Welcome to Travel Tech's Passport Newsletter! Passport publishes every Wednesday to inform industry leaders about current and emerging public policy issues facing the travel tech industry.
In addition to the latest about Travel Tech and its advocacy efforts, Passport includes a curated news digest of the top stories at the intersection of travel, technology, and public policy.
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CleverFi, a startup that enables travelers to automatically and securely connect to WiFi by extending their home WiFi network to anywhere in the world, has won the Pitch Competition at Travel Tech's Start-Up Summit in National Landing, V.A. They were chosen by a panel of five judges from eight finalists and will receive a $10,000 grant as a result.
CleverFi pitched along seven other finalists: Chirrup, HousMthr, ItinAFairy, RoomRite Group Solutions, The Run Hub, Tripiamo, and Voyagier. Each finalist gave a seven-minute pitch followed by five minutes of questions from the judges. Pitches were scored out of 100 on the customer problem, the solution, market opportunity, business model, competitive advantage, progress to date, vision and delivery. READ MORE
Travel Tech Association to Host 2026 Elections Intelligence Webinars
The 2026 elections could reshape the federal and state policy landscape for travel technology companies. To help the travel technology industry prepare for what comes next, Travel Tech will host two free webinars led by Travel Tech President and CEO Laura Chadwick and Head of State Government Affairs Dave Barmore.
Together, the two sessions will give the travel technology community a clearer view of the political landscape before Election Day and practical insight into the policy environment taking shape afterward. Members will also have an opportunity to hear directly from Laura and Dave and ask questions about the developments most relevant to their businesses. SIGN UP TODAY
How Travel Tech Association Connected Alō Index with a Strategic Investor
For start-up founders, the right introduction can do more than spark a conversation. It can create credibility, deepen relationships, and help transform a promising connection into a meaningful business opportunity.
When Alō Index reconnected with Steve Reynolds through Travel Tech’s July Start-Up Meet-Up, the alignment was immediate. As a longtime travel technology leader and founder of Tripbam, Reynolds brought hotel and start-up expertise directly relevant to Alō Index’s business. According to co-founder and CEO Anna Feinberg, the Meet-Up created something more meaningful than a traditional introduction. LEARN MORE
Top Stories at the Intersection of Travel, Tech, and Public Policy
The primary obstacle to the widespread adoption of agentic commerce is not a lack of technical capability, but a fundamental misalignment of economic risk. Merchants are currently being asked to bear the full financial liability for errors made by autonomous agents.
President Trump and leaders of artificial intelligence companies signed an accord, stating that the companies "robust internal controls," partner with an "independent external auditor" to assess whether the controls were working, and establish a committee within each company's board of directors to evaluate reports from internal and external auditors.
In moments of uncertainty, multistakeholder approaches to tackling difficult problems can seem quite demanding. They are certainly not easy. And yet, at a time of profound technological change and rising geopolitical tension, it is precisely these kinds of spaces that we need most.
Slow-moving, after-the-fact antitrust enforcement is fundamentally unsuited to fast-moving tech markets, requiring new tools that let regulators intervene before monopolies take hold, particularly in AI.
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