Brand USA, Stickyeyes, Hilton Worldwide, Teletext Holidays, CheapOair, SiteMinder, IDeaS, Travelfusion, Olery, Tribewanted all make today's round up of travel technology briefs on Feb 1.
BRAND CAMPAIGNING
Stickyeyes is to create a digital programme for Hilton Worldwide based around the agency's blogger engagement service. The remit of the campaign is to create online visibility and raise awareness of Hilton properties across the UK. Bloggers will spend a night at a property, as part of the #RediscoverHilton initiative and share the experience on their blog.
Destination marketing organisation Brand USA has unveiled the latest phase of its Land of Dreams campaign. The DMO has partnered with British Airways on 60 and 30-second television adverts backed up by promotion across digital and other media. The initiative runs until March 4.
REVENUE MANAGEMENT
SiteMinder has announced distribution deals for MacDonald Hotels in the UK as well as Silken Hotels in Spain. Using SiteMinder's Channel Manager MacDonald Hotels will be able to send live availability from its central reservation system as well as its IDeaS Revenue Management system to be distributed on third party websites. SiteMinder is also connecting to Silken's Opera CRS to open up the 33-strong luxury hotel chain on further online booking channels.
eRevMax has enhanced its SimpleDistribution channel manager technology. The relaunched system, aimed at small hotels and hostels who want to be able to manage inventory and rates online, now has an update user interface enabling hotels to view and update rates and availability multiple sites from a single dashboard.
IDeaS Revenue Solutions has been chosen by Lefay Resort & Spa Lago di Garda for its sustainability credentials as much as its revenue management capabilities. The Italy-based property wanted to be able to use accurate and automated forecast to achieve optimal pricing but also needed a company to match its own ethical stance.
DISTRIBUTION
CheapOair is celebrating a million downloads of its Flight Search mobile application. The company says it has seen increased downloads in the past month partly attributable to its March to One Million campaign rewarding users for downloads. The app is available across iOS, Android and Windows 8 devices.
Travelfusion is to drive low-cost airline bookings for online and offline travel agencies in China after launching into the market. The company is already working with CTrip, Qunar and Fly2save and has customised its technology to support local current and payment mechanisms. The company will be supporting routes from China and Hong Kong to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, the Phillipines, Japan and Korea as well as internal routes for a number of destinations.
Meeting the World is extending its reach via partnership with Mash Media. Meeting the World will be able to distribute its online video channel with destination reports further to the international meeting planning sector.
OTHER NEWS
Teletext Holidays managing director Victoria Sanders is moving on after four years in the role. Prior to taking the helm, Sanders spent a four years in sales roles with the company. The company is seeking a replacement.
Reputation management specialist Olery has signed up to an EU research project on sentiment analysis for the tourism sector. The OpeNER research project began in July and will last for two year. It is around the creation of technologies for multilingual sentiment analysis and the initial languages to be targeted include Spanish, Italian, English, German and French. More information on the project here.
Traveler tracking specialist Charter Solutions is partnership with Riskline ApS to provide corporate customers and travellers with threat analysis and advice for more than 200 countries around the world. Charter Solutions will integrate the Riskline intelligence into its existing MCM disruption management and mobile technology.
AND FINALLY...
Tribewanted, the organisation that runs sustainable tourism projects, has chosen Monestevole in Italy as its latest destination with the aim of turning a 15th century hamlet will be turned into a sustainable community. Travellers can join the project as tribe members or tourists. Tribewanted's projects to date have included Fiji's Vorovoro island and the John Obey Beach community in Sierre Leone. Tribewanted Italy will open on March 21. This video gives travellers an idea of what to expect on the project.