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 27 July 2011.
- India online travel agency Cleartrip partnered with three Indian banks to offer travelers a Pay with EMI (Equated Monthly Installment) option instead of having to pay for flights and hotels up-front. To qualify, travelers must have credit cards from one of the banks, which include ICICI, HDFC and Standard Chartered banks. Travelers would have to pay a bank processing fee.
- Danish travel metasearch engine Momondo launched a roundtrip search feature enabling users to tack on several stopovers in one search. For example, the search might include London to Paris with a sidetrip to Rome, says Momondo, a unit of Cheapflights Media.
- Revinate, a San Francisco company, upgraded its social media platform for the travel industry. Partnering with text analytics specialist Lexalytics, Revinate now enables properties to gauge guest sentiment on rooms, staff, service and "problems," Revinate says. Hotels also can customize topics they wish to track and view trending topics, as well, the company says.
- Tel Aviv-based Carsolize, which offers a hotel and car booking engine and distribution solution, says it granted an exclusive South Africa distribution license to iTravelSA. Under the agreement, iTravelSA can strike travel agency technology and distribution deals using Carsolize technology. SATravelling is iTravelSA's first client for the Carsolize solution.
- TRYP by Wyndham launched a global marketing and advertising campaign and relaunched its website in five languages, English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. The online and print campaign, centered around a "This is my TRYP" theme, is the brand's first global marketing campaign since Wyndham's acquisition of the brand from Melia Hotels International last year.