India

A trip is never just a trip. The end-to-end travel journey spans nearly ever touchpoint across hospitality. 

And in the landscape of rental property management, the role of technology is becoming paramount. From streamlining operations to optimizing revenue, leveraging centralized platforms to do things like manage guest communication at scale and automate task management is providing short-term rental (STR) property managers with a crucial lifeline — particularly as both business and personal travel continues to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

“Guest communication is pretty big in short-term rentals. There’s a lot of back-and-forth communication with guests asking not only how to use the property, but also how to check the distance to specific landmarks and things like that,” Amiad Soto, Guesty’s CEO and co-founder, told PYMNTS. 

Soto explained that responsiveness to customer needs is driving innovation across intelligent property management, and stressed the impact artificial intelligence (AI), fueled by vast data repositories, can have empowering property managers at scale. 

“AI helps facilitate fast responses and lower the amount of workload necessary from the host, and that’s true whether you have one property or 10,000,” he said. 

AI tools also help enable property managers to make data-driven decisions, including supporting solutions like dynamic pricing adjustments in real time. 

“AI tools that enable smart price recommendations can learn not just from your own calendar but also from everything happening in the industry or local markets to help managers monetize more.

“For example, if you weren’t aware that a specific band was coming to town, the system will recognize it and adjust prices automatically based on the market intelligence,” Soto said. “Since we are one of the biggest in our industry, we see a lot of data, and that gives us a huge head start in building AI tools.” 

Read more: Guesty Raises $130 Million to Expand Short-Term Rental, Hospitality Platform

Leveraging Innovation, Acquisitions

Having just snapped up a nine-fugure Series F round last month (April 10), Soto explained that he is excited to put that capital to work and expand both the capabilities and global footprint of Guesty’s property management software platform for the STR and hospitality industry.

“I believe in consolidation of this industry. It’s too fragmented, and we’ll continue to lead the way on that front — we keep meeting amazing companies, and whenever we see strategic synergy, we move forward,” he said. 

“Every time we expand into additional geographies, we lean into the expertise of local teams and that helps us to tailor our product and technology to those unique market needs. Although we may already have active customers in those territories, we plan to double down on efforts on localizing our software to meet not only the languages and cultural nuances, but also the regulatory requirements,” Soto added. 

With profitability on the horizon and both leadership and investors embracing a strategic approach to leveraging the recent funding that is primarily geared towards mergers and acquisitions, Guesty’s mission also encompasses accommodating diverse property types and stays, spanning short-term rentals to long-term leases.

Read also: New US Passport App Removes Friction Amid Business-Leisure Travel Shifts

As PYMNTS Intelligence shows, Gen X and millennial consumers play significant roles in driving the surge in travel expenses, accounting for about 31% and 28% of expenditure, respectively. This underscores the importance of tailoring services to meet their preferences and travel needs.

And while high earners are more likely to engage in travel, even paycheck-to-paycheck consumers are determined to spend on leisure travel, according to separate PYMNTS Intelligence research conducted in collaboration with LendingClub. That study revealed that 30% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers plan to allocate funds for travel.

Looking ahead, Soto explained that Guesty remains steadfast in its commitment to innovation and growth. With a robust R&D team spearheading the development of over 120 new features, the platform continues to push the boundaries of property management technology. Strategic partnerships with leading online travel agencies further bolster the STR and hospitality platform’s ecosystem, ensuring seamless integration and maximum reach for property managers.

For all PYMNTS digital transformation coverage, subscribe to the daily Digital Transformation Newsletter.

As consumers feel their budgets come under pressure, people continue to spring for live event tickets, Vivid Seats’ latest earnings results reveal, even as they cut back on retail purchases.

The online ticket resale marketplace reported Tuesday (May 7) that it saw marketplace gross order value (GOV) of more than $1 billion in the first quarter of the year, rising 20% year over year, with revenue increasing by 18%.

On a call with analysts discussing these results, Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Fey addressed investor concerns about how consumers’ constrained discretionary spending would affect their ticket purchasing.

“There’s going to be some skew towards affordability, but beyond that, … nothing we’ve seen suggesting at the broad level any weakening in consumer interests and attending these types of events,” Fey said.

Moreover, the company is seeing generational trends toward spending more on experiences as younger consumers begin making more purchases.

“Frankly, as the demographics move into some of the newer generations who are coming into purchasing power, I think it’s clear that this is a category that they will remain prioritized on their spend,” Vivid Seats CEO Stan Chia noted.

The younger consumer, the more of their paycheck they are likely to spend on recreation, leisure and entertainment activities, per PYMNTS Intelligence data. The April installment of the “New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report” series, “Why 60% of Gen Z’s Live Paycheck to Paycheck,” drew from a survey of more than 3,400 U.S. consumers to understand their financial lifestyles, among other things. Gen Z consumers reported expecting to spend 10% of their personal income on these expenses in the month ahead, while millennials expected to spend 8%, Generation X 7%, and baby boomers and seniors 6%.

The same study found that millennials and bridge millennials are the most likely of all consumers to cite paying for an upcoming event or show as their top financial priority.

On the flip side, retail companies are noting this shift away from their offerings. Mattel highlighted in its first-quarter earnings call last month that young parents are spending more on experiences for their kids and less on toys.

“We do expect some decline in 2024, although at a lesser rate than last year,” Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz told analysts. “The decline is due to the same factors that impacted 2023 in terms of a lighter theatrical film slate and the impact of a shift in consumer spending towards … experiences and services.”

Overall, consumers are cutting back on purchasing physical products. The February/March edition of the New Reality Check series, “Pessimism About Pay Rises Offsets the Effect of Falling Inflation,” drew from a PYMNTS Intelligence survey of more than 4,300 U.S. consumers. It found that 60% of shoppers have cut down on nonessential retail spending.

“Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day-to-day spending,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts on the fast-food chain’s latest earnings call.

For all PYMNTS retail coverage, subscribe to the daily Retail Newsletter.

India’s Jio Financial Services has launched a joint venture with BlackRock.

The collaboration will establish a wealth management and brokering business in India, and comes less than a year after the two companies began an asset management venture, Reuters reported Monday (April 15).

Jio, part of the Reliance Group, said the venture is designed to tap into the lucrative wealth business in India, and will include the incorporation of a wealth management firm and, eventually, a brokerage company.

The Reuters report cited figures from Jeffries showing that wealth managers in India tend to $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion of assets owned by high-net-worth individuals. By creating a brokerage firm, Jio and BlackRock hope to woo the growing number of Indian retail investors as that country’s stock market hits historic highs.

The two firms announced their partnership last summer, with both sides investing $150 million in an asset management project.

Elsewhere in the world of wealth management, PYMNTS earlier this month wrote about the way open banking — a concept that emerged in the U.K. and Europe before gaining traction in the U.S. — has the potential to reshape the investment and wealth management landscapes.

“And by leveraging open banking APIs, third-party financial service providers can securely access a vast array of financial information from multiple banks and institutions, with user consent,” that report said. “This accessibility offers an opportunity to enhance services within the wealth management sector, ushering in a new era of transparency, efficiency and personalized solutions for investors across all demographics.”

A recent collaboration between open banking provider Neonomics and investment platform Endavu to scale the latter’s app via open banking is an example of this trend.

In announcing their partnership earlier this month, the companies underlined a growing number of people entering the investment landscape and the corresponding rise in consumer awareness regarding associated costs.

“However, despite its promise, the widespread adoption of open banking across sectors, including investment and wealth management, is not without its challenges,” PYMNTS wrote.

“Interoperability issues and varying API standards across regions and institutions can impede seamless integration and collaboration within the open banking ecosystem.”

GoCardless raised the standardization issue in a blog post last year, pointing out that the absence of set protocols for sharing data “can lead to inconsistencies in the quality and format of data, making it difficult for third-party providers to [analyze] and use the data effectively.”

Real-time payments continue to gain global momentum in 2024. Two new national players joined the scene in March, and others are introducing significant advancements to their services.

Real-Time Payments in Qatar

Leading digital financial institution (FI) Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) recently introduced the Fawran instant payment service. Users can access the service through the QIB Mobile App. With a name derived from the Arabic word for “instantly” and backed by the Qatar Central Bank, the service enables instantaneous, round-the-clock transactions nationwide. Fawran employs alternative identifiers for account details, allowing customers to swiftly send and receive funds without requiring them to input the typical beneficiary details like account and routing numbers. Instead, users simply assign a unique name to each bank account to enable instant transfers.

Advancements in Moldova

The Eastern European nation of Moldova staked its claim with the launch of the MIA Instant Payment System. The new scheme, introduced by the National Bank of Moldova, is widely available across the country’s FIs. It allows users to make transfers anytime, anywhere in less than 15 seconds — without commissions in many cases. Users only need to provide a valid phone number to enable an instant transfer. So far, 10 banks and four payment institutions have implemented the MIA Instant Payment System.

Sweden Expands Real-Time Payments

Sweden is expanding its real-time payment capabilities by joining the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS). This marks the first non-eurozone country to join. Unlike other participant countries, which must transact in euros, Sweden can leverage its own currency — the krona — for instant transactions. The technical linkage between the Swedish central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and the TIPS platform was originally established in May 2022. The system has become operational in recent weeks. Currently, 11 payment service providers can transfer funds via TIPS, with more expected soon.

Innovations in Mexico

Real-time payments in Mexico are taking a significant leap forward with the introduction of a new account-to-account payments product by Uruguayan Fintech Prometeo. This innovative system employs a single application programming interface (API) to enable instantaneous payments directly to a bank account, granting businesses immediate access to collections — without requiring major technical overhauls. Moreover, because the system is integrated with Mexico’s central bank, it is accessible to all banks in the country. According to Prometeo, its account-to-account solution reduces payment times to just 40 seconds with fewer than five clicks from the end user, surpassing the efficiency of current market offerings.

Real-Time Payments Expansion in India

Finally, India plans to expand its real-time payments functionality by establishing interoperability of digital payment systems for internet banking. This launch is expected later this year. This move aims to facilitate faster fund settlements for merchants. Currently, internet transactions processed through payment aggregators (PAs) are not interoperable, as banks must integrate separately with each PA for different online merchant partners. This requirement has proven difficult for bank staff to manage, especially considering the vast number of merchant partners each bank has. Additionally, the absence of standardized payment systems and rules for each PA contributes to payment delays and increased security risks, issues the interoperability initiative intends to solve.

The coming weeks and months promise to be exciting times for instant transactions across various sectors. The ongoing demand for instant payments is fueling their expansion worldwide.

About the Real-Time Payments World Map

The “Real-Time Payments World Map,” a collaboration with The Clearing House, describes how growing demand drives the rapid expansion of instant transactions worldwide.