In today's edition: TRX eyeing agents, StarCite in the clouds, HP and Dollar Thrifty shake hands on mega-deal, FlightNetwork finds baggage, Expedia expands TravelAds, I-Spy wins National Express/Eurolines.
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 - Tuesday 3 May 2011.
- TRX introduced a TRX TRUEPARTNER Complete program, an outsourced solution for travel agencies and corporate travel departments. Services in the program include booking, profile management, mid-office reporting, settlement, expense management, agency fee management and data consolidation. The company says TRX TRUEPARTNER members can access the services for a flat fee.
- Meetings and events' tech firm StarCite unveiled a cloud-based platform, Nexus, which the company says enhances the user experience, provides new product features and offers "unparalleled integration capabilities." Among the new features are an enhanced supplier search and a streamlined supplier RFP selection solution.
- HP Enterprise Services and Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group signed a $72 million technology outsourcing services pact, which has HP continuing to provide DTAG with things such as data center services and expanded support for field locations. The companies say the three-and-a-half year agreement uses a hybrid delivery model, combining "onsite support and leveraged services."
- Canada's FlightNetwork.com introduced a Baggage Fee Finder, which it says enables consumers to click on a suitcase icon as they search for flights and gauge the various bag fees. The new search function also enables travelers to filter their search based on whether the first checked bag is free or requires a fee.
- Expansion plans for Expedia as it takes its TravelAds search advertising programme to France, Germany and Italy. Already up and running in the US, UK and Canada, TravelAds is an automated search placement platform for suppliers targeting visitors via sponsored listings in the hotel search results pages at Expedia and Hotels.com.
- Analytics focus for European tourist coach group Eurolines and National Express with the appointment of marketing agency I-Spy. The London-based agency is tasked with setting up analytics tools for both sites to establish improvements to user experience and conversion rates.