This is a roundup of product news and announcements related to travel systems in July 2017.
Monday 31 July 2017:Kayak improves holiday planning
- The metasearch company has unveiled new functionality for its UK service provides the most searched for destinations and what price to expect to pay. The functionality is part of new travel trends dashboards.
Friday 28 July 2017:RedAwning uses AWS for contact center
- The world’s largest branded network of vacation property rentals has moved its international reservation and guest services operations to Amazon Connect, a cloud-based contact center which is part of AWS. Looking ahead it will also integrate Amazon Lex, which builds conversational interfaces for businesses using the same automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding tech as Alexa.
Nor1 upgrades Lindner Hotels
- Hospitality merchandising specialist Nor1 has done some upselling of its own, with Europe's Lindner Hotels & Resorts now signed up to use all the features of its merchandising platform. Lindner was previously using its eStandy Upgrade at it 37 properties.
Thursday 27 July 2017:Hotel Tonight expands range
- The last-minute hotel bookings app has signed a deal with eRevMax and will now start to sell inventory from the 9000-or-so hotels which use eRevMax's channel manager Rate Tiger.
Red Planet commits to
Siteminder- The Pan-Asian budget hotel chain has extended its current distribution partnership with Siteminder to cover the twelve new hotels it plans to open by the end of 2018. It currently owns and operates 24 properties in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.
Vacatia goes for Derbysoft
- North American, family-friendly resort marketplace Vacatia has signed up to use channel manager DerbySoft's latest connectivity service, Go. Vacatia will be able to sell inventory from properties which are part of DerbySoft's network, via an API which gives real-time pricing and availability.
Friday 21 July 2017:Coupa partners with
TripActions- The spend management tech specialist and the travel booking company are integrating their systems to offer a "seamless travel and expense management" service.
Kenya Airways goes for groups
Scientific approach from
Adphorus- The Istanbul-based Facebook and Instagram marketing specialist is repositioning itself as a "travel marketing science" expert. It is developing an AI-powered marketing assistant (known as Marvin) to help its clients automate and optimize their Facebook and Instagram campaigns. It is also opening an office in Berlin as part of its expansion plans.
Friday 14 July 2017:IVvy selects
Dhisco for hotels
- The Australia-based distribution specialist for meetings and events is using Dhisco to power its hotel booking engine.
Thursday 13 July 2017:SITA systems live at Seychelles airport
- Air Seychelles, an Etihad Airlines Partner, has gone live with SITA’s common-use passenger processing systems (CUPPS) at Seychelles International Airport. The airline, of which Etihad owns 40%, says the system will provides greater flexibility for international airlines operating from the airport.
IDeaS extends deal with MHR
- IDeaS Revenue Solutions has signed a new deal with Millennium Hotels and Resorts. The pair have worked together for 18 years and IDeaS already working with 50 of its hotels. The new deal allows MHR to start using IDeaS at more of its 130-plus properties around the globe which have over 37,000 rooms in total.
Monday 3 JulyRoyal Wings migrates to Hitit
- The Royal Jordanian subsidiary has successfully migrated its passenger reservation system to Crane, powered by Hitit CS. Royal Wings, is based in Jordan and operates charter and scheduled flights from Amman and Aqaba to the Middle East and Europe.
Trade bodies to work together on standards
- Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) and the Open Travel Alliance (OpenTravel) are planning to work even more closely together, "conduct research on the international impact of standards on global travel, as well as other initiatives". Later this year OpenTravel will colocate its advisory forum with HFTP' annual convention, taking place in Florida.