What else is going on in the world of travel tech? A round-up of other stories from across the industry...
- Icelandair will continue to offer passengers PSPs as part of a contract extension it has arranged with IFE. The devices, pre-loaded with content, are offered free to passengers where no seat-back entertainment is available.
- A unit of the Blackstone Group, which owns and controls Travelport, as well as Hilton Worldwide, acquired North America economy chains Motel 6 and Studio 6, an extended-stay brand, from Accor for $1.9 billion. Jonathan Gray, global head of real estate for Blackstone, says Motel 6 will be operated independently and Blackstone intends to put "significant capital" into the chains and to grow their franchise base.
- In a big step forward for the corporate travel world, thetrainline is enabling its B2B customers who book direct through the website or through a travel management company to print their own tickets with barcodes at home or in the office. Thetrainline says it is the first independent rail ticket retailer to be able to offer the facility which has been approved by the Association of Train Operating Companies. Print your own tickets was made available to the leisure market two years ago.
- Micros eCommerce has developed a website for Global Hotel Alliance's loyalty program, GHA Discovery. As well as designing the site, Micros will host and market it for GHA, which has been using the technology company's reservation and customer information systems for some time.
- Talk about the games marketing folks will play? Vayama, a California-based online travel agency focusing on international travel, will be featured in a 10-second video today on the US TV-game show, Wheel of Fortune. The winning contestant receives a four-day travel package to the Protrea Fire & Ice Hotel in Cape Town with two roundtrip tickets on South African Airways.
- Omni Hotels & Resorts has tapped iBAHN, an Internet Protocol Television vendor, as a preferred partner. The launch partner for the collaboration was the Omni Dallas Hotel, where guests get HD channels their TVs, including an HD screen embedded in the mirror of hotel-room bathrooms.