This is a roundup of product news and announcements for distribution in tourism and hospitality for March 2017.
Thursday 30 March 2017:
MisterFly branded by Travelport
- The French online travel agency will use the Rich Content and Branding platform from Travelport to showcase services and ancillaries from participating airlines. Over 200 airlines are connected the Travelport tool, part of its Merchandising Platform.
Skyscanner powers
Mundi flight search
- UK-based Skyscanner will provide search results for international flights on the Brazilian metasearch service. The agreement, which follows another last year between the pair to power car rental search, will feature results from more than 1,200 air ticket providers.
Veltra collaborates with
Rezdy- Product on the Rezdy platform with be available via an API on the Veltra online travel agency, including real-time booking capability. Rezdy claims to have 5,000 activity customers in over 80 countries.
Wednesday 29 March 2017:CarTrawler drives away with Kaligo
- The car rental technology provider will integrate with Kaligo so that customers can search and book vehicle services on the loyalty service's platform. CarTrawler has 1,600 rental agents, coach transfers, rail networks and chauffeur services in 195 countries.
Travelport renews
Atrapalo deal
- The new, multi-year agreement sees the Spain-based online travel agency use Travelport for access to air, hotel and other content. The OTA has customers in nine countries, including Chile, Spain, Panama, Spain and Argentina.
HotelRez powers
Guestline- HotelRez has been appointed as distribution partner to the hotel property management and technology supplier. The collaboration will include a two-way XML connection between the pair and use of Guestline's merchandising platform for property owners, known as WebSuite.
Friday 24 March 2017:Island Air goes all in with Amadeus
- The Hawaii-based carrier will use the ALTEA suite of services to power its reservations, distribution departure control, check-in and ecommerce. Island Air runs flights between O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island. The pair started working together in 2005.
Thursday 23 March 2017:Amadeus renews TUIFly deal
- The airline's new content agreement includes fares, schedules and availability to Amadeus-connected travel agencies, including ancillaries such as baggage, check-in and on-board catering. The agreement also covers use of the Amadeus Premium Authorisation and Card Capture technology for the processing of payments.
HotelRez gets private label
- The representation provider now allows hotel groups to use its own HO chain code within Global Distribution Systems. One of the first brands to work on the HO code is Dorint Hotels & Resorts in Germany.
Wednesday 22 March 2017:IHG connects with Hotelbeds
- Hotelbeds will add more than 5,000 hotel properties in 100 countries from the IHG portfolio to its platform for travel agencies. Brands in the deal include InterContinental, Kimpton, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza, and Holiday Inn.
Wanderu strikes
DB deal
- The US-based bus and train search brand will now offer schedules tickets from the German rail giant, as well as its partners and affiliates. Tickets from 4,900 destinations in 17 countries will be available as part of the agreement.
Tourico opens
LoveHolidays- The UK-focused online travel agency will use Tourico for accommodation content in the US and Caribbean, as well as some properties in Spain, Portugal and Mexico. Tourico has almost 30,000 in the US and 1,000 in the Caribbean.
Tuesday 21 March 2017:Travelport signs with Bin Ham Travel
- The Abu Dhabi-based group of travel management companies will work with Travelport for access to air and hotel content, as well as use of the Smartpoint desktop platform. The three brands are Al Amaan Travel and Holidays, Al Ain Express Travel and Bin Ham Travel.
CityUnscripted secures
Global Hotel Alliance deal
- The hotel network's loyalty programme, Discovery, will give members access to local experiences on the CityUnscripted platform. The first destination with content will be London, with other markets for the ten million members on Discovery to follow.
Friday 17 March 2017:HitIt gets Rayyan Air
- The Pakistan-based carrier will use HitIt as its passenger service system and reservation platform provider, including distribution connections. Rayyan serves domestic destinations, the wider region and routes to the UAE and China.
Thursday 16 March 2017:Flyiin markets with Lufthansa
- The soon-to-be-launched search service will feature Lufthansa content and services on the platform as part of an agreement with the carrier. Lufthansa will give Flyinn access to its full range of ancillary services, as well as bundled fare options.
Wednesday 15 March 2017:Emirates branded fares on Amadeus
- The UAE-based airline will have its Saver, Flex and Flex Plus tickets made available to all Amadeus-connected travel agencies as part of the agreement. Such fares are available on both the carrier's economy and business class categories.
Tuesday 14 March 2017:Musement signals Trenitalia rail deal
- The Italian national train operator will have attraction search and booking tools included on its consumer-facing website for the first time as part of the partnership. The package includes 1,200 activities from the Musement portfolio on 80 cities across Italy.
Saturday 11 March 2017:Lufthansa and Farelogix extend deal
- The new agreement will see Farelogix continue to give Luthansa use of its distribution platform (direct connect, NDC APIs and SPRK travel agency desktop) across the Lufthansa group of airlines. The technology is used by more than 100 travel companies, aggregators and other tech providers.
Tuesday 7 March 2017:Sabre inks Hertz partnership
- The global car rental outfit will extend its existing distribution agreement with Sabre to include prepay options across its portfolio of brands. Those in the deal include Hertz, Dollar Thrifty and Firefly.
Monday 6 March 2017:HotelRez wins Dorint Hotels package
- The German hotel chain will use HotelRez to help with distribution into third parties, as well as access to preferred partnership agreements with corporates. Dorint has a network of 38 properties in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Friday 3 March 2017:Blacklane integrates with Groundspan
- Groundspan will connect to the Blacklane network so that users can search and book drivers in 250 cities and 500 airports around the world. Groundspan connects to agencies via Concur, Sabre and Travelport.
HRS adds
Magnuson Hotels to network
- More than 1,000 properties from the chain will be placed on the HRS distribution platform, giving 3,000+ corporations access to rates and availability. The deal includes the Grand and M Star brands and covers properties in six countries.
12Go distributes via
Liligo and
Qunar- The online travel agency will provide content to the two metasearch engines, covering products in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, Philippines and China. Alongside its rail speciality, 12Go works with ferry, van and bus operators.
Thursday 2 March 2017:Peakwork smooches at the DHISCO
- The travel technology company will use DHISCO to offer real-time rates for hotels on tour operator, airline and other websites. DHISCO has some 110,000 hotel partners on its platform.
Luxury Retreats inks
Auto Europe deal
- The Airbnb-owned upmarket vacation rental platform will offer guests car rental services for those staying in US, Mexico, Hawaii and the Caribbean. The deal will run for arrivals on the trips until the end of 2017.
Wednesday 1 March 2017:Travelport gets NDC Aggregator nod
- IATA has given Travelport the thumbs-up for two elements of its New Distribution Capability: Aggregator Level One and IT Provider Level Two. Travelport will now be able to integrate NDC APIs should an airline choose to use NDC-XML messaging to distribution and deliver fares and products.
CarTrawler signs
JustFly- The online travel agency will use CarTrawler to power its car rental, private transfer, shuttle, rail and pre-paid airport transfers channel. CarTrawler has access to 1,600 car rental agents and other operators in 195 countries.