This is a roundup of product news and announcements for travel DEVICES in tourism and hospitality for November 2015.
Monday 30 November 2015:
EasyJet integrates FlightRadar24
- The European low cost carrier's mobile app will let users track their aircraft for up to three hours before a journey, primarily so passengers can monitor the progress of an inbound flight. The tool will also allow passengers to send a message with their flight details to friends, family and social networks.
Quicket app buys in hotel tech service
- BookItNow's technology and assets were purchased for an undisclosed fee, giving Quicket the ability to integrate hotel booking and reservation technology into its existing planning app. Quicket, which has received Euro 1 million in funding to date, will not be incorporating any of BIN's staff as part of the deal.
Wednesday 18 November 2015:HotelTonight extends concierge tools
- The Aces service will now be available to HotelTonight users in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. First introduced in the US in July, Aces allows bookers to connect to a customer service agent via a messenger-type interface on either the iPhone or Android versions of the app, so they can pre-order extra amenities from a booked hotel or learn more about a destination.
Tuesday 17 November 2015:ARC goes live with Air Canada ancillaries via mobile
- The airline the first to push its ancillaries through the ARC Better My Trip mobile app. Air Canada’s preferred and advanced seat, plus meal purchase, services will be made available to travel agencies using the application. It joins Viator, CarTrawler, and others on the roster of products featured on the app.
Kaligo launches first mobile application
- The hotel booking reward service will now be available for iPhones and will include the ability to earn points from 30 different loyalty programmes with 365,000 hotel properties around the world. The app will rank hotels according to reward value alongside verified reviews of each property.
Volaris deploys electronic flight bags
- The Mexican low cost carrier has replaced its existing paper manuals with iPad devices for all its flight crews across the fleet. The iPads will be powered by SITA's Managed Mobile Devices platform, with 600 on order.
Gogobot unites with
Tripcase- Users of the Sabre-run trip management app will be able to find relevant information from Gogobot members about their upcoming destination. The partnership will also work the other way, with Gogobot members being able to bookmark things to do, restaurants and other activities, and automatically add them to their Tripcase itinerary.
Thursday 12 November 2015:TrustYou puts reputation management on mobile
- The application created by the Germany-based company allows hoteliers to analyse and react to guest reviews as part of the existing TrustYou Analytics platform. Owners will get an alert each time a review is left or a guest survey completed.
Tuesday 10 November 2015:Egencia adds features to TripNavigator app
- The corporate travel agency claims it is the first brand to have global air booking capability on its app. Available only on iOS at present (Android is coming shortly, it says), users will also have personalisation features that monitor previous usage so that search forms can be pre-populated with data, including frequent destinations, cabin class requirements and payment preferences.
CheapOAir relaunches mobile services
- Both the online travel agency's iOS and Android apps have a new design, including log-in from third parties such as Facebook or Google+. Other features include the ability to pay using Google Wallet, view itineraries, flight status and weather reports for destinations on the schedule.
NB: Travel devices image via Shutterstock.