Rocketrip gets analytical, Visa card deal with Etihad Partners, and more...

This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel SYSTEMS in tourism and hospitality for October 2016.

Friday 28 October 2016:

Rocketrip gets analytical

• The corporate travel expenses technology provider has created Insights, an analytics dashboard for travel managers and employees. Data featured on the dashboard includes expenses, compliance data, vendor comparison, security provision, and benchmarking tools.

Thursday 27 October 2016:

Etihad Partners partner with Visa

• Global payments firm Visa has signed a partnership with Etihad-owned Global Loyalty Company (GLC) to develop a range of co-branded credit, debit and charge cards in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, Italy and Serbia. GLC runs the frequent flyer programmes of Etihad Airways Partners, currently comprising Etihad Airways, airberlin, Alitalia, Jet Airways, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional, and NIKI.

Wednesday 26 October 2016:

15below disrupts Meridiana

• The Italian airline will use 15below platform to handle notifications for disruption and schedule changes to flights, via an integration with Meridiana's SITA-powered reservation system. Alerts also allow passengers to accept changes or apply for a refund from within message. Meridiana flies to destinations across Italy, as well as international routes in Africa, Europe and South America.

Malaysia Airlines takes Amadeus ALTEA

• Reservation, inventory and departure control for the South East Asian carrier will be handled by the ALTEA passenger service system, provided by Amadeus. The switchover, which includes sharing of availability, fares and customer booking behaviour to other OneWorld alliance partners, will be completed during 2017.

Tuesday 25 October 2016:

RateGain unleashes Optima

• The technology launched by the channel management specialist provides market insight to hotels in real-time such as competitor rates and OTA rank. Optima also provides insight on Airbnb.

LodgIQ adds One

• The revenue management technology specialist has developed the One platform to look at market data for hotels and build a picture of competitors. It also makes price recommendations for up to 180 days in the future.

Sunday 23 October 2016:

LiveRes upgrades platform

• The vacation rental management service will now allow professional managers to advertise their inventory on other platforms, refer bookings to other partners and create regional listing sites. Third-party providers will now also be able to use its API to distribute vacation rental content.

Monday 17 October 2016:

CMI taps Cendyn Events

• Cain Meetings & Incentives (CMI), a division of Cain Travel Group, will be adopting Cendyn's MetronXpress application, which helps with planning, managing, and measuring events and helps to achieve compliance and track spending.

Portman goes for number one

• The UK-based travel management company has created a self-booking version of its PortmanOne technology used by travel advisors. The system allows users to manage a trip, including search and booking tools for flights and hotels, as well as ancillary services such as car rental and other ground transportation.

Thursday 13 October

Duetto integrates with Oracle OPERA Cloud

• The hotel and casino revenue management software company, which already was a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork, has now also integrated with Oracle Opera Cloud to unite Duetto’s Revenue Strategy platform, GameChanger, and Oracle Hospitality Opera Cloud Services property management system.

Jumia Travel launches web extranet

• African hotel booking site Jumia Travel has launched a mobile-first web extranet which allows hotel partners to manage their presence on the site via desktop, mobile web and tablet. Earlier this year it introduced its Android-based extranet app. Jumia Travel was formerly known as Jovago.

SnapShot creates hotel tech database

• Hotel analytics and data firm SnapShot has launched the Hotel Technology Index, a free community-based resource which allows professionals to create an account and share details about tech providers into a constantly updated database. Snapshot proofreads the content, removes duplicates and will update entries where appropriate.

Wednesday 12 October 2016:

Goibibo introduces live flight tracking

• Visitors to the Indian online travel service will be able to monitor real-time data for more than 1,800 flight schedules, covering both domestic and international routes. The tracking identifies schedules, gate numbers and baggage/carousel information, with a notification service built-in.

Monday 10 October 2016:

Boxever personalises FlyBe

• The European regional carrier will use Boxever to assist with its customer personalisation strategy. Ireland-baed Boxever uses real-time data to create marketing messages for its core product and other services.

Onyx creates single brand

• Onyx Payments, the hotel and travel agency commission payments and recovery specialist, is rebranding under a new name, Onyx CenterSource. Onyx, which was spun out of Pegasus Solutions in 2013, is retiring the Onyx Payments brand, as well as Net Trans Services and Worldwide Payment Systems, two businesses it acquired in 2014.

Tuesday 4 October 2016:

Dohop flies with FLYR

• The Iceland-based travel search engine has added FLYR Fare Protection for its air ticket results, allowing users to hold a fare they find of the site for up to 30 days. The service has a charge but FLYR refunds the user up to $200 if the ticket price increases.

NB: Travel systems image via Lavrenteva/BigStock.