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Gen Z Trusts Online Reviews Over Hotel Brand Names by More Than Four to One When Choosing Where to Stay, Rival Technologies Study Shows

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Research finds amenities, guest experience and value outweigh traditional brand loyalty among Gen Z travelers

VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Online reviews have become a much stronger influence on Gen Z hotel bookings than brand names, according to new research from Rival Technologies. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Gen Z travelers say online reviews are the biggest influence on where they book, while just 14% cite a hotel’s brand name.

For marketers in the travel and hospitality space, the findings suggest that reputation built through guest experiences now carries more weight with Gen Z than traditional brand recognition.

Beyond reviews, Gen Z travelers also place a high value on practical amenities. Nearly half (48%) say features such as a pool, gym or breakfast influence where they stay. Free breakfast (56%) and free Wi-Fi (50%) rank alongside loyalty rewards (48%), while social media influences just 12% of booking decisions.

The study also highlights several trends shaping how the next generation of guests book travel:

Hotels lead but no longer dominate. Only 43% of Gen Z default to a hotel, while 27% say it depends on the trip and 21% choose Airbnb, leaving most of this generation open to alternatives on any given trip.Loyalty appetite grows with age. Interest in rewards programs nearly doubles across the cohort, from 13% among 18-to-20-year-olds to 24% among 25-to-29-year-olds, along with rising interest in upgrades, flexible cancellation and early or late check-in.Reviews and breakfast are universal. Both hold steady as top factors across every age band, making them table stakes rather than differentiators.US and Canadian travelers diverge. Canadian Gen Z lean even harder on reviews (66% versus 57%) and are more likely to skip loyalty programs entirely (21% versus 13%), while US Gen Z place more weight on free WiFi (57% versus 43%) and digital check-in (25% versus 12%).The trip itself is about meaning, not status. Beyond booking, 84% of Gen Z say the most meaningful trip is one that changes how they think, and 79% value experiences they do not photograph over getting great photos.

“Gen Z is one of the travel industry’s most important growth audiences, but many assumptions about how they make decisions no longer hold,” said Paula Catoira, chief marketing officer at Rival Group. “Reviews, recommendations and authentic experiences carry significant weight. Understanding why those choices are made requires ongoing conversations rather than occasional surveys.”

The qualitative findings underscored how grounded and practical Gen Z has become about where they stay. One participant described the ideal trip as “a great place to stay in a prime location,” while another pointed to “stress-free planning, making the most of my time, and staying in a nice hotel.” The emphasis was on function, location and value, rarely on a brand name.

Rival helps hospitality and consumer brands understand changing customer expectations through insight communities, Voice of Market studies and continuous research programs. The company’s Emerging Consumer Index tracks Gen Z attitudes across the U.S. and Canada through biweekly research, giving subscribers regularly refreshed data that can be explored through AI-assisted exploration tools, while helping keep synthetic audiences and large language models grounded in real human data.

This study surveyed 878 Gen Z participants aged 18 to 29 across the United States (443) and Canada (435) from Rival’s proprietary panels in July 2026, and was conducted using Rival’s conversational research platform. It captured both quantitative and qualitative feedback in a single 10-minute conversational survey.

To access the report: https://www.rivaltech.com/gen-z-travel 

About Rival Technologies
Rival Technologies is a research technology company redefining how brands understand people. As a pioneer in conversational research, Rival’s AI-driven, mobile-first platform transforms traditional surveys into engaging, chat-like experiences that reflect how people communicate today. By blending quant, qual and video in a single conversational flow, Rival helps global brands like Cash App, ŌURA, Carnival Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery capture richer insights, increase response rates and move from data to confident decisions faster. Part of Rival Group, Rival Technologies was named to the Top 10 Most Innovative Technology Suppliers in Greenbook’s 2025 GRIT report. Learn more at rivaltech.com.

Media contact: Marie Melsheimer, 420281@email4pr.com, +1-541-815-3951

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SOURCE Rival Technologies

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OneBill Software Launches CPQ360.ai, an AI-First CPQ Built to Work With Any Billing Stack

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August 6, 2026

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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — OneBill Software today announced the launch of CPQ360.ai, an AI-first configure-price-quote product built to run on top of any billing platform to complete the quote-to-revenue lifecycle. CPQ360.ai governs every quote, rep-built or AI agent-built, under the same pricing rules, margin guardrails, and approval logic, then hands off clean, billing-ready terms through native connectors — live today for Stripe, with additional platforms in active development.

CPQ360.ai is built for the industries where quoting complexity is highest – telecom, hi-tech, manufacturing, and medical devices; where complex bundles, configurable pricing, and multi-party approvals make manual quoting unworkable.

Unlike CPQ tools that bolt AI onto an existing UI, CPQ360.ai is API-first, with REST APIs, webhooks, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) access built in from day one. It’s billing-platform agnostic by design, so the quote-to-revenue lifecycle completes on whatever CRM, contract, and billing stack a team already runs — Salesforce or HubSpot for CRM, any eSign tool, and any billing platform — without requiring teams to replace what’s already working.

“We set out to build an agentic-first CPQ that drops into any RevOps stack, on any billing platform,” said JK Chelladurai, Founder and CEO of OneBill Software. “Our team spent years running quote-to-revenue at scale inside OneBill. CPQ360.ai is built on that experience, so an AI agent and a human rep are held to the exact same rules, on any billing platform.”

CPQ360.ai is available now at www.cpq360.ai, where teams can book a personalized demo or start a free trial.

About CPQ360.ai

CPQ360.ai is a configure-price-quote product built for agentic execution on an API-first foundation, completing the quote-to-revenue lifecycle on whatever CRM, contract, and billing systems are already in place. CPQ360.ai is a OneBill Software company. Learn more at www.cpq360.ai

Media Contact: Ravi Condamoor | marketing@cpq360.ai | +1 (408) 505 – 4212

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SOURCE OneBill Software

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Central Alabama Water Selects Doxim to Enhance the Customer Payment Experience

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August 6, 2026

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Doxim’s customer payment portal provides accessible, convenient payment options to streamline operations and improve efficiency for the utility.

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Doxim® (http://www.doxim.com), the leading Customer Communications Management (CCM) and payments provider serving highly regulated markets, announced that Central Alabama Water, the largest water utility in the state, has selected Doxim’s customer payment solution and portal. It will unify with Doxim’s CCM solution already in place at the utility to offer greater flexibility to its customers through expanded payment access.

Central Alabama Water provides residents in five counties with safe and reliable drinking water. Through a strategic partnership with Doxim spanning customer communications, billing, and payments, the utility has established a streamlined meter-to-cash ecosystem that reduces vendor management complexity and enhances customer engagement. Building on a relationship of more than 20 years, the expanded partnership leverages a single-provider model to drive greater consistency, cost efficiencies, and a more modern payment experience for all customers.

Doxim will implement a customer-facing payment portal, which provides Central Alabama Water customers with omnichannel and personalized ways to make payment transactions. Methods include online and mobile payments, pay-by-text, pay by phone, and in-person payments made through an extensive network of retail locations, such as Walmart, CVS, and Dollar General.

“Making sure our customers have easy access to information about their account is key to building a world-class water utility,” said Jeffrey F. Thompson, CEO of Central Alabama Water. “This partnership with Doxim will bring a new customer portal and provide more locations where customers can pay in-person if they prefer that option. We look forward to providing more details to our customers when we roll out this exciting change.”

Doxim’s innovative payments solution will help Central Alabama Water improve its collections process and operational efficiency via a unified platform.

“Customers increasingly want convenience from their utility, and our clients benefit from a complete billing to payments solution that supports long-term payment goals,” says Scott Biel, Chief Revenue Officer at Doxim. “We’re thrilled to bring our payments portal to Central Alabama Water and help them improve customer experience through the availability of flexible payment options.”

Doxim’s Payments platform delivers a seamless, omnichannel billing-to-payment experience, enabling customers to pay anytime, anywhere. For utilities like Central Alabama Water, the integrated solution streamlines the entire billing and payment lifecycle, reducing operational complexity while improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

About Doxim

Doxim is the customer communications management and engagement technology leader serving highly regulated markets, including financial services, utilities, and healthcare. Doxim provides omnichannel communications and payment solutions that maximize customer engagement and revenue while reducing costs. Its software and technology-enabled managed services address key digitization, operational efficiency, and customer experience challenges through a suite of plug-and-play, integrated SaaS software and technology solutions. Learn more at http://www.doxim.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/central-alabama-water-selects-doxim-to-enhance-the-customer-payment-experience-302845054.html

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SolidRun and Leopard Imaging Collaborate to Accelerate Edge AI Vision Development

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August 6, 2026

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ACRE, Israel and FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SolidRun, a leading developer of embedded computing and edge AI solutions, and Leopard Imaging Inc., a global leader in embedded vision and camera technology, today announced a technology collaboration to simplify and accelerate the development of next-generation edge AI vision applications.

As AI-powered vision becomes increasingly important across industrial automation, robotics, intelligent transportation, security, and medical imaging, developers face growing pressure to reduce integration effort and shorten time-to-market. By combining Leopard Imaging’s industry-leading camera technology with SolidRun’s Hailo-15 AI platforms, the collaboration provides customers with a pre-validated solution that enables them to focus on application development rather than hardware integration.

Through this collaboration, Leopard Imaging’s MIPI CSI-2 camera modules have been validated and optimized for use with SolidRun’s Hailo-15 System-on-Module (SoM) and HummingBoard Hailo-15 AIOT platforms. The integrated solution combines advanced imaging, embedded AI processing, and production-ready hardware into a single platform for rapid development and deployment.

The solution currently supports Leopard Imaging camera modules based on Sony’s IMX678 and IMX334 image sensors. When paired with the Hailo-15 platform, developers benefit from dual 12-megapixel Image Signal Processors (ISP), AI-powered image enhancement, and up to 20 TOPS of edge AI performance for demanding real-time vision workloads.

The companies have jointly validated camera compatibility, image quality, and platform integration, helping customers reduce engineering risk, shorten development cycles, and accelerate the transition from prototype to production.

“Our mission has always been to simplify the development of advanced embedded AI systems,” said Dr. Atai Ziv, CEO of SolidRun. “By collaborating with Leopard Imaging, we are delivering a validated AI vision platform that removes much of the complexity of camera integration and allows developers to focus on creating innovative AI applications instead of solving hardware integration challenges.”

“Leopard Imaging is committed to delivering industry-leading embedded camera modules that provide the image quality, reliability, and performance required for demanding vision applications,” said Bill Pu, Co-founder and CEO of Leopard Imaging.

The combined solution is ideally suited for a broad range of edge AI applications, including:

Smart security and surveillanceIntelligent transportation systemsIndustrial automationRobotics and autonomous machinesSmart retailMedical imagingSmart city infrastructure

The joint solution is available today through SolidRun’s Hailo-15 System-on-Module, HummingBoard Hailo-15 AIOT, and evaluation kits. Developers can begin evaluating the platform immediately using production-ready hardware, software support, and documentation.

About SolidRun

SolidRun develops and manufactures high-performance System-on-Modules (SoMs), Single Board Computers (SBCs), industrial edge AI platforms, and embedded networking solutions for industrial, IoT, AI vision, and communications markets. The company’s open, scalable hardware platforms enable customers worldwide to accelerate the development of intelligent embedded systems.

About Leopard Imaging

Leopard Imaging Inc. is a global leader in embedded camera and AI vision technology, providing advanced camera modules and imaging solutions for robotics, industrial automation, autonomous systems, medical devices, and edge AI applications. The company partners with leading semiconductor manufacturers to deliver production-ready imaging solutions worldwide.

Media Contacts

Mirna Waldman
Business Development Manager
mirna.waldman@solid-run.com

Edge Computing Solutions – Modular & Scalable: SolidRun

Ariel Zhang
Marketing Strategist
arielz@leopardimaging.com

Leopard Imaging Inc.

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SOURCE SolidRun

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