Category Archives: Technology

Global smart hospitality solutions provider, Hudini, is set to close a record year for the business having witnessed unprecedented growth in 2022. Hudini enables hotels to provide a connected guest journey from pre-arrival to post departure, ensuring a faster, contactless, and hyper-personalized service delivery. The company’s hospitality middleware platform connects over 100 hospitality applications in one single guest interface. Driven by data and AI, Hudini’s proprietary software works across all touch points of the guest journey from online booking, mobile check-in and digital room keys to in-room services, communication, check-out, and payments. With over 300 hotels across 25 countries, Hudini is fast becoming the industry benchmark for digital transformation in the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry relies on its ability to connect people and the places they visit to create memorable experiences for its guests. In its revitalization post-pandemic, the industry is realizing the impact that technology can have on a guest’s stay, and the potential it holds to increase customer loyalty and create additional revenue. In fact, a recent study found that 62% of hotel executives said they would have “a fully contactless experience” by 2025. “It’s been an incredibly exciting year for us and we have evolved in so many ways over the past twelve months, from our product offering and team to our partners and customers,” said Prince Thampi, Founder and CEO of Hudini. “The global pandemic has not just accelerated the demand for contactless technology to provide a safe and seamless guest experience, but more importantly, has caused a significant shift in mindset when it comes to digital transformation in hospitality. Hoteliers are increasingly looking for ways to differentiate and personalize their guest experience, achieve better …

Wego and CzechTourism partner together in a move to provide travelers with the best travel experiences this winter. The Czech Republic is a beautiful and diverse country with many things to see and do. Whether you’re interested in history, culture, or just having a good time, there is something for everyone in the Czech Republic. CzechTourism will benefit from Wego’s large user base in the MENA region, and the data and insights it provides on the users’ behavior as well as the personalized travel experience it offers. Both parties will work on a series of campaigns and marketing activities to promote this marvelous winter destination. Mamoun Hmedan, Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director, Middle East, North Africa (MENA) and India of Wego, said: “We are excited to start our partnership with CzechTourism to promote travel to the country. We are committed to provide our users with more choices and bring the best destinations to explore. This time of the year in the Czech Republic can be magical, with the country’s stunning landscape transformed by snow and ice. It is the perfect opportunity to enjoy a range of winter activities and we expect to see an increased demand from the region to the country in the coming weeks.” The country is a great destination for winter holidays. Travelers can hit the slopes, explore an array of winter activities in store for every type of traveler, or relax at a spa. Marek Kroutil, international marketing manager for Middle East, CzechTourism said: “Czech Republic and especially Prague is a well-known destination amongst the GCC travelers and thanks to many regular or seasonal flights they can get from the main source markets to our …

For more than 50 years, Zahara Travel has become renowned for demonstrating an entrepreneurial and pioneering approach to corporate travel. This strategy has helped the company gain prominence as a premium service-oriented organization, resulting in winning the “Oman Award for Excellence” in Tourism six times. Thanks to its collaboration with Amadeus, the corporate travel specialist plans to boost its level of automation to deliver an enhanced and more personalized customer service. Zahara Travel has chosen to implement the latest cloud-based Amadeus Selling Platform, which delivers fast access to a comprehensive range of travel services using real-time connectivity for the most up-to-date inventory and pricing. To benefit customers further, Zahara Travel will deploy Amadeus Productivity Suite, which is a behind-the-scenes set of tools that enable travel consultants to focus on delivering the best customer service rather than the administrative processes that need to be managed. Amadeus Web Services is another key component of the agreement between the two companies. Gautam Broota, CEO of Zahara Travel and Service Bureau LLC said, “As a pioneer in the Travel and Tourism business in Oman, we strive to offer our customers the most efficient and seamless award-winning service. Our partnership with Amadeus ensures we are using highly advanced products and services that enhance our ability to deliver customer service in a comprehensive and personalized manner. We are excited about the expanded range of solutions included in this agreement as it elevates our offering to the next level for all our stakeholders.” Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, adds: “Amadeus’ travel solutions will help enhance the services offered by Zahara Travel and is backed by our commitment to support our customers every step of the …

Visionize Technology, is helping pave the way for hotels and resorts around the region to reach new heights with the implementation of a state-of-the-art automation technology which facilitates internal staff operations, enhances the guest experience using in-room apps, lower overall business costs and generate more revenue within the F&B sector. The properties have estimated a staggering increase in the average spent per guest after the implementation of Visionize, mainly due to built-in smart marketing and upselling features, along with fantastic visual experience and a seamless multilingual interface. Visionize Technology Founder & CEO Mazen Chedid stated, “With the future of hospitality gearing towards a more seamless and data-driven experience, the implementation of our systems across numerous hotels around the region seems to be opening new doors to achieving higher revenue, faster operations and an improved guest experience.” Moreover, as the system’s artificial intelligence entirely tracks and analyzes F&B operations including the staff, kitchen and clearances, hotels have witnessed a significant decrease in human error and delivery time.

His Excellency the Minister of Tourism, Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb, inaugurated the MT Unified Platform, which is the latest government service platform in the Kingdom, during the Digital Government Forum 2022 themed “Towards a Promising Digital Horizon.” The forum was organized by the Digital Government Authority recently in Riyadh, while several government agencies participated in the presence of Their Excellencies, as well as experts, specialists, and decision-makers in the field of digital government locally and internationally. In its first edition, the forum aims to showcase digital government achievements and success stories locally and internationally. It also seeks to enable digital community elites to meet, communicate, exchange experiences, build partnerships, discuss challenges and best modern technological practices, review future digital governments directions, and discuss investment opportunities within the Saudi digital sector. The forum also included a presentation of the most prominent digital government products, in addition to several new publications, most notably MT’s Unified Tourism Platform. The platform aims to attract investors and provide services to job seekers and tourism service providers as part of MT’s efforts to activate the Digital Tourism Strategy launched by His Excellency the Minister at the beginning of this year. The Unified Platform has an attractive design and a smart user interface that provides MT’s various services in a user-friendly fashion. It also provides information on each service as well as step-by-step explanations to ensure the users get the best experience. The Ministry was also keen on supporting the platform with the best technological services and allocated a technical support team for it to provide assistance. The Unified Platform development is part of MT’s efforts to enhance the digital transformation process in the Kingdom and contribute …

Sabre Corporation  celebrated the opening of a new office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last week in the presence of representatives from travel companies and partners.  “We are excited to continue delivering our investment plan in Saudi Arabia and celebrate the opening of the second new office in the Kingdom this year,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “This reflects our commitment and continuous efforts to expand our operations and team to support the increasing needs of our customers in the Kingdom. We have invested in building a knowledgeable and diverse team to give our customers the support they require.” “We believe our efforts in the Kingdom are aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy. We provide the technology and infrastructure to equip travel companies with the tools and solutions they need to help maximise their potential, provide exceptional customer experience and attract travellers from all around the world,” added Iyer.

Sabre Corporation and Conferma Pay announced a new partnership with Mastercard to accelerate the use of virtual cards for business-to-business (B2B) travel payments. The announcement builds on Sabre’s August 2022 acquisition of Conferma Pay.  The collaboration with Mastercard is the next step in advancing Sabre’s goal to create an open and independent travel payment ecosystem. Digitization of travel payments with virtual cards helps address the historic challenges associated with B2B leisure and corporate travel payments.  The securely generated, single use card numbers provide a link between booking and associated payments to third party suppliers.  Travel buyers and suppliers are therefore able to easily track and reconcile payments, as well as benefit from flexible pricing, financing options, and enhanced security through card payment guarantees. “The payments industry is in the midst of a revolution and there is an increased need for travel companies to better manage the whole payment experience,” said Roshan Mendis, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions.  “Companies in the travel space – including travel management companies, travel agencies, corporations, issuers and technology partners – need sophisticated solutions and seamless connections.  Sabre is taking strategic steps to fulfill the needs of our industry, beginning with the acquisition of Conferma Pay.  Now, the new partnership with Mastercard will help Conferma Pay to build new and enhanced digital capabilities in virtual cards, transforming the payment experience for issuers.” As part of the agreement, Mastercard has agreed to make a minority investment in Conferma Pay, which will continue to operate independently and serve the entire travel industry and beyond. “A combination of experience, technologies and capabilities will accelerate travel payment innovation and drive inclusive and sustainable growth for …

Elaf Travel and Tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Sabre Corporation cemented a long-standing relationship,  signing an exclusive agreement to drive the agency’s growth through advanced technology.  The agreement was signed at a ceremony attended by management and executives from both companies to celebrate a decade of successful collaboration. The agreement provides Elaf Travel and Tourism continued access to Sabre’s portfolio of innovative technology across the region, including its industry-leading workflow Sabre Red 360 and the latest mobile, data analytics, personalization and automation capabilities. “We are excited to confirm our relationship with Sabre, which will continue support our growth and technology plans,” said Dr. Adel Ezzat, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Elaf Group. “We are working together to deploy the latest solutions and capabilities, transform our business, and advance our offerings to enrich our customers’ experiences – particularly online.” Using SR360, the agency will have access to Sabre’s marketplace of more than 420 airlines, 750,000 hotel properties, and hundreds of tour operators, rail, car and cruise providers, enabling it to sell personalized travel packages from suppliers all around the world. “We are happy the Elaf Travel and Tourism recognizes the value of our technology and trusts the dedication and expertise of our local team,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “Elaf Travel and Tourism has a wide range of services catering to the online, offline, and corporate travel sectors and we are committed to deliver products and solutions that meet their diverse customer needs and help the company to scale and expand its business to meet the high expectations of the tech-savvy Saudi travelers.”  

Amadeus signed technology partnership agreement with Safe Travel & Services, one of leading travel agencies in UAE. The travel company provides comprehensive range of services for individual travelers, corporate clients, and groups from and to the UAE, including customized packages and visa services. Under the agreement, Safe Travel & Services and its customers will benefit from various Amadeus products and solutions. These include Amadeus Online Suite, an omni -channel e-commerce solution to expand online presence and deliver a wealth of quality tailored content; Business Management Platform, incorporating various solutions such as robotic ticketing tools and sales data management systems to support pricing, analysis, and ticketing automation through a single platform. Also included in portfolio is Amadeus All Fares Plus, which helps agents find best air deals by comparing multiple content sources, including NDC-enabled content, and Amadeus B2B Wallet to offer payment options. Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, said: “With travel gaining momentum as more countries open their doors to travelers, we are committed to supporting Safe Travel & Services in rapidly finding the best air deals for its customers and providing a seamless end-to-end travel payments solution offering greater choice, reach, and orchestration.” Raed Baidas, General Manager of Safe Travel & Services, said: “To address challenges of the modern tourism industry, we know that planning, developing, and adapting to evolving needs of the market is key to our success. Adopting Amadeus’ latest technology solutions will help us realise our ambitions and position us strategically as we strengthen our customer relationships and take our value-offering to the next level.” As the travel ecosystem evolves, the industry is ready to upgrade and enhance systems and processes and have in place …

Sabre Corporation hosted an interactive event for key travel players in Saudi Arabia. The event, which took place in Riyadh last week brought together key decision-makers from travel companies, online agencies and corporations to discuss the evolving industry landscape in the kingdom and the region, the need for digital transformation and Sabre’s latest technology solutions. “Saudi Arabia is a particularly exciting country to be in right now,” said Abdul-Razzaq Iyer, vice president, Sabre Travel Network Middle East. “It has a bright vision to build a progressive global tourism brand, and our customers need the right technology to help them leverage this unique opportunity for growth.  In parallel, the industry has become more complex post-pandemic, so simplifying the travel journey will be particularly important.  We will continue to deliver best-in-class technologies, including AI-driven products to travel agencies, across the region to help our travel partners tap into this growth.” At the Riyadh event, Sabre showcased its latest technology, including corporate solutions, application programming interface (APIs) and automation, and outlined how these solutions can increase efficiency through automation, allowing agents to spend more time to serve their customers and keep track of latest trends.  Solutions in the online and mobile space were also highlighted, in addition to innovative point-of-sale, Sabre Red 360, which offers an intuitive, customizable workflow and significant benefits for travel agents, including reduced training time and costs.  The technology is proven to reduce training times from weeks to hours. “We are helping some of the leading travel agencies in Saudi enter the online space, through access to intelligent technology that can personalize the customer journey,” continued Abdul-Razzaq. “Travel agencies continue to evolve, adapting to new consumer needs and leveraging …