In today's edition: Carnival atmosphere for social media savvy cruisers, From Russia with Love for Travelocity, smartphone exploration for Magellan fliers, and more.
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 - Friday 29 April 2011.
- Carnival Cruise Lines intends to test the social media waters when it publishes 11 videos -- at 30-minute intervals -- on May 1 as it launches the Carnival Magic from Venice, Italy. The videos will detail such things as the ship's naming ceremony, its onboard amenities and ports of call in Europe, where the 3,690-passenger vessel will be based in its inaugural season. And, there will be a Facebook quiz based on the videos, with the top prize being a seven-day Carnival Magic cruise to the Caribbean for four people.
- The Roaming Gnome must have been spending a lot of time in Russia recently because Travelocity notched a distribution agreement with the country's S7 Airlines. The companies say the airline's "full range of content" will be distributed through Travelocity.com, Travelocity Business and the Travelocity Partner Network.
- The luxury of having access to a private jet appears to have got even better for business folk on the move. Private airline Magellan Jets launched its first mobile smartphone this week, giving members the ability to search for the next available aircraft from an iPhone or iPad. Further delight for a user's friends with the addition of sharing tools and also ability to save flight preferences for later use.
- The Facebook travel booking revolution continues, at least as far as Availpro is concerned. The company has developed booking engines for 230 individual hotel fans pages in the space of six weeks. Properties getting the treatment so far have come from countries as diverse as UK, USA, Canada, Austria, France, Morocco, Argentina, Italy and India.
- Corporates can keep a closer eye on the business travel expenditure of employees, thanks to a new tool from RateGain. PriceGain-Audit was created for companies that spend significant levels on travel expenditure for their employees, giving them reports on a real-time basis to compare and audit all corporate hotel bookings against other rates in the marketplace.