
Innovation in Travel & Hospitality
We connect leading organizations to a curated selection of startups that meet their needs. Our mission is to discover, support, and scale disruptive technologies that are defining the future of the travel & hospitality industries.























Rethinking Innovation in Travel
Meet the right startups
Startups have dramatically enhanced innovation in travel & hospitality. With Plug and Play, you’ll gain access to a strategically aligned selection of startups that meet your tech interests.
Network with peers
Meet industry peers, learn best practices, and set industry standards at hundreds of public and private events every year. We not only organize events but also facilitate relevant introductions.
Access to the latest trends
Sustainability, operational efficiencies, seamless journeys... Innovation is reshaping the travel & hospitality landscapes. As a corporate partner, we’ll make sure you don’t miss out on a trend.
Travel & Hospitality Focus Areas
Sustainability
Travelers are demanding more sustainable solutions and companies must be at the forefront of embracing technology to maintain their competitive advantage.
Operational Efficiency
Lowering cost and increasing productivity through automation technologies without disrupting the quality of service levels. Get in touch to lead innovation in travel.
Customer Engagement & Loyalty
A personalized experience is key to innovate in travel: it enhances loyalty, increases direct bookings, and enables service stickiness.
Ancillary Revenues
We drive innovation by looking outside of core service offering and increasing customer wallet-share by tapping into new ancillary revenue streams.
Seamless Journey
New technologies are paving the way for a frictionless experience. From inspiration & booking, transportation, at the airport, on the plane, at the hotel or rental, meetings & events, in destination experiences, and post-trip.
Fintech & New Payment Solutions
Empowering passengers to choose their preferred method of payment using digital wallets to ensure a frictionless checkout experience
Travel Program Locations
Silicon Valley
Singapore
Shanghai
Abu Dhabi
Vienna
Geneva
Our Travel ecosystem, in numbers
- 2016Travel program launch year
- 32Corporate partners fast-tracked
- 288Startups accelerated
- 150+POCs & Pilots developed
- 32Investments made
You'll be in good company
Accor
Michelle Gilman Jasen, Executive Director, Hotel Sales and Marketing, North and Central America, Accor
Testimonial
"We have had successful POC opportunities that lead to increased revenue, operational efficiencies, and more differentiated brand positioning, but the ongoing trend content, best practice discussions with corporate peers, and cross-vertical exposure have proven equally as valuable."
CWT
Brandon Balcom, Senior Director, Innovation and New Product Development, CWT
Testimonial
"Every year, Plug and Play continues to learn the nuances of our business and brings forth better ideas and startups more tailored to our needs and the needs of our clients. We expect this to hyper accelerate our ability to find great new startup partnerships."
Star Alliance
Jeremy Drury, Director, Digital and Technology Services (CIO), Star Alliance
Testimonial
"In the fast-changing air travel environment, we need to deliver innovative solutions on an ongoing basis. Nurturing startups has helped us address critical long-standing customer travel pain points as well as bring innovative solutions at a very rapid pace."
Check out these Case Studies
Analyzing Passenger Flow at Airports
Fraport AG worked with Blickfeld to effectively analyze passenger flow in their premises. In their pilot, they recorded passenger flow anonymously over a large area, by using LiDAR sensors combined with counting and tracking software.
Enabling Remote Baggage Check-in
VIE collaborated with Airportr to enhance customer experience. Together, they implemented a solution that offers a digital and slick user experience, by enabling passengers to have their bags checked in from different locations in the city.
Searching Travel Guidelines for Domestic and International Destinations
American Airlines launched a new travel tool, powered by Sherpa, to help travelers see the current COVID-19 travel requirements for domestic and international travel.
Our most recent ebook
Deep Diving into Travel Behavior with Data, Analytics, and AI
This ebook deals with how to keep up with the pace of managing travelers’ expectations. We will introduce two of our startups from Program 3 at Plug and Play Vienna to shed light on this topic. They will suggest their views on why analyzing the right data allows us to understand the needs of customers and create a competitive advantage for travel companies.

The Future of Travel
Take a look into the future of travel
We source startup technology that creates the following solutions:
- Increasing revenue
- Lowering costs
- Increasing operational efficiencies
- Building brand loyalty
- Improving safety and security
- Creating seamless travel experiences
- Disruptive business models
A few words from our partners and startups
IBM
Steve Peterson, Global Travel & Transportation, Institute for Business Value
Testimonial:
“Plug and Play is the place where the cutting edge of innovation meets partners, including airlines, airports, other travel partners and interested parties like IBM, who aims to make the travel experiences more efficient and enjoyable.”
JetBlue Technology Ventures
Bonny Simi, President
Testimonial:
“Plug and Play is a wonderful vehicle for us to be immersed into the ecosystem. It’s a great place for us to see pitches from great start-ups and interact with them while they are in the accelerator program.”
Delta Air Lines
Nicole Jones, Global Innovation Leader
Testimonial:
“Technology is an integral part of innovation at Delta. Partnering with Plug and Play presents a mutual opportunity of benefits. Startups get the advantage of learning what some of Delta’s greatest challenges are and building their businesses based on real world problems and Delta gets the opportunity to help them to grow and evolve while also benefiting our business in the long term.”
Swissport International
Joe Phelan, COO
Testimonial:
“The great things about Plug and Play’s events is they really get the mind flowing and the brain going on different opportunities and one thought pattern might lead to another. So for Swissport, it’s been a great entry into lots of new ideas and fresh thinkings and we see a lot of applications.”
Panasonic Avionics
Jordan Shen, Director of Corporate Strategy & Business Development
Testimonial:
“Coming to Plug and Play’s events helps Panasonic keep a tap on what is going on in the market and what kind of consumer behavior is evolving.”
TripCase
Constantine Hallax, Vice President of Business Development
Testimonial:
“Travel is a multi-trillion dollar industry and there could be a lot more innovation involved. What Plug and Play brings to the table is accelerating this innovation and enabling collaboration amongst different stakeholders to come together.”
Utrip
Gilad Berenstein, CEO & Founder
Testimonial:
"Plug and Play has been an outstanding asset to Utrip! There is nowhere else I know of where startups can collaborate with so many like-minded entrepreneurs and founders in an open and energetic space. Even more importantly, the connections Plug and Play makes between startups and large companies in our industry is invaluable. Without them, it would take us years to get so many high-level meetings with open minded executives."
Flyr
Jean Tripier, CEO & Co-Founder
Testimonial:
“We have had a relationship with Plug and Play for many years as a sponsor, investor, and partner and they have been a great asset for us as we have developed FLYR both on the fundraising and on the commercial side. In particular, they are now a great resource for meeting the digital leaders of many global companies, several of which we are now engaged with commercially.”
Stride Travel
Gavin Delany, CEO & Co-Founder
Testimonial:
"Stride had a great experience participating in the Plug and Play Travel accelerator. The interactions with the other entrepreneurs helped stimulate new ideas and partnerships and the staff facilitated many meetings with potential corporate travel partners that would have taken a significant amount of time and effort to arrange independently. Plug and Play is like a priority pass to connect with top executives at leading travel companies."
Umapped
Lisa Israelovitch, CEO & Co-Founder
Testimonial:
“I loved being part of the Travel & Hospitality program. Umapped is already seeing results with new commercial relationships and friends in the industry. I also took away some terrific clarity on our focus and expansion opportunities through the various meetings and discussions with mentors and the Plug and Play team.”
Conichi
Lisa Katharina Grobien, Head of Americas
Testimonial:
"Plug and Play greatly helped Conichi find valuable partners in a new market and the team offered enormous support throughout the entire program and beyond. The networking part – on top of it all – is priceless. The Conichi team and I are very proud to being part of the global Plug and Play family."
Axle Travel
Bharath Krishnamoorthy, CEO & Co-Founder
Testimonial:
“Throughout the whole process, it has been incredibly valuable in terms of introducing me to partners and introducing me to smart people who are thinking about the space who can actually think about it differently.”
Check out our other programs
Advanced Manufacturing
Agtech
Animal Health
Brand & Retail
Crypto & Digital Assets
Energy
Enterprise Tech
Fintech
Food & Beverage
GOAL
Health
Insurtech
Internet of Things
Maritime
Media & Ad
Mobility
New Materials & Packaging
Real Estate & Construction
Smart Cities
Supply Chain & Logistics
Sustainability
Travel & Hospitality
Global Locations
Startup Autobahn
BNP Paribas - Plug and Play
Startup Camp