its core objective is to transform the economics of post-booking travel servicing, helping agencies scale without increasing operational costs, improving resilience during disruption, enhancing the traveler experience, and turning servicing from a cost center into a revenue generator. DATA PROVIDER A B2B research or analytics company that provides critical data and analysis to the industry. AIRDNA The Global Standard for Short-Term Rental Market Intelligence, Built on a Decade of Data AirDNA was founded in a California garage in 2015 with a simple idea: give short-term rental hosts access to the same market intelligence long available in traditional real estate and hospitality. More than a decade later, it has become the leading provider of data and market intelligence for the $178 billion global short-term rental industry. Today, AirDNA helps customers answer the industry’s most important questions. Which market offers the strongest investment opportunity? How much revenue could a property generate? How should a portfolio be priced against competitors? How is demand shifting across destinations? By transforming complex market data into practical insights, AirDNA helps customers make faster, more informed decisions with confidence. As the industry has matured, so has AirDNA. Following its acquisition by Alpine Investors in 2022 and the acquisition of property management platform Uplisting in 2024, the company expanded beyond market intelligence to support customers across more of the short-term rental lifecycle. In 2026, AirDNA reached another major milestone by strengthening the technology underpinning its platform and bringing a new generation of AI-powered decision tools to market, extending the value of its trusted data into every stage of the decision-making process. COMMUNICATIONS B2B communications teams and companies, who guide travel brands and industry leaders forward through strategic media and messaging.search or analytics company that provides critical data and analysis to the industry. PC Public Relations Allies Against Invisibility: PR and Travel Writers in the Age of AI Discovery Travel discovery is entering a new era. As travelers increasingly ask AI assistants where to go, what to experience, and whom to trust, public relations can no longer stop at earning media coverage alone. Content must also be understandable and trusted by AI. Recognizing this shift, PC Public Relations developed the AI Visibility Companion for Travel Writers, a practical communications solution that enables PR professionals and travel writers to work toward a shared objective: improving AI discoverability with trustworthy data that AI systems can read and cite. The AI Visibility Companion generates schema markup using authoritative destination information (official websites, social media, Wikipedia, and geographic data) that writers can add to their articles without technical expertise. The innovation isn’t about the technology, though: it’s a new communications model that extends collaboration between PR and writers beyond the press release, helping writers prepare their content for the future of travel discovery. The result is increased visibility for writers, leveraging the authority of travel brands in a win-win discovery model. To ground the model in evidence, not assumption, PC Public Relations launched the ongoing “Lalaland” experiment, examining what structured data can, and cannot, achieve for AI visibility on its own. OPERATIONAL STREAMLINING Cutting-edge systems and tools that enhance efficiency, optimize performance, and drive success. WENRIX Wenrix DeepFlow: Moving Travel Servicing from Cost Centre to Competitive Edge Post-booking flight servicing remains one of travel’s largest operational inefficiencies. While the industry has automated routine requests, the most complex 60% of servicing scenarios still consume 82% of agent time, driving up cost-to-serve, slowing traveler resolution, and limiting scalability. DeepFlow was built to solve that problem. DeepFlow is the first Agentic AI Execution Layer purpose-built for post-booking flight servicing. Trained on more than $50 billion in servicing transactions and verified agent actions from 60+ of the world’s largest OTAs and TMCs, it delivers 93%+ automation across refunds, exchanges, disruptions, schedule changes, no-shows, ancillaries, booking inquiries, and special requests. DeepFlow works across EDIFACT, NDC, LCC, GDS, aggregators, and direct connects, adapting to each agency’s workflows, business rules, and mid- and back-office environment. Available as an API suite, MCP server, or conversational AI layer, it integrates into existing operations without requiring infrastructure changes. The result is measurable operational impact: customers have achieved a 50% reduction in cost-to-serve, traveller resolution times reduced from days to <5 seconds, and lower servicing queue volumes, while allowing agencies to scale servicing without proportionally scaling operational cost. WORKFORCE EFFICIENCY Task management solutions that optimize the human element of travel. GUESTY Same Team. More Capacity. Every operator knows the 11pm email: the guest with a problem, the decision that cannot wait, the evening that stops being theirs. Scale that across a growing portfolio and the industry’s real workforce equation shows up: more listings mean more burnout, and the only relief has been hiring people ahead of revenue. Guesty breaks that equation. The platform automates the work that is repetitive, relentless, and around the clock, messaging, repricing, maintenance dispatch, financial reconciliation, so the tasks that scale with every new property land on the system rather than the payroll. A redesigned workflow, built around how property managers actually operate, removes the manual coordination the old way demanded. What the team gets back is the work that made them good: owner relationships, guest recoveries, local partnerships, growth. The objective for every operator on Guesty is to scale the business, not the headcount, and to like their job more this year than last. TRAVELER JOURNEY Technology projects dedicated to enhancing the traveler’s journey. Allgäu-Walser-Service GmbH Allgäu-Walser-Pass: One Code to Rule Them All! The Allgäu-Walser-Pass is a pioneering “Single-Code” platform that fundamentally reshapes how tourism, mobility, and regional services interconnect. By replacing a fragmented landscape of individual tickets and disparate apps with one universal QR code, we have created a seamless digital experience space. Whether boarding a train, passing through a ski lift turnstile, visiting a museum, or paying for parking, the pass serves as a constant companion for over 2.5 million annual guests. Generated automatically during the online check-in process, the pass is available in our App or WebApp even before departure. This radical simplification creates a unified gateway for guests, 9,000 hosts, and 150+ partners, effectively breaking down traditional silos between the hospitality, mobility, and leisure sectors. The system ensures that the complex administrative burden of travel becomes invisible, allowing visitors to focus entirely on the experience. Operating across 40 municipalities and regional borders, the Allgäu-Walser-Pass is a transferable blueprint for connected tourism. It demonstrates how consistent networking and a sharp focus on customer value can establish a cross-border digital infrastructure, setting a new global benchmark for the “Online Travel” sector by prioritizing a frictionless user journey.very operator SUSTAINABILITY TECH Projects that are dedicated to promoting sustainability through the use of innovative technology. ARCHER AVIATION All-Electric Midnight Aircraft Midnight is Archer’s piloted, all-electric air taxi, designed to carry up to four passengers while producing zero operating emissions and 100x less noise than a traditional helicopter. Archer’s vision is to replace one-to-two-hour drives through congested cities with electric flights that take just 5–15 minutes. With an all-electric powertrain and 12 engines and propellers, Midnight represents the first new category of aircraft in the last 80 years. Archer is targeting safety levels in-line with commercial airliners, and an affordable cost comparable with a luxury rideshare. Archer is currently in the final stages of certifying Midnight. In 2026, Archer became the first air taxi company to close Phase 3 of the FAA’s four-phase Type Certification process, and Midnight was selected by the FAA to participate in the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) to bring initial air taxi operations to American cities as soon as this year. The eIPP program will help Archer prepare for its role as the Official Air Taxi Provider of the LA28 Olympic Games, with the goal of flying stakeholders and VIPs during one of the world’s most important cultural events. BEST USE OF AI Projects that have embraced the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance business performance. HOSPITABLE Building the AI Operating Layer for Short-Term Rentals Through the Industry’s First MCP Server Hospitable entered 2026 with one of the most advanced AI offerings in the short-term rental sector. Its AI already powers guest messaging, review generation, operational insights, Knowledge Hub, Guest Summaries, and Copilot. In 2025 alone, the platform automated more than 108 million guest messages and completed 44 million AI-powered actions. The company saw a larger opportunity. Most AI products are designed around predefined use cases. The vendor decides what gets built, how it works, and where it fits into an operator’s workflow. Hospitable took a different approach. In April 2026, the company became the first short-term rental property management platform to launch an official Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, giving operators direct access to their live business data through AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Hospitable then launched the industry’s first MCP Buildathon, inviting customers to explore what AI could do when connected directly to reservations, guest communications, reviews, operational workflows, and financial data. The result was an explosion of community-led innovation that demonstrated what hospitality operations could look like in the agentic AI era. This established a new model for AI adoption in hospitality: one where operators are no longer limited to the capabilities software vendors choose to provide. BEST PROPERTIES Short-term rental properties that cater to varied traveler needs and preferences. MOVING MOUNTAINS Over the Edge by Moving Mountains: Steamboat’s Ultimate Ski-In/Ski-Out Estate Over the Edge is Moving Mountains’ flagship luxury residence in Steamboat Springs and one of the area’s most distinctive private vacation homes. This nearly 10,000-square-foot ski-in/ski-out estate was designed to deliver the experience of a world-class luxury resort while preserving the privacy, comfort, and flexibility of a private home. Accommodating up to 16 guests across seven bedrooms, Over the Edge was created for multi-generational families, executive retreats, and milestone celebrations. Expansive gathering spaces are balanced with quiet private retreats, while amenities, including a heated pool and hot tub, sauna, private theater, golf simulator, climbing wall, fitness studio, rooftop lounge, and direct access to Steamboat’s Right-O-Way ski trail, allow guests to create an entirely personalized mountain vacation without leaving the property. The experience extends well beyond the home itself. As part of Moving Mountains’ Apex Collection, guests receive dedicated vacation planning and concierge services before arrival, personalized itinerary planning, complimentary winter shuttle service, and access to curated experiences ranging from private chefs to in-home wellness services. The objective behind Over the Edge is simple: remove every point of friction from luxury travel while creating unforgettable moments that simply cannot be replicated in a traditional hotel or vacation rental. GUEST EXPERIENCE Solutions that enhance traveler satisfaction and deliver exceptional guest experiences. ENSO CONNECT Scaling Superhost Ratings and Revenue: The Boarding Pass to Exceptional Hospitality The Boarding Pass is Enso Connect’s guest-facing app, designed to replace the fragmented pre-arrival, in-stay, and post-stay experience (email chains, PDF guides, disconnected verification forms, scattered payment links, etc.) with a single, e-commerce-quality journey from booking to checkout. Guests get a personalized hub for their stay: identity verification, deposit payments (offering the choice between security deposit and damage waiver), digital guidebooks, and step-by-step, picture-by-picture instructions for check-in and checkout, so common questions are answered before they’re even asked. One-click payment options, including Apple Pay, make add-on purchases as easy as any modern retail checkout. After minimizing the amount of guest queries with proactive guides and instructions, EnsoAI handles the rest of the messages in real time: AutoPilot resolves routine questions automatically, while CoPilot drafts suggested replies for hosts when a human touch is needed. EnsoAI monitors sentiment across guest conversations and flags at-risk interactions before they become bad reviews. The objective is to give every guest a fast, informed, personalized experience, while giving hosts the tools to scale that experience without scaling headcount. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Solutions Initiatives that contribute to efficient and successful property management. Killington Mountain Homes The 4.94 Advantage: The Excellence Pays Operating System Killington Mountain Homes created the Excellence Pays Operating System to solve a structural problem in short-term rental management: guests experience one promise, but operators typically deliver it through a fragmented chain of cleaners, laundry vendors, maintenance contractors, and call centers. When any handoff fails, the guest blames the stay—and the homeowner’s revenue suffers. KMH’s solution is to replace that fragmented accountability with one locally owned standard, aligning three groups whose interests are too often kept separate: guests who want a reliable, cared-for stay; owners who want superior financial performance and asset protection; and employees who want meaningful work in a positive culture. To deliver that standard consistently, KMH built the operational infrastructure to back it up—bringing housekeeping, laundry, maintenance, transportation, and guest communication in-house under one roof. Technology coordinates the workflow through an integrated stack, but local employees own the outcome. The result is a closed loop where every check-in is managed against one deadline and one quality bar. The system’s core objective is straightforward: treat hospitality quality not as a soft value or a cost to minimize, but as a managed commercial input that produces better guest experiences, stronger reviews, greater demand, and better returns for homeowners. HOTELS Properties that offer comprehensive and industry-leading services to host meetings and events. thewit chicago theWit Chicago: The Experience is the Agenda At theWit Chicago, every event is designed to become part of a larger guest experience. Whether attending a multi-day conference, celebrating a wedding weekend, or gathering for a corporate conference, guests discover a destination where business, wellness, dining, and entertainment naturally intersect. Located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop, theWit hotel offers more than 14,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space, anchored by ROOF, Chicago’s iconic year-round rooftop venue. With its retractable glass roof, panoramic skyline views and vibrant atmosphere, ROOF transforms meetings, receptions, and celebrations into unforgettable occasions. Beyond the event itself, theWit encourages attendees to extend their experience. Executive Chef Armando Diaz and Vice President of Food & Beverage David Danielson are leading a new chapter of culinary innovation at State and Lake Chicago Tavern and throughout the hotel’s event programming, while the recently reopened Spa@theWit and newly renovated fitness center create opportunities for wellness before, during, and after every gathering. Stylish guest rooms and suites offer thoughtfully designed retreats, allowing guests to recharge in comfort between sessions or celebrations. From arrival to departure, every detail is intentionally curated, creating a destination where meetings become experiences and every stay becomes an extension of living fully. VENUES & CONVENTION CENTERS Spaces that consistently demonstrate excellence in providing facilities and services for business events. Dubai Exhibition Centre – Dubai World Trade Centre Dubai Exhibition Centre: Redefining Global Events A global business facilitator since 1979, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) has played a central role in positioning Dubai as a leading global destination for business events, connecting industries, governments, and businesses through world-class venues and international exhibitions. Central to this vision is Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), owned and operated by DWTC. Originally purpose-built for Expo 2020 Dubai, DEC has since hosted landmark global events, including the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), demonstrating its capability to deliver events of international significance. Located within Expo City Dubai, DEC is one of the world’s most advanced integrated venues, providing highly flexible exhibition, convention, and conference facilities designed to meet the evolving needs of the global MICE industry. Together with the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), it forms DWTC’s integrated dual-venue ecosystem, enabling organizers to scale events seamlessly across both venues through a single operational platform. DEC is currently undergoing a landmark $2.7 billion expansion that will see it become the region’s largest purpose-built indoor events and exhibitions venue, upon competition in 2031 supporting the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan and Dubai Economic Agenda (D33). DESTINATION MARKETING ORGANIZATIONS Destinations creatively and effectively promoting themselves to attract business events. VISIT NEWPORT BEACH Visit Newport Beach Makes a Splash in London with “The Art of Leisure” Visit Newport Beach introduced “The Art of Leisure” public exhibit inside London’s NOW Building, one of the world’s largest high-resolution, wrap-around digital screen environments, to position Newport Beach as a must-visit luxury coastal destination among UK travelers, the destination’s #1 international market. Using emerging animation technology, Visit Newport Beach turned blank architectural canvases into living works of art: a digital gallery of paintings inspired by more than 40 local artists came to life in real time, while cinematic montages carried visitors through Newport Beach’s beaches, boating culture, luxury lifestyle, and wildlife. The activation unfolded as two distinct experiences in one campaign: a large-scale public exhibition and a private luxury media and influencer event, each built around its own creative concept, environment, and storytelling. Concepted, designed, animated, and executed entirely in-house by a four-person creative team in roughly four weeks, the project generated more than 2 million impressions and engaged nearly 20,000 visitors during London’s Half Term holiday, demonstrating how a destination marketing organization can deliver a show-stopping display by way of a small and mighty team. EVENT TECHNOLOGY Innovative technological solutions that are driving the events industry forward. Happy Sites, powered by ENGAGE Happy Sites: Putting the Right Tools in Every Event Planner’s Hands Happy Sites is a mobile app designed specifically for event planners, destination management companies (DMCs), and hospitality buyers who need a better way to evaluate venues. Right now, most planners walk through a venue with a notebook, a phone camera, and their memory. Afterward, they’re left trying to piece together scattered photos, handwritten notes, and mental impressions into something they can actually share with a client. It’s messy, inconsistent, and time-consuming. Happy Sites fixes that. The app guides planners through a structured walkthrough, step by step. Planners can capture photos that automatically attach to the right part of the inspection, score venues against criteria that matter to them, and then generate a clean, professional report with just one tap, ready to send to a client. Teams can also share venue notes with colleagues in their network, creating a running library of inspections they can reference again and again. Happy Sites is the first product in ENGAGE’s broader vision: a complete digital toolkit for the modern corporate event planner. CRUISE LINES Companies redefining the concept of corporate gatherings at sea. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Transforming the Way the World Meets at Sea: Three Brands. Endless Possibilities Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ Charters, Meetings & Incentives department offers one of the industry’s most comprehensive corporate event platforms by bringing together three distinct brands: Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, to deliver customized experiences for meetings, incentives, full-ship charters, executive retreats, and corporate events. Unlike traditional land-based programs that require coordination across multiple venues, transportation providers, and entertainment partners, our floating resorts bring every element together in one venue. Accommodations, meeting spaces, world-class dining, entertainment, transportation between destinations, and curated experiences are fully integrated, allowing planners to focus on creating impactful programs rather than managing logistics while visiting multiple destinations. Our portfolio spans the contemporary innovation of Norwegian Cruise Line, the culinary excellence and immersive destinations of Oceania Cruises, and the ultra-luxury, all-inclusive elegance of Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Together, our brands provide flexible solutions for organizations of all sizes, cultures, and budgets, from intimate executive meetings to incentive programs and fully customized ship charters. Combined with award-winning service, innovative venues, industry-leading entertainment, sustainable initiatives, and top-notch itineraries, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings continues to redefine what is possible in meetings and incentive travel by delivering experiences that foster stronger connections, deeper engagement, and leave unforgettable memories.