Category Archives: Technology

Travelport, a worldwide leader in travel retail, today announced it has appointed Tom Kershaw as its new Chief Product and Technology Officer. Tom is a seasoned product and technology executive, with more than two decades of experience leading innovation, technical strategy and execution within both emerging and mature organizations undergoing transformation. He most recently held the title of Chief Technology Officer at one of the largest independent advertising platforms in the world, Magnite, Inc. (which recently acquired SpotX, following the merger between Telaria and Rubicon Project in 2020). In the role, Tom restructured and led an engineering and product team of approximately 600 developers, overseeing the integration of product and engineering into a common organization. While at Rubicon Project, in 2017, Tom also co-founded Prebid.org, an open-source software organization dedicated to cultivating a new standard for cooperation in independent advertising exchanges to address industry challenges by facilitating collaboration and innovation. He grew the organization to more than 100 corporate members, over 1,000 contributing engineers and thousands of web publishers, and lead prebid.js to become the dominant form of advertising monetization on the Internet. Prior to Rubicon Project, Tom was a Director of Product Management at Google where he led the Google Ads and Commerce product team in the APAC region, overseeing all global products built for publishers and buyers.  While at Google, Tom also led product management for the Google Cloud platform where he focused on infrastructure development and was heavily involved in re-structuring Cloud infrastructure pricing. During his career, Tom has also held leadership positions at Ericsson, VeriSign Inc., and Unisys Corporation. Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport, said: “As Travelport+ is the central focus of our strategy, …

Innovative flight compensation company, Colibra, is now live for users in the United Arab Emirates to use. For the first time the ‘Fly Now, Pay if Okay’ service allows passengers with a valid UAE residency to book flights that they only pay for if their flight arrives on time. They now have the privilege to be the first in the world to use the pilot version of the product and test this disruptive travel technology. The Colibra app guarantees UAE residents that if the flight is cancelled or delayed for more than three hours, passengers do not have to pay for their plane tickets at all. This service is entirely free for users of the app, allowing them to book tickets within 30 days before departure (and arrival) and then pay the regular ticket fare if their flight arrives on time or within three hours of its scheduled departure. The Colibra app is now available to download on the Apple Store for IOS users, as well as on the Google Play Store for Android users. How the app works: The passenger chooses a flight – it must depart and arrive within 30 days from booking date Adds his/her personal data – Colibra doesn’t charge at the time of booking Colibra charges the passenger upon arrival if everything goes smoothly and the service is delivered (ticket’s price is at no extra cost). In all other cases, the user travels for FREE.

Sabre Corporation recognized the needs of clients during this challenging time and the necessity to innovate quickly, reported by a survey by McKinsey. The Company took rapid action to employ technology and resources to transform to digital-only onboarding (integrating and acquainting customers with the Sabre platform), ensuring that the delivery was quick, simple and efficient for customers, from airlines to agencies. Typically, implementation processes involve working hand and hand with the customer on the data migration, holding a comprehensive series of face-to-face meetings and training sessions, and thereby quickly establishing a good communication and trust between all parties, something that is critical for the change management. Having to change to a virtual-only implementation process almost overnight involved rapid transformation, innovation and adaptability. “When Sabre was thrust into the remote work environment, we did not let our inability to physically work side-by-side with our customers get in the way of delivering on our commitments,” said Cem Tanyel, Chief Services Officer at Sabre Travel Solutions. “The way in which our teams at Sabre and our customers have collaborated to pioneer complex migrations virtually is truly impressive. Through adaptability, agility and innovation, we have been able to deliver successful implementations under new and challenging circumstances. We have gained valuable insights that have and will continue to change the way in which we operate in the years to come.” On the airline front, since the beginning of the pandemic, multiple airlines, including ASKY, which is the first Sabre-hosted carrier in the west and central African market, Croatia Airlines, Gulf Air, and Vietnam Airlines, successfully migrated to Sabre Revenue Optimizer, Sabre’s leading revenue optimization solution, via remote delivery. Croatia Airlines migrated in August 2020. Implementation …

dnata Travel is revealing the top destinations UAE travellers are booking for a summer holiday in 2021. Experts at the UAE-based travel brand, part of the dnata Travel Group, are revealing where travellers from the UAE are seeking to take a break between July and October 2021, with a focus on destinations with clear regulations, no rules for quarantine on arrival, and direct flight options. The top ten most booked holiday destinations for summer 2021 at the time of publishing include the Indian Ocean islands of the Maldives, Seychelles and Zanzibar; European city, beach and countryside hotspots across Turkey, Greece, Russia, Georgia, Italy and Cyprus; and travel to popular locations in the USA including Orlando, Florida and New York, New York. Emily Jenkins, Head of Leisure UAE at dnata Travel, commented, “Ahead of the summer travel season, we have witnessed a surge in destinations easing requirements and opening up for vaccinated travellers. With the UAE’s impressive vaccination drive, our residents have seen the number of destinations open for them to explore increase significantly. Traveller confidence has also grown, particularly in travel to destinations which have been open for some time and with clear regulations, offer quarantine-free travel, and direct flights. An ideal example of this is the number one international destination of choice for summer 2021, the Maldives, which has been open for UAE travellers since July 2020. “Traveller confidence and interest in travel to Europe is at an all-time high, as its popular locations continue to open for international tourists. Each country has its own set of guidelines, yet trends remain consistent in eased requirements for vaccinated travellers. Most popular for travel from the UAE include Turkey, Greece and …

Travelport and Emirates announced they have reached a commercial agreement that will allow Travelport-connected travel agencies to avoid the airline’s surcharge on bookings via Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that will be introduced from 01 July 2021. Furthermore, the companies announced a new long-term agreement to enable the distribution of Emirates NDC content via Travelport’s next-generation platform, Travelport+, and an extension to its longstanding IT agreement. Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer at Emirates said: “We are pleased to have reached key agreements with Travelport that take our decades-long partnership to the next level. Supported by the recent launch of Travelport+, these new deals will further cement Emirates as the airline of choice for travellers that want highly personalized offers and access to the world’s best destinations. Emirates and Travelport will continue to work jointly on future travel retail solutions that will offer our travel community partners even better and more bespoke services.” Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport, said, “This series of agreements highlights the determination of both Travelport and Emirates to re-invent travel retailing and push the boundaries of what’s possible. With a shared vision for the future, our long-standing collaboration will continue to go from strength-to-strength. Together, we look forward to giving the many travelers returning to the skies this summer and beyond the best possible offers and experiences.”

Bedsonline has launched the latest, upgraded version of The Compass, its award-winning market intelligence platform. The Compass harnesses Bedsonline’s real-time data to provide clients with the latest trends and up-to-date insights to help them promote the right destinations at the right time to their customers. Through its powerful search engine, travel advisors can identify market-specific booking patterns and use the filters to set their preferences when they select a destination. Once the selection is made, travel advisors can create their own personalized and branded marketing materials directly from the tool and easily share it with their customers. This latest upgrade, which is available in all Bedsonline markets, comes with a refreshed design and new functionality including: Automatic translation with information related to each destination now displayed in the client’s default language; More data including information on hotels and destinations not currently booked; The inclusion of destination and hotels proof points meaning that from now on, travel agents will be able to see – in real time – data related to the destination and hotels based on what they buy and how much they buy so that the information is fully tailored to each and every Bedsonline client. Since its launch in August last year, The Compass has managed over 80,000 visits for Bedsonline clients. Paul Anthony, Digital Commercialisation Director at Hotelbeds, the parent company of Bedsonline, said, “Now that the industry is slowly recovering, it is more essential than ever to provide our clients with the best tools available to help them harness all the pent up demand that is out there. This is why we are delighted to unveil this new version of The Compass, with its added functionality …

SCAT Airlines and Sabre Corporation, the leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, today announced a new strategic partnership, building on Sabre’s other achievements in the central Asian region. Under the new agreement, SCAT Airlines will migrate to Sabre’s passenger reservations system, SabreSonic.  It will also leverage Sabre’s industry-first Commercial Platform to help maximize revenue and create a differentiated brand experience for travelers. By delivering real-time, customer-centric offers to the airline’s customers, Sabre’s technology will help SCAT achieve its ambitious plans to lead the recovery and future growth of travel in Kazakhstan. “As we navigate the new travel environment, it’s very important for us to be agile and able to deliver personalized offers to our customers at the right time and through the right channels”, said Vladimir Denisov, president, SCAT Airlines.  “Our new agreement with Sabre is an essential pillar in our strategy, providing us with modern reservations technology, intelligent revenue management and scalable platform capabilities, which will help enable us to unlock new opportunities, provide best-in-class customer experience and maximize profitability.” “Given the current environment and pressure on the travel industry, it is more important than ever for airlines to use robust and intelligent technologies to forecast, analyze and optimize operations and revenue streams”, said Dino Gelmetti, Vice President EMEA, Sabre Travel Solutions.  “Sabre plans to enhance its presence in Kazakhstan and provide SCAT Airlines with the capabilities to achieve profitable growth and to pioneer the future of travel.  Today’s announcement demonstrates SCAT’s forward-looking approach and Sabre’s deep commitment to supporting the global aviation industry”.

Travelport introduced its enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs that will provide next-generation retailing and exchange capabilities to travel retailers worldwide. As part of Travelport’s investment in its next-generation platform, Travelport+, the new APIs are being rolled out globally and will offer retailers a gateway to better content choices, the tools to tailor their retailing experience, and the power to greatly improve the efficiency of their operations. “With our new APIs, we’ve expanded our modern retailing toolkit so that agencies upgrading to Travelport+ can more easily personalize the retailing experience they provide to their customers,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “The improvements we’ve made with these enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs will give travel retailers around the world simplified access to dynamic retail-ready content, from multiple sources, across all of their points of sale. And to ensure agencies can effectively operate as modern digital retailers, our APIs will also deliver the tools to optimize storefronts, better engage customers and manage trips more efficiently.” The modern, lightweight and highly functional APIs, which can also be used in conjunction with Travelport’s SOAP / XML APIs, drive up to 68% faster average transactions and a faster shopping and booking experience for travelers. The JSON API also enables greater flexibility and speed for developers, fostering quick, seamless connections and an optimized experience for both developers and travel retailers. Travelport’s new APIs include all of the details needed for public, private and tour operator specific air content and can be deeply enriched with Travelport’s branded fares. Additional API capabilities include streamed, cached content, speeding up the delivery of marketplace pricing and giving retailers the ability to inspire customers with highly relevant travel offers. …

eDreams ODIGEO expands its leading flight content platform through strategic technology agreement with Travelport – With this deal, Europe’s largest online travel company and the second largest flight retailer in the world signs a strategic agreement with Travelport, a worldwide leader in travel retail – Using the next-generation Travelport+ platform, eDreams ODIGEO will offer customers more choice in airline routes, including unique carrier content and unique ancillary services – The agreement is part of eDreams ODIGEO’s business strategy to further strengthen its leading offering in a post-COVID world Barcelona. The platform’s retailing and merchandising capabilities will offer eDreams ODIGEO customers more flexibility and choice in their bookings, allowing them to create tailored routes which meet their exacting requirements. The customer-centric approach is also poised to benefit the business’ airline partners. The agreement sees two travel-tech heavy weights join forces to drive innovation across the industry. eDreams ODIGEO is a technology-led business with one of the largest development teams in the European travel industry. The business is transforming the online travel booking experience with innovative products, it also boasts industry-leading capabilities in machine-based learning. Today, eDreams ODIGEO leverages its leading Artificial Intelligence capabilities to generate over 45 billion daily predictions to anticipate customer needs and travel demand. Travelport+, in turn, represents a multi-year investment by Travelport to accelerate industry innovation in multi-source content distribution, travel retailing and value generation. The combination of these leading technology capabilities will result in unparalleled benefits for travellers and increased competitiveness for both businesses. Javier Bellido, Air Content Strategies Director at eDreams ODIGEO said, “The addition of Travelport’s leading travel retail system into our flight content platform is yet another example of how the business is …

Sojern announced an extension of their partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) to drive further traveller demand into the Emirate using its Co-Op Marketing Programme. Following a successful pilot of the joint marketing programme, which has reached more than 3 million people so far, Abu Dhabi hotels have been able to increase direct bookings through a highly targeted, digital display and social media advertising campaign. The hospitality industry has been heavily impacted by the pandemic but DCT Abu Dhabi has worked closely with the UAE government to launch a series of stimulus initiatives to support the recovery of the tourism industry. “We were looking for ways to support the hospitality industry and navigate the economic challenges presented by the pandemic, and the partnership with Sojern helps us do just that, by supporting hotels in Abu Dhabi to drive direct bookings and improve room profitability,” said HE Ali Hassan Al Shaiba, Executive Director of Tourism and Marketing at DCT Abu Dhabi. “DCT Abu Dhabi is committed to collaborative efforts between the private and public sectors within the local tourism industry to continuously support and drive tourism growth to the capital. Our efforts are aligned with the overall strategic objectives and vision — to support the evolution of Abu Dhabi into a world-class destination, while also reinforcing the capital’s position as a forward-thinking tourism destination.” Sojern’s Co-Op Marketing Programme is designed to help Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) and their partners increase the effectiveness of their marketing initiatives through collaboration, and drive revenue for the travel industry, at scale. “Hotels in Abu Dhabi were looking to improve their direct booking volumes and reduce commission from …