Eurostar, redBus, Finnair, Air Asia, IFE Services, Air Tahiti, FCm Travel Solutions, Bhutan-Google Street View, SocialBakers, Wego, BookAssist, Babbel and Monarch Airlines all make it into our roundup of stories and news items on Friday 15 March.
Ground transport
Eurostar will unleash its new website next week. The service aims to be faster and easier to use and the train operator has produced a teaser video, which to provide further information.
India's biggest online bus booking portal redBus has introduced a feature to live track its buses. Travelers will be sent an SMS 30 minute before the boarding of a bus. For Android users, the tracking and notification is integrated within the app.
Airlines
Finnair has launched a new social check-in service in partnership with Amadeus IT group that allows passengers to link their Facebook profile with the seat map and other passengers can see who else has checked in on the same flight and where they are seated. This social check-in service is voluntary, and customers can choose to travel "incognito" as usual. In this initial launch of the service, only includes Facebook. But Finnair has indicated that more social networks will be added later.
Air Tahiti has extended its partnership with Expedia Affiliate Network enabling the airline to use EAN's hotel retailing platform, Chameleon to offer hotels across all its markets and all points of sale. The deal also allows Air Tahiti to create targeted air and hotel offersvia its websites, provide TripAdvisor review content and provide phone support.
AirAsia has entered into a new partnership with Philippines-based Zest Airways that will see it acquire a 49% equity stake.
IFE Services is to supply TUIFly Nordic with inflight entertainment services. The deal will bring films, television programmes, radio and music to passengers in give languages.
Bhutan, the country that's less explored gets a facelift. Google is planning to capture the entire country's street pictures using its 'Stree View' technology.
Recent research by SocialBakers shows that videos posted on Facebook have a 10 times higher viral reach than YouTube links.
Wego has entered into a partnership with Thailand’s most popular English-language news platform, Bangkokpost.com to offer its ten million visitors a travel planning service.
FCm Travel Solutions has contracted with TRX, Inc to use its ACM solution. FCm will use TRX technology to monitor and analyze its clients' airline contracts and relationships. FCm Consulting will collaborate with TRX consultants to enhance their current airline sourcing offer, to ensure clients are leveraging their data for optimal program performance and supplier relationships.
BookAssist used ITB to unveil its Distribution Manager technology for hotels. The company claims its service optimises margin for hotels by shutting down lower margin channels in favour of higher margin sales as availability changes. The system connects to all major distribution channels including OTAs and GDS.
Online language learning service Babbel has made 11 Windows 8 Phone applications available . The apps are free and include an extensive vocabulary as well as themed, interactive lessons.
And finally...
Up to 600 secondary school children will get exclusive use of a Monarch aircraft in a bid to put the fun back into flying. On 24 April, threeflights will depart from Manchester, Gatwick and Birmingham to Verona in Italy, Friedrichshafen, Germany and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Theairline has created a clip to help promote the competition.
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