Innovation Series Competition: Gaest, GermFalcon, Waylo

Three innovators, Gaest, Waylo, and GermFalcon, recently competed in the second webinar of the GBTA and Phocuswright Innovation Series, a multifaceted program designed to bring the business travel industry’s most impactful innovators to GBTA Convention 2018. Nine companies go head-to-head for the ultimate title of the “Best Innovator in Business Travel” in addition to a spot on the Expo Floor. After presenting a six-minute pitch to a panel of judges, the winner’s fate rests in the hands of the audience.

CEO & Co-Founder Anders Mogensen kicked things off by delving into the idea behind Gaest. Described as a sharing economy service in a B2B environment, Gaest is an online community marketplace for listing, discovering and booking meeting spaces for professional needs. The service is currently active in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, UK, Belgium, Australia and Mexico, with plans to expand globally.

Similar to other sharing economy services, hosts provide rentable spaces on the platform, which users may book for various needs whether it be board meetings, workshops or job interviews. Interestingly enough, Anders mentioned how the usage of the platform has gone beyond their initial thoughts. Rooms have been booked for a private tattoo session, live musical performances, yoga classes, and religious services.

Next, President & Co-Founder Elliott Kreitenberg explained how GermFalcon aims to change the pattern of getting sick after a flight. In just three minutes, GermFalcon is able to disinfect commercial airplanes with a proven 99% kill of bacteria and viruses including Ebola and MRSA. The product is no larger than a flight attendant’s food and drink cart, and has retractable wings with germicidal UVC lamps that target seatbelts, seatbacks, armrests, tray tables, overhead bins, window shades, floors and more.

Lastly, Waylo CEO & Founder Angik Sarkar walked through StayScience, a hotel price prediction engine that aims to slash corporate hotel expenses. The company is on a mission to leverage artificial intelligence to simplify corporate hotel bookings and reduce expenses while increasing hotel choices. By predicting what a room will cost in the future, the engine is able to offer a lower upfront rate than alternate platforms like online travel agencies. The price prediction accuracy is at 95%, but for the 5% of cases where the company is wrong, Waylo absorbs the loss.

At the end of the webinar, the audience selected their favorite innovator in a live polling session. Participants chose GermFalcon as the winner, who will move on to exhibit at Innovation Row at GBTA Convention 2018. In addition to exhibiting, the winners of the three webinars will face off in an exclusive Innovation Series finale.

GBTA members may view the webinar in full through the Hub. Don’t miss the remaining webinar in the series:

• GBTA & Phocuswright Innovation Series – Webinar 3 of 3 (Thursday, June 7 – 2:00pm ET)