Category Archives: Technology

Amadeus Gulf launched for the first time in this region the #Fly by Digital event, which is currently taking place at Jumeirah Beach Hotel on 16th and 17th of November. The event brings together a number of digital and travel experts who will share their insights on how to take the travel business successfully online. Over the past 10 years, the travel industry in MENA has been constantly reminded of the opportunity of moving online. With research suggesting that the online travel market space is estimated to be worth over $35 billion by 2018, the objective seems pretty simple. Amadeus have seen over the past few years the significant growth that online travel has achieved and want to show travel partners how to leverage the significant opportunities that exist today. The event is addressed to the travel industry from the UAE, Oman and Bahrain and is expecting around 200 participants. The event covers four key areas across the two days, including panel discussions and presentations held by some of the most relevant speakers in the travel industry, including Muhammad Chbib, CEO & Co-Founder at Tajawal; Alexandre Migan, GM at FLYR; Farid Gharazeddine, Analytical Lead – Google; Amy Kiernan, Head of Digital Performance at iProspect; Rajnish Kumar, CTO & Co-Founder -IXIGO and Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, GM at Middle-East TravelStart among others.  

The UAE is one step closer to being the world’s first location for a new form of high speed transport system that can enable people to travel from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in 12 minutes, following an agreement signed between Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and pioneering mobility company, Hyperloop One. Alongside the signing of the RTA agreement, the Hyperloop One team introduced, for the first time ever, a vision that represents a complete transformation in the way that people travel in the 21st century as the engineers, architects and designers from Hyperloop One and BIG have collaborated intensively for six months to produce a wholly original system design for Hyperloop travel. The idea of a Hyperloop – a low-pressure tube through which levitating pods containing both passengers and goods can travel at up to 1,200 km/h – has recently gained attention around the world. Benefits include higher standards of safety than a passenger jet, lower build and maintenance costs than high-speed rail, and energy usage, per person, that is similar to a bicycle. Today the company showcased the first-ever routes from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, several Hyperports (the equivalent of a station or airport) throughout Dubai, and the conceptual interiors and exteriors of the individual passenger pods. The work is based on a detailed study of how an urban and inter-city transport network should integrate with the existing infrastructure. It’s autonomous, point-to-point and vastly simplifies the experience of getting from your front door to your destination.

ResNet World has joined hands with Monopoly Hotels & Resorts to offer global reservations connectivity to independent hotels and national hotel groups. All hotels joining the Monopoly Hotels & Resorts Alliance Program will now have access to world-class Central Reservations System (CRS) connectivity, including a direct link to Synxis responsive hotel booking engine, via www.monopolyhotelsandresorts.com, which boasts the highest conversion rate in the industry, the most direct interface to Online Travel Agents (OTA) channels in the industry – allowing for 100% channel management from CRS back office, 100% Global Distribution System (GDS) connection through Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo, Travelport, DHISCO channels, and their 500,000 + travel agents and complimentary annual GDS audit for all Monopoly Hotels & Resorts/ResNet World hotel partners, full GDS related Request For Proposal & Consortia support, including access to Sabre’s preferred programs, unmatched level of customer support, with ResNet World completing data input on behalf of the hotel, frequent monitoring of real-time hotel performance, followed up with feedback to the hotel on how they can maximize their e-distribution revenues at any given time, automated monthly reports ensuring both ResNet World and the hotel are aware of ongoing revenue generation, 24/7 customer support across all time zones, with guaranteed same day response times and contractual terms guaranteed to match membership terms of Monopoly Hotels & Resorts. Targeting hotels, resorts, residences and inns, the collaborative partnership will help establish Monopoly Hotels & Resorts as the industry’s best alternate option to a traditional hotel franchise system – enabling hotels to maintain their own identity and operating independence, while benefitting from the peace of mind that comes with the support provided by Monopoly Hotels & Resorts.

The latest global study by Sabre reveals that travellers would spend $100 on airline ancillaries to personalize travel experience.  Sabre surveyed travellers from 20 countries about what they would spend and why. The results show that 80 percent of travellers purchased air extras on their last trip, spending an average of $62.  When asked if they would spend more to personalise their trip, the answer was “yes” – up to $99 if it improved their travel experience. The research was announced at the IATA World Passenger Symposium in Dubai, as part of a Sabre-hosted industry roundtable on how airlines and hotels can deliver more tailored offers and services to customers. More details in our December print version.

The UAE’s first premium-experience travel website Musafir.com inaugurated a new flagship branch at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). With a specific focus on the corporate travel segment, the new branch located in the heart of Dubai’s financial district is expected to increase Musafir.com’s corporate travel bookings by 35 per cent over a period of next six months. With the recently upgraded online corporate tool that helps organisations manage their employees travel with ease, Musafir.com expects to see tremendous growth in their corporate clientele.  This follows 60 per cent growth in Musafir.com’s corporate travel bookings since January 2015. The new Musafir.com store was inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Thani, Chairman of the Department of Statistics and Community Development and Co-founder of Musafir.com, in the presence of Sachin Gadoya, Managing Director and Co-founder of Musafir.com, and Saleh Al Akrabi, CEO of DIFC. The inauguration marks the 12th store opening for Musafir.com in the UAE – one of six new store openings lined up before the end of 2016 –and represents a key milestone in the travel provider’s ambitious regional expansion strategy.

Marriott International together with Sabre Hospitality Solutions has unveiled a new distribution and booking solution, www.MarriottWholesalers.com, that provides thousands of authorized wholesalers, destination marketing companies, and tour operators access to real‐time rates and inventory for more than 4,200 Marriott properties around the world. The solution is part of Marriott’s strategy to transform the wholesale and leisure segment with technology and shift to dynamic rates and automated reservations, replacing antiquated processes for contracting, accessing inventory and booking hotel rooms. Approved wholesalers can now search real time hotel net rates and inventory globally to create tailor‐made packages for their customers. All hotel bookings are confirmed instantly online. The solution provides significant value to smaller wholesalers by removing the need for them to make a technology investment to gain direct, dynamic access to rates and inventory. The solution will make it more efficient than ever to distribute Marriott’s inventory to the broader leisure package segment. Wholesalers can establish or renew access in seven languages at MarriottWholesalers.com and once authenticated, they immediately have access to the booking engine.

World Travel Services, based in Bahrain, is working to deliver a more personalised travel experience for its customers, using industry-leading technology from global travel technology company, Sabre Corporation.  The company, which signed a new multi-year agreement with the technology company, will use Sabre’s shopping, booking and travel management solutions to provide more choice to travelers, while also driving new revenue opportunities, operational efficiencies and productivity. The new agreement was marked by an official ceremony at World Travel Service offices, attended by senior management and Sabre executives from the region.  World Travel Services joins many other leading travel management companies in Bahrain and the region to use Sabre’s broad portfolio of technology to achieve business goals and revenue growth.

Travelport has announced a new multi-year, global full content agreement (FCA) with Turkish carrier Atlasglobal Airlines. Under the agreement, Atlasglobal will now offer Travelport-connected agencies in over 180 countries, servicing hundreds of millions of consumers around the world, real-time access to its fares and inventory-through the Travel Commerce Platform. The airline also joins over 180 airlines now live on Travelport’s industry leading merchandising solution, Travelport Rich Content & Branding, which enables the airline’s fare families to appear on travel agency screens, on a fully integrated basis, in exactly the same way it displays fares and ancillaries on its own website. Operating in the region since 2001, and under the name Atlasglobal since 2015, the airline has a legacy of innovation in customer service and passenger quality and comfort, having introduced unique initiatives such as the “Flying Chef” and “Fly & Bus” services for its passengers. Atlasglobal operates a network across three continents and flies to almost 50 destinations. Travelport’s unsurpassed ability to provide detailed product descriptions- including images and related ancillary options- will support Atlasglobal in demonstrating its unique attributes to the 68,000 Travelport connected travel agents around the world. The merchandising solution also offers the airline the ability to send tailored offers to travel agents and corporates to help drive additional bookings and revenues per seat.

Following the successful Las Vegas Customer Forum earlier this year, Sabre Hospitality Solutions last week (October 10-12) invited key hotel players from across the region to its EMEA Customer Forum in Abu Dhabi. The event brought together Sabre’s hospitality clients with industry experts and technology gurus to identify and discuss the most relevant trends impacting the industry and explore in-depth some of the most avant-garde innovations on the horizon. Keynote speaker Jonathan MacDonald, founder of Thought Expansion Network (TEN) gave insights on “Radical Disruption: How to turn risk into opportunity”. Sabre unveiled the latest innovative technology solutions developed to drive successful hotel strategies and increase business and asked participating hoteliers for feedback and comments.

Travelport has signed a new multi-year agreement with East West Travel Group, an Egypt-based travel agency. The East West Travel Group has over 30 years of operational experience, and specializes in corporate travel. The East West Travel Group has also now become the sole representative of BCD Travel in Egypt. BCD Travel is a leading global corporate travel management company with over 13,000 employees worldwide and total sales in 2015 of $25.4 billion. To mark the occasion Travelport sponsored a partnership event with East West Travel Group and BCD Travel in Egypt at the Baron Palace Garden, a historic attraction in the suburb of Heliopolis, Cairo. The event brought together some of the leading players from the Egyptian travel industry from the airline, hotel and government spaces.  The event was attended by His Excellency Mohamed Yehia Rashed, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism. As a result of the agreement, East West Travel Group and BCD Travel will now be able to access and utilize Travelport’s unrivalled travel content – including the branded fares and ancillaries from the world’s leading airlines and low cost carriers, as well as over 650,000 hotel properties, all from within the travel agent’s workflow. Travelport has established itself as a key technology partner in the Egyptian travel industry and today’s announcement with East West Travel and BCD Travel further reinforces Travelport’s brand awareness in the region.