The regular Tnooz roundup of product news from around the travel, tourism and hospitality industry, all with a technology, online and digital twist - Tuesday 19 April 2011.
- Kayak officially opens new European headquarters in the Swiss city of Zurich. Reporting to Europe managing director (and Swoodoo CEO) Christian Saller will be John-Lee Saez (MD France), Annie Wilson (MD UK, based in London), Wolfgang Heigl (VP marketing for Europe) and Lars Jankowfsky (VP technology for Europe).
- European metasearch site Kelkoo releases study showing low cost carriers are a third cheaper than "traditional" airlines despite extra fees accounting for 37% of total price. Average extra fees on traditional carriers come in at 4% of the full price, while LCC passengers in Italy facing 45% of overall fee coming from extras, and UK (38%), Germany (31%) and Spain (32%) following.
- Hotel technology provider Bookassist has released a suite of Facebook applications for accommodation providers. The collection includes tools so hotels can add to their existing Facebook pages and allow users to book a room, use special offers, leave reviews app and use voucher codes.