Hi {{ first name | there }},

I spent the last week with bad wifi and a lot of wind. I had forgotten how great it feels to rest and get very (very!) low screen time.

In our house "holiday" usually means working with a better view, but this time we actually managed to stop for a couple of days. I finished 3 books, got to be a full-time mom and shot a roll of film (yes, the kind you develop). Still, got to be anxious about the current “state of the world” and amazed by the space mission. Probably anxious and amazed in the same level, to be honest. Somewhere in between, I also found time to write about FutureTravel being a fully independent brand in 2026.

Came back to markets going wild and a world running low on trust. I think that's the next epidemic, by the way… a collapse of the thing that makes everything else work. Bueno, feels like I never left… but I’m still playing catch up with my inbox.

And at least I know these days gave me the exact right headspace for the big/busy Q2 we have ahead!

French startup Luniwave raised €3.6M to reward hotel guests for eco-friendly behaviour. Guests can earn points by skipping daily housekeeping, shortening their shower, or turning down the heating - they can them redeem these points by perks during their stay. And everything is tracked automically with smart room sensors.

A hundred hotels are already using it, with Accor and Best Western among them. Last year that translated into 20 million litres of water saved and over 100 tonnes of CO₂ avoided. They want 800 properties and 15 million users by 2027.

I asked CEO Léonard Grynfogel what surprised him most. His answer: when guests choose what to do with their points, they more often donate to an NGO than redeem a free cocktail.

What if people just need a reason to act more sustainably?

🇩🇪 Uber is acquiring Blacklane, the Berlin-based premium chauffeur service operating in 500+ cities across 60 countries, as it doubles down on executive and luxury travel. Great deal for Uber, not so great deal for Europe…

🇫🇷 HBX Group has bought out PerfectStay, the Paris-based dynamic packaging platform it first backed in June 2024. Together they're targeting the B2B2C holiday packages market, estimated at around $50 billion.

🇸🇬 Staynex Group has acquired Swiss hotel booking platform Sleap.io for $15M, adding 1.5 million properties and a European footprint to its AI and crypto-based travel platform.

🇮🇳 Uppercase has raised ~$2.3M from existing investors (Accel and Volrado) nearly 20 months after its last round. The Mumbai-based company sells backpacks and suitcases focused on durability and sustainable materials, with cricketer Jasprit Bumrah as investor and brand ambassador.

⛵ Someone actually went there
A research firm sent an analyst to the Strait of Hormuz during an active conflict. He defied two officers with rifles, got on a speedboat with no GPS, swam in the strait with a cigar, got detained. And then came back with the best read on what's actually happening there.

🎵 AI can’t replicate this (yet)
Best 15 minutes of a “podcast” I watched in a long time. Just people being absurdly good at what they do, and a lesson of being completely present on your craft. I watched it more times than I'd like to admit, and I'm not even an Ed Sheeran fan. I wish most of us had moments like this while getting our jobs done 🙃

See you next week,
Ana

The content of this newsletter is curated and published by Ana Metz, an innovation expert, passionate about technology and excited about the future of travel.

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