This is a roundup of product news and announcements for travel DISTRIBUTION in tourism and hospitality for June 2015.
Tuesday 30 June 2015:
SiteMinder pockets ICG Software for distribution
- The Spanish business technology provider will connect through SiteMinder's Channel Manager platform to give its FrontHotel property management service access to 250 distribution outlets. ICG's customers include both independent and chain properties around the world.
Saturday 27 June 2015:Swiss clocks in with Travelport for branding
- The Lufthansa-owned carrier will use the Rich Content and Branding element of Travelport's Merchandising Platform, allowing its ancillaries and services to be displayed to agencies in the same way as the content usually appears on the airline's website.
Thursday 25 June 2015:Hotelzon puts Cabforce transfers into hotel distribution
- The agreement means Hotelzon customers can search and secure airport transfers as part of their hotel bookings. Cabforce (bought recently by Cartrawler) products are already available to Hotelzon-owner Travelport's agency customers.
SiteMinder integrates
Maxxton planning tool
- Maxxton's database tool, known as Newyse, will plug into the SiteMinder channel manager so that customers can manage rates and inventory across 250 distribution channels. Eightenn-year-old Maxxton specialises in providing software to businesses looking to manage activities, accommodation and amenities.
Monday 22 June 2015:Travelport gets Kenya Airways for Rich Content and Branding
- The new merchandising agreement will be announced during an IATA event in the country this week, giving Travelport-connected agencies the ability to see content and functionality in the same was at consumers on websites.
Nustay and
eRevMax sign distribution partnership
- eRevMax's customers will now be able to integrate with Nustay to analyse their guests and customer profiles. Using big data techniques, Nustay establishes interests and consumption patterns to hotels have the opportunity to send unique offers for each guest based on the best match.
Thursday 18 June 2015:Sun Express adopts Travelport Rich Content and Branding
- The Germany-based leisure carrier will push web-type content and tools to Travelport-conencted agents via the Rich Content and Brakding element of the main Merchandising Platform. Sun Express is a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, formed in 1989 and now carrying in the region of seven million passengers a year.
Amadeus powers web bookings for
Royal Brunei- The country's flag carrier will use Amadeus's e-Retail platform as part of an agreement to overhaul its online booking services, including the integration with ancilliary services from the airline into the booking flow. Royal Brunei is the first airline in Asia-Pacific to use the new version of the e-Retail technology.
Wednesday 17 June 2015:Sabre signals new agreement with TheTrainline
- TheTrainline, the UK-based online travel agency for rail tickets, has signed a long-term partnership with Sabre to give connected agencies access to all of its rail content globally. The connection is being made via TheTrainline's APITrailine Connect platform and will feature in Sabre's Red Rail agent application.
Tuesday 16 June 2015:Gopili adds Liftshare in the UK
- Gopili, the multi-modal ground-transit metasearch website, has added Liftshare inventory, providing a low-cost alternative of ridesharing on most of UK domestic journeys. Gopili says it is the only travel search engine combining both Liftshare and Blablacar offers.
Deutsche Bahn renews
Amadeus agreement
- The extension between the pair will run for a further three years, giving online travel agencies access to the German rail operators's full range of routes and fares. The connection is available via the Amadeus Rail Services portal and also on the eTravel Management tool.
Cabforce gets
Eurostar connection
- The CarTrawler-owned taxi transfer provider will offer ground transportation to customers at all Eurostar stations in Europe. Passengers will also receive a pre-travel email to notify them of taxi booking options via cabs and minibuses provided by Cabforce.
Tuesday 9 June 2015:Hipmunk staffs up to support its new affiliate network
- The San Francisco-based metasearch site is on a hiring spree. It has 71 full-time employees, double the number it had in January 2014. It plans to end the year with about 85. One of the reasons is to support its new unit, the Hipmunk Partner Nutwork. Says a spokesperson, “That's not a typo, we're really calling it the nutwork.” The platform aims to simplify the process by which companies can integrated Hipmunk’s tools and content into their own sites and mobile apps.
Amadeus agrees extension with
Hutchison-Priceline- The new partnership comes as the pair celebrate nine years working together, covering content and distribution. Under the agreement, Priceline.com.hk (an imprint of Priceline in Hong Kong) will be powered by content and shopping tools from Amadeus.
Monday 8 June 2015Travelport signs South Korea's largest low-cost carrier
- The GDS has signed Jeju Air for a multi-year distribution agreement, a first between the companies. "Travelport-connected travel agents worldwide will be able to search and book Jeju Air's services via Travelport's innovative Travel Commerce Platform, including web fares and group fares, via Galileo and Worldspan systems. Jeju Air is one of the fastest growing low cost carriers in Asia.
Thursday 4 June 2015:Star Alliance to use Sabre's Round The World fares tool
- The airline group will work with Sabre to offer connected agents the RTW and Circle Trip airfares through the GDS channels. The technology provides a total fare to agencies for an entire journey, rather than creating individual calculations and itineraries. Star Alliance includes Air China, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and United. For more, see the previous agreement with SkyTeam: A closer look at Sabre’s new SkyTeam RTW bookings
Travelport re-signs new product distributor agreement in Bulgaria
- Travelport Distribution Bulgaria will continue to act as the mothership's supplier of air, hotel and car booking technology and services, as well as agency desktop tools such as Smartpoint. The company is headed general manager Kaloyan Vangelov.
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