This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel DISTRIBUTION in tourism and hospitality for August 2016.
Tuesday 30 August 2016:
Relovate taps Amadeus
- Online travel service Relovate will use Amadeus to provide products, fares and booking tools for flights, hotels and car rentals. The startup also includes a travel community and listings for restaurants, activities and points of interest.
DHISCO distributes
RentalsCombined- The hospitality distribution company will give RentalsCombined the ability to add further suppliers to its database of 600,000 professionally managed properties from the around the world. RentalsCombined was created to give travel agencies (100,000 agents are said to use it) a wider inventory of accommodation options for customers.
Friday 26 August 2016:Ubeequo rides with Addison Lee
Wednesday 24 August 2016:eRevMax connects Caption Hospitality
- The Singapore-based company's Crono PMS will integrate with eRevMax so that hotel customers can distribute availability and pricing to third party booking providers. Rates and inventory will automatically update across all online sales channels, including global distribution systems and online travel agencies.
Monday 22 August 2016:Travolutionary distributes TBO Holidays
- The Dubai-based company inventory provider will join the Travolutionry network to help push its 200,000+ properties around the world. TBO's strongest areas are the Middle East and Africa, with a significant presence also in India, Brazil and the UK.
Friday 19 August 2016:Sunis shining for BookLogic
- Turkish hotel chain Sunis will use BookLogic as it channel manager for GDS and online travel agency distribution. The German travel tech specialist also has offices in Dubai and Turkey and works with 1,500 hotels worldwide.
Hahn Air signs
VietJet- German B2B distributor Hahn Air has expanded its deal with Vietjet, with the Vietnamese low-cost airline signing an interline agreement. Hahn Air gives airlines around the world access to the GDSs via its own booking system and IATA code. VietJet is the fifth of Hahn Air's partner airlines to add the interlining option to its offer.
Wednesday 17 August 2016:EasyJet renews its contract with Amadeus
- The hybrid airline and the GDS have worked together since 2007. EasyJet uses XML-technology to upload its fares and inventory via Amadeus’ light-ticketing functionality. Amadeus says that 80% of total global LCC and hybrid seats are available to its agents, and that "low-cost and hybrid carrier bookings in the Amadeus system increased 17%, year-on-year, in the first half of 2016."
Travelport adds
Rehlat.com as a customer
- The online travel agent (OTA) in Kuwait, which describes itself as one the fastest-growing OTAs in the Gulf region, will use the travel giant's technology to power internet booking engines and aggregate its global content.
Friday 12 August 2016:Etihad takes a vacation
- Etihad is bringing its Etihad Holidays concept to US and Canadian travel agents, launching the Etihad Vacations brand. It has linked up with Trisept Solutions for the launch. Coverage says that Etihad Vacations will be live and available to users of Trisept's VAX Vacation Access dynamic packaging platform, who can bundle Etihad's US flights with other components.
FCM finds room for HRS
- HRS continues to build up its presence in the US, signing a deal with FCM Travel Solutions US to provide hotel content to FCM’s multinational corporate clients. FCM gets access to HRS's 300,000 hotels, made up of 120,000 chain properties and 180,000 independents.
Friday 5 August 2016:Travelport adds to Airport Express
- Brisbane's Airtrain is the latest rail firm to be integrated into Travelport's Airport Express product which allows agents to book airport-to-city-centre rail operators in their normal workflow. Airport Express came out of the Travelport Developer Network and was developed by UK-based Developer Connections.
Thursday 4 August 2016:Reservations.com secures RentalCars deal
- The Priceline Group-run car rental provider will power the new Resevations.com new car channel. The affiliate agreement allows users to search and book from some 3,000 partners in 169 countries around the world. The service will be available in 40 languages.
Travelport adds three APAC carriers to merchandising platform
- Air Tahiti Nui, Fly Corporate and Regional Express will use the Rich Content and Branding element of the Travelport platform, allowing them to display their services on agency desktops in the same way as they would online. Regional Express runs to 58 destinations in Australia; Fly Corporate works routes from Brisbane to elsewhere around New South Wales; Air Tahiti Nui has an regional network of six international destinations.
Wednesday 3 August 2016:Amadeus more from Accor
- The hotel group has extended its existing distribution agreement to give Amadeus-connected travel agencies worldwide access to property rates and inventory for another three years. The agreement covers an exclusive partnership to distribute Ibis Budget properties via Amadeus.
Emirates renews
Travelport agreement
- The new long-term deal will see the Dubai-based carrier continue to use Travelport for distribution of fares and ancillary services to connected agencies around the world. A long-standing technology partnership has also been renewed for Travelport's pricing, shopping and ticket booking tools. Emirates is also a participating airline in Travelport's Rich Content and Branding platform.
Sabre gets
Expedia hotel content
- Expedia Affiliate Network will supply Sabre-connected agencies with 63,000 additional hotel properties, including Expedia's rates and availability. The portfolio of hotels has a particular emphasis on the Europe, Middle East and Asia regions.
AxisRooms gets
Booking.com supplier badge
- The Asia-Pacific focused hotel distributor will be able to send its hotel inventory to Booking.com via the Preferred IT Supplier relationship. AxisRooms has a strong presence in India, Thailand and Sri Lanka, as well as some properties in Latin America.
Tuesday 2 August 2016:Regiondo and Viator agree distribution deal
- The agreement gives Regiondo's tour operator base access to consumers via the Viator consumer-facing website. Viator's Supplier API will take more
than 8,000 products from the Regiondo network of customers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Monday 1 August 2016:Expedia gets closer to Travelport
- Expedia is extending and expanding its relationship with Travelport in Europe. Its brands, including Egencia, will continue to use Travelport's Universal API as before but will now also use its Rapid Reprice and ePricing tools.
CityFleet users tap app
- UK ground transportation business CityFleet Business is claiming a 300% month-on-month increase in "frictionless" bookings since introducing a new booking system and transactional app this March. It takes 14,000 bookings a day across all its platforms, operating it own fleet of taxis as well as aggregating inventory from other vendors.
NB:Travel distribution image via Shutterstock.