CheapAir, AmTrav, ArrivalGuides, TRX, Zozi, Tripwolf, Mr & Mrs Smith, Blue Palace, The Rainmaker Group, Bitbuzz, Expedia, Mytab, Jetpac, and EVA Air are featured in today's trade news roundup for the travel tech industry.DISTRIBUTIONCheapAir is the first OTA to offer American Airlines' new fare choice bundles. The carrier's three-tiered packages are also bookable through CheapAir's sister travel management company,
AmTrav, whose corporate booking tool is the first of its kind to offer these fares.
Earlier this year, CheapAir trialed a bare bones version of semantic search.
ArrivalGuides has added a feature to its destination content system, allowing the DMOs to change their published information directly in the system. Partners of the Gothenburg startup include 170 travel companies, such as Ryanair, Qatar Airways, and Venere.com.
Tour and activity platform Zozi has expanded from experiences into ecommerce, with its outdoor gear and apparel offering. It's an addition to the company's new marketplace, which offers local experiences across 26 cities in the US and Canada.
Mr & Mrs Smith, a boutique hotel guidebook publisher, marks its 10th anniversary in January 2013. Last year, it launched sub-brands for family travel and group breaks. It will soon launch Smith & Co for boutique business travel. London brand consultancy Goosebumps will coordinate its UK print marketing campaign.
MOBILETripwolf says it has had its first yearly profit. The European startup's itinerary management app has been downloaded 3 million times.
Expedia launches its Windows 8 app.M-Hospitality.com, a Greek app developer, made an iPhone app for Blue Palace luxury Mediterranean resorts. Features include a 'real-time' reservation tool for restaurants and spas and dynamically updated rates for the property.
SOCIAL COMMERCEMytab scaled up to now 120,000 uniques a month, since its launch last year. The US-based travel gift and planning platform hints that it will shortly announce "game-changing updates" in ecommerce.
Jetpac, a Facebook-friend-powered photo album, now lets users see who's been to a place, so it's easy "to get insider tips from the right friend." The move puts the iPad app in competition with other social travel sites. Earlier this year, Jetpac received $2.4 million in funding.
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The Rainmaker Group recently acquired Grasp, an Atlanta software company. No terms were disclosed for
the deal. The company says, "Grasp's technology will enable Rainmaker to provide more comprehensive, flexible analytics and data visualization."
This month Bitbuzz, the Irish wi-fi specialist, has installed its Fusion solution in the new 145-room Mercure London Greenwich. Fusion offers free wi-fi to all residents of a hotel without guests needing to use a voucher by instead using an interface to the hotel's Property Management System.
TRX has named David Cathcart president and CEO. The transaction-processing and data-reporting company in Atlanta sees its
data intelligence operations as its primary growth area. Cathcart is succeeding Shane Hammond in the role.
Chinese carrier EVA Air plans to provide in-flight mobile and wi-fi on its brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.