This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel SYSTEMS in tourism and hospitality for September 2016.
Friday 30 September
Wifi a-gogo for Air France-KLM
- Air France-KLM has signed a deal with Gogo to bring in-flight wifi to its long-haul flights. The deal covers 68 Air France Boeing 777s and 15 Airbus A330s, with 29 Boeing 777s and 12 Airbus A330s operated by KLM also included. The service will be live from the end of 2017. Eight KLM Boeing 787s already offer wifi on long-haul routes, provided by Panasonic Avionics.
Sabre links up with
RouteHappy- Sabre has announced that will integrate rich airline content from the Routehappy Hub into its Sabre Red platform. The tie-up is RouteHappy's first collaboration with a GDS.
Traveldoo agrees
Gray Dawes deal
- Traveldoo's travel and expenses technology will be integrated into GDBOOKOnline, the booking platform from UK travel management company Gray Dawes. The pair have spent the past year working together to develop the solution.
Nationwide banks on
KDS- UK building society Nationwide will use KDS Neo Express to handle its employee expenses processing. Nationwide employs 18,000 people and expects Neo to handle 5000 travel claims a month.
Wednesday 21 September 2016:Vayant signs Radixx deal
- The US-based passenger service system provider will use Vayant to power its air shopping, pricing and repricing technology. Twenty-three year-old Radixx currently has more than 40 airlines on its books, with its platform allowing for code sharing, interlining and connections into GDSs.
Monday 19 September 2016:Cybersecurity coalition formed
- Uber and Airbnb are among the founding members of the Vendor Security Alliance, a new coalition that will enable businesses to streamline their vetting process for vendors’ cybersecurity risks. It will release a yearly security and compliance questionnaire to benchmark vendor risk. Other members include Twitter, GoDaddy, Square and DropBox.
Dolphin swims with
Flexible Autos- The UK-based travel agency tech provider will connect via XML with Flexible Autos so that customers can search and book car rental services from 300 suppliers around the world. Flexible has vehicles in more than 17,000 locations.
Trisept strikes
Travel Quest deal
- The home-working travel agency network will use Tripsept's Xcelerator platform to manage its traveller services such as CRM and connections to suppliers. Travel Quest has 650 agents in the US and secures around $60 million in bookings across its network.
Thursday 15 SeptemberHotelogix signs partner deal with SnapShot
- The hotel data and analytics provider will offer its platform to Hotelogix's customer base of properties around the world. Hotelogix claims this one of the first cloud-based PMSs to come with a full analytics system included for hotels.
Edinburgh Airport takes
Blip- Danish airport technology firm Blip Systems will provide its passenger flow and queue management products to Scotland's Edinburgh Airport, which is on track to handle 12 million passengers a year. Blip allows the airport to share waiting times with passengers via airport signage and also connects with the website.
Thursday 8 September 2016:Groupize launches registration platform
- The Groupize Reg tool allows planners to create desktop and mobile registration websites, including the ability to images, videos, social media collatoral, hotel information abd other features. The system also includes a hotel booking and room management tool for planners.
Conferma connects virtual cards
- The payment technology provider has created Conferma Connect, a system that overhauls the existing process of sending virtual payment card details to suppliers via fax. The service has been paproved by Barclaycard and American Express, as well as being given a PCI DSS certification.
Monday 5 September 2016:WEX signs Ypsilon deal
- WEX says the agreement with the Germany-based travel technology company will help expand its presence in the country. Ypsilon will give customers access to WEX's portfolio of credit, debit and pre-paid virtual card number technology via single API for the first time.
SilverRail green lights
National Express- The rail distribution and technology provider will work with the train operating group to power its sales platform, covering ticketing and trip planning. SilverRail will initially work with National Express's C2C network.
NB:Travel systems image via Shutterstock.
