This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel MARKETING in tourism and hospitality for August 2016.
Tuesday 30 August 2016:
British Airways tests new website
- The beta version of the airline's new consumer-facing website has gone live this week, with a small group of users invited to test the platform and functionality. The site features a new flight booking process, navigation and sections. BA claims the current website receives half a million unique visitors every day.
Pablow insures
Lodgix- The US-based travel and insurance startup has integrated its post-sale travel insurance technology into the Lodgix vacation rental management platform, a system used by over 12,000 vacation rental properties. All guests are now offered a programmatic travel and cancellation insurance option as part of the fully automated retargeting service.
Friday 26 August 2016:Villa-Finder expands to Mauritius
- The villa distribution network has launched a dedicated platform for the Indian Ocean island, allowing users to find properties in the upscale end of the market (all have pools and staff on-hand). The launch marks the fourth market for Villa-Finder, following those for Bali, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Tuesday 23 August 2016:Reservations.com connects with Allianz
- Visitors to the hotel booking platform will be able to secure travel insurance options as part of the deal with Alliance Global Assistance, alongside existing services such as hotels and car rental. Policies cover trip cancellation, baggage delays and medical emergencies.
Monday 22 August 2016:Agoda pokes a filter
- The Priceline Group-owned accommodation specialist now features a "Pokemon nearby" filter against search results. Users can find hotel properties based on their proximity to popular Pokestops at city landmarks on the smartphone-based game.
Monday 15 August 2016:Pokemon goes to Taiwan
- KKday, an Taiwan-based tours and activities platform, has organised a Pokemon Go bus tour of the nation's capital Taipai. Reports say that nearly 1000 people applied for the 14-person trip round the city. KKDay picked up $4.5m in Series A funding earlier this year.
Instagram on the button
- Instagram for Business has launched a set of new B2B features, including a "contact" button which allows visitors to contact a business directly from the Instagram page by clicking the button. It is also introducing insights for businesses to analyse traffic to their official pages and the ability for high-performing posts to be redistributed, at a cost, as an advert.
Wednesday 3 August 2016:Seatfrog joins Amadeus Next network:
- The seat upgrade platform will become part of the Next programme in Asia-Pacific. Next is a collection of travel startups that collaborate on projects, get support from staff within the Amadeus empire, and have the opportunity to work with the travel tech giant's customer base.
Tune Hotels strikes a note with
TrustYou- The nine-year-old hotel chain will use TrustYou to collect surveys, analyse its online reputation and establish areas of improvement based on reviews from travellers. The chain opened its first property in Malaysia and has since expanded to 23 hotels in Indonesia, India and the UK.
NB:Travel marketing image via Shutterstock.