This is the regular Tnooz roundup of product news from around the travel, tourism and hospitality industry, all with a technology, online and digital twist - Wednesday 31 August 2011.
- The Jets -- Flight & Seat Advisor iPhone app ($2.99) provides tips about the best and worst seats on more than 80 airlines, representing some 100,000 flights worldwide. Making its debut in iTunes Aug. 25, the app enables passengers to view the seatmap for their flight and to sift through their seat choices for optimum comfort and convenience, says Ukraine-based developer Alex Strelets.
- Pegasus Solutions says global hotel bookings in the GDS channel, with its corporate travel focus, increased 5.8% in July 2011 compared with the same month a year ago. "Unfortunately, this doesn't match the +20% increases we became accustomed to seeing in 2010 but it is still respectable, bearing a few factors in mind," Pegasus says. Among the factors, debt concerns in Europe and the U.S. may have caused corporations to adjust their travel spending. ADRs (average daily rates) in July 2011 rose 6% compared with July 2010, Pegasus says.
- Hipmunk integrated TripAdvisor ratings and reviews into its hotel search. On the search results page, just click on one of the icons representing hotels on the map and you'll see the hotel rate, number of reviews and overall user rating. Click again and you can view five review snippets, a photo of the hotel and information about hotel amenities and the neighborhood. To read the full reviews you have to navigate to TripAdvisor.com.