In September 2025 Bump partnered with Booking.com to host Tourism & Tech Week: Driving Europe’s Competitiveness at our “Hotel Europe” policy experience space in Brussels. Across five days, we convened EU policymakers, industry leaders and experts for a series of roundtables, panels and networking events exploring how tourism and technology can strengthen Europe’s innovation, sustainability and skills agenda. From short-term rental policy and the future EU tourism strategy to SME digitalisation, AI adoption and workforce shortages—including the launch of Booking.com’s accommodation-sector Skills Gap Survey.

Hotel Europe highlighted the importance of inclusivity in travel and Booking.com’s commitment under their Travel Proud initiative. The programme positioned tourism as a strategic driver of resilient, competitive European growth, culminating in a Travel Proud reception featuring a special performance by Envy Peru.

Framing the venue as a working “Hotel Europe” turned a policy programme into something tangible: guests didn’t just attend sessions, they checked in to a shared story about Europe’s visitor economy. The hotel setting made the sector’s complexity visible—many actors, constant flows, trade-offs to manage, and service quality that depends on people and systems working together—mirroring the realities policymakers are trying to shape. It also created a welcoming, neutral space for cross-sector dialogue, where technology, regulation and skills could be discussed through a familiar, everyday lens: how we host, how we move, and how we ensure tourism delivers value for communities as well as travellers.