Pikl CEO, Louise Birritteri, named as One to Watch in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders for 2026. 12 Oct, 2026, 11:00 IDT NORWICH, England, Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Pikl, the revenue growth partner for the travel market, backed by insurance, today announced that its CEO and Founder, Louise Birritteri, has been recognised as One to Watch in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme for 2026. Louise Birritteri founded Pikl because she saw a gap in how the short-term rental market was protected. She believed that insurance could do more than simply protect against risk, rather it could enable growth. Identifying a systematic problem that property management companies couldn't offer guests flexible cancellation without absorbing significant financial risk, Pikl created a new category of insurance-enabled business models to solve this problem, allowing property management companies (PMCs) to offer flexible cancellations that turn lost revenue potential into growth opportunities. This enabled Pikl to transition from a niche insurer into a global growth enabler for the short-term rental marketplace. In doing so, Pikl has helped define a new category the market now recognises, resulting in 7x growth from 2024-2025. Today, Pikl has captured 20% of the UK market, partnered with some of the largest enterprise PMCs globally, and enabled revenue growth of up to 2.1x for partners, generating 2,024% gross written premium growth from PMCs from 2023 to 2025. "Growth comes from understanding risk well enough to see the opportunity in it, and that idea has shaped everything we've built at Pikl," said Louise Birritteri, CEO and Founder of Pikl. "Our team now helps property managers across around 20% of the UK short-term rental market offer guests flexibility and grow with confidence, and the next stage is taking that into new markets. Being named One to Watch by LDC and The Times is a credit to everyone at Pikl who helped get us here." The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme was created by private equity investor LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group, in partnership with The Times. The Ones to Watch are leaders whose achievements and ambition have already set them apart. Each has made significant progress and shown the potential to take their business even further in the years ahead. John Garner, Managing Partner at LDC, added: "This year's Ones to Watch have already achieved a great deal, but it is their ambition for what comes next that sets them apart. They are building exciting businesses and have demonstrated the ambition needed to thrive. I would like to congratulate them all on their success so far. We look forward to following their progress and seeing where their ambition takes them next." About Pikl Pikl is the revenue growth partner for the travel market, backed by insurance. Flexible Cancellation, the company's flagship product, gives short-term rental property managers and hosts the confidence to convert more bookings, without losing revenue if guests cancel. Backed by data and insights from every booking it covers, Pikl helps its clients understand risk so they can find opportunities to grow their business. The company's footprint is swiftly expanding worldwide. For more information, visit www.pikl.com. LDC is a trusted investment partner for ambitious management teams across the UK. It is part of Lloyds Banking Group and has partnered with hundreds of medium-sized companies across a wide range of sectors, helping them to grow and develop. Media Contact Mike Katznelson Headline Media [email protected] US: +1 914 233 5302 UK: +44 203 769 0660 SOURCE Pikl

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PhocusWire's travel tech news briefs: TSA, Google, Mindtrip and more... Here's our roundup of the people, product and partner news from the global travel industry this week. This roundup was created with the assistance of Claude. Mindtrip, Meet Boston. Mindtrip, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2025, has partnered with Meet Boston to offer artificial intelligence (AI)-driven trip planning ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026, with Meet Boston becoming the first destination partner to launch Mindtrip's WhatsApp integration. Travelers can plan personalized itineraries via MeetBoston.com or WhatsApp, covering attractions like the Freedom Trail and Fenway Park. Mindtrip already works with destinations including Brand USA, Visit California and Visit Orlando. Hostaway launches AI CoHost. Hostaway has launched AI CoHost, an AI-powered strategic partner for vacation rental property managers. It analyzes portfolio performance, offers market-driven growth recommendations, answers natural-language questions on revenue and operations, flags risks and opportunities and lets operators act directly through Hostaway's dashboard. CEO Marcus Räder said generic AI tools fall short, and AI CoHost gives managers industry-specific insight to focus on growth rather than day-to-day tasks. Pikl makes new appointments. Pikl, a revenue growth partner for the short-term rental market, has named Simon Lehmann to its board. Lehmann, former CEO of Interhome, brings more than 30 years in travel and hospitality and will support Pikl's UK growth and international expansion. Pikl also hired Karen Mullins as head of customer marketing and Charlotte Savage as head of financial control. The company holds 20% U.K. market share and reports 2.1x revenue growth for partners using its flexible cancellation tool. TSA, Google Wallet. The TSA has partnered with Google Wallet to let eligible travelers opt in to TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, making Google Wallet the first digital wallet to offer the feature. Travelers add a boarding pass to Google Wallet, consent to share their digital ID and receive a TSA confirmation indicator. The service is available at 65 airports with more than 100 PreCheck airlines. TSA's Shelu Patel called it a faster route through security, while Google's P.J. Linarducci said it adds convenience ahead of peak summer travel. FlightHub adds hotel booking. FlightHub has expanded its offering to include hotel bookings, adding access to more than 2.6 million accommodation options worldwide. The move enables customers to book flights, hotels and vacation packages through a single platform, expanding the online travel agency's product portfolio beyond flight bookings. Arbitrip powers El Al hotel booking platform. Arbitrip has partnered with El Al to launch a white-label hotel booking platform integrated into the airline's loyalty program. The platform uses AI to personalize hotel recommendations based on travelers' profiles and booking history, while allowing El Al loyalty members to earn and redeem points on hotel bookings. The companies said the platform initially offers access to more than 1.5 million properties worldwide, with plans to expand to additional travel services such as car rentals and attractions. Travelport adds Air Canada Flight Pass support. Travelport has added support for Air Canada Flight Pass bookings through its Smartpoint booking tool and TripServices API. The capability enables Travelport-connected agencies to search, book and ticket eligible Air Canada New Distribution Capability (NDC) offers using Flight Pass credits within their existing workflow, eliminating the need to switch to airline-direct channels. Travelport said it is the first NDC GDS to support Air Canada's Flight Pass capability. Sun Group, Amadeus. Sun Group has selected Amadeus Loyalty and Rewards to power a unified loyalty program spanning its aviation, hospitality, entertainment, healthcare, real estate and banking businesses. The companies said the Sun Signature program enables members to earn and redeem rewards across the group's brands through a single loyalty account. Sun Group's airline, Sun PhuQuoc Airways, already uses Amadeus' Altéa passenger service system, Sky suite and revenue accounting technology.