This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel SYSTEMS in tourism and hospitality for November 2016.
Tuesday 29 November 2016:
American Airlines in the clouds with IBM
- The carrier will use IBM's network of 50 cloud-based data centres in 17 countries to host some of its enterprise functions. Included in the deal will be use of the company's development services through Bluemix and IBM's analytics platform.
Monday 28 November 2016:Kuwait Airways switches to Amadeus
- Amadeus will use its ALTEA suite of services with the airline to oversee departure control, payments, inventory and revenue management, reservations and loyalty programme. The switch is expected to take place during the second quarter of 2017.
Wednesday 23 November 2016:HRS overhauls booking system
- The hotel IT provider will allow its Multisource product to show best available rates from various platforms, in a bid to improve its hotel prowess with corporate travellers. Multisource collaborates with various supplier sincluding GDSs and wholesalers.
GuestCentric powers
SeeTheWorld- The destination guide will use GuestCentric to provide a central reservation system for the products it has on its portfolio of locations around the world. This will include real-time rates, a hotel search engine and connections into other third party channel management services.
Tuesday 22 November 2016:OAG becomes a source for American Airlines
- The air transport data provider will be a founding partner of the carrier's Official Source initiative, aimed at maintaining the integrity and quality of flight information. An official seal of AA will be displayed on the FlightView flight information platform and on its mobile app.
Monday 21 November 2016:Philippine Airlines tests with Sabre
- The airline will be a beta customer for the new AirVision Commercial Analytics platform from Sabre. The tool allows carriers to optimise revenue per passenger in real-time, through partner programmes, air fare and ancillary products, across multiple reservation systems.
Tuesday 15 November 2016:- AirPlus and Airbnb plot payment tool
- The pair are developing a tool so that business travellers can handle corporate bookings and manage expenses into central accounting systems. The platform will also include automated payments and billing.
Concur gets
British Airways and
Iberia- The IAG-owned airlines will allow passengers using them to file business travel bookings on the Concur TripLink platform. Users can also evaluate travel policy arrangements, manage corporate discouints and handle bookings through TripIt Pro.
Travelport mines with
Nomadis- The pair will develop a platform to integrate flights, chartered aviation, ground transportation and accommodation for those in the oil, gas, mining and healthcare sectors. Travelport will provide connectivity into the GDS for product content.
SnapShot boasts buoyant year
- Some 40 data partners are now connecting to the SnapShot analytics platform, including TripAdvisor, Google Analytics, ReviewPro, social media outlets, and STR. Moe than 2,000 hotels have signed up to use the system since it was first launched earlier this year.
Friday 11 November 2016:Chrome River becomes Amadeus partner
- The expense management service will become a Premier Partner with Amadeus. This means Chrome River's customers will be able to tap into products featured on the Amadeus system and expense for them accordingly.
Thursday 10 November 2016:Corporate Traveler taps Freebird
- Corporate Traveler clients are now able to rebook their disrupted flights from a mobile device, via Freebird, a mobile rebooking tool. Clients who opt in may receive automatic email or text notifications if a flight is cancelled or there's a similar disruption or irregularity. (See our story on Freebird.)
Adara opens up Impact Suite
- The data marketing provider has made its Impact Suite available to companies outside of Notrth America for the first time. The platform allows companies to analyse their web and custometr activity, with a view to designing and launching digital marketing campaigns.
Tuesday 8 November 2016:eNett lands AXESS deal
- The travel payment provider will work with AXESS to give travel agencies in Japan the ability to use virtual account numbers (VANs) on customer transactions with suppliers. The system uses 16-digit one-time MasterCard numbers for each payment.
Thursday 3 November 2016:GuestCentric partners with Hotelogix
- The hotel digital marketing platform will give its customers access to the Hotelogix property management system, including its channel manager platform. Hotelogix is used by both chain and independent properties in over 100 countries worldwide.
JFA gets
TUI res system brief
- JFA Systems is to build Quartz, an ancillary management system with the capability to handle bookings of extras across multiple selling platforms. The platform will initially be used by the Crystal Ski within the TUI portfolio of tour operator brands.
Tuesday 1 November 2016:Nor1 releases Upsell Management portal
- The umbrella platform from the hotel merchandising specialist covers its existing eStandby Upgrade, Confirmed Upgrade, CheckinIn Merchandising and eReach tools. Hoteliers can manage the service from a desktop, tablet or mobile device.
Avinode creates payment platform for business flights
- The B2B marketplace for business charters has worked with American Express to develop the PayNode service, allowing corporate customers to pay directly for flights via credit cards. The platform also allows customers make cross-border payments and manage trips.
NB: Travel distribution image via Shutterstock.