Category Archives: Technology

Amadeus Gulf hosted a technology show in Abu Dhabi showcasing the latest products and offerings to travel businesses in the region. The show had over 150 attendees catering to owners, decision-makers, and managers including travel agents. The main objective of the show was to educate customers about the newest solutions, enabling them to achieve better results in the coming year and prepare their business for 2017. Jauhar Abdul Gafoor, Sales Director – Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain & Oman, Amadeus Gulf, said: “Amadeus Gulf always focuses on the requirements of our key stakeholders and make available the right solutions that will benefit the travel industry. Amadeus Technology Show falls aptly in line with this objective and provides the ideal platform to showcase the wide array of technology products that are available to our partners and customers.” The travel industry is growing significantly and rapidly. In order to be able to be on par with the demands of this industry, it is crucial to adopt the latest technologies across businesses. Keeping this objective in mind, the technology show focused on educating and providing personalised solutions to travel agents. The highlight of the show was the Amadeus Selling Platform which is the state of art smart booking platform. Amadeus Gulf also demonstrated solutions such as Amadeus Agency Insight which provides the easy way to monitor, manage and optimize performance of the travel agencies business. Also, e-commerce products such as e-Power, Mobile Traveller and web services, as well as robotics solutions such as Touchless Solutions were showcased, which helps agents reduce their manual work and eliminate errors.  Apart from that Remote ticketing solution – a fully automated solution designed to manage pricing, price comparison and …

AVIAREPS has launched AVIACOLLECT, an online payment solution that allows small to medium offline airlines, hospitality brands, including standalone hotels and resorts, Destination Management Companies (DMCs), and providers of travel services, such as visa application, ground transportation, airport lounge access, car hire, attractions, sightseeing and travel insurance, to economically and effectively extend their international consumer and travel agent sales networks around the world. AVIACOLLECT was launched in response to the urgent business development needs of many small to mid-size tourism related companies to extend their sales distribution channels and presence internationally, in a manner that respects their unique brand, and is cost-effective to ensure a return on investment given limited resources. The payment solution can be used as a white label solution for AVIAREPS clients, allowing them to accept payments in targeted countries with local bank connections and in local currencies. As an AVIAREPS product AVIACOLLECT is naturally supported with in-market on the ground proactive promotion and distribution management by AVIAREPS professionals to established consumer and travel trade networks. AVIACOLLECT is also tailored to the needs of consumers and local travel agents seeking an online one stop information and payment platform, as visitors to the site can book all types of services for travel around the world; including accommodation, airport transfers, tours, airport lounge access and more, and then pay for them all in one online credit card payment. Each AVIACOLLECT portal is also tailored to the consumers and travel agents of each particular market, so that language, currency payments and even visa and other information is specific to that specific country or region. Clients too can tailor seasonal and promotional offerings to each individual market.

The UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE) has launched the first phase of its ‘Be Happy – Visit UAE’ application as part of its featured initiatives for UAE Innovation Week 2016 at the Tourism Innovation and Transformation Forum 2016 organised by the Ministry and held on November 23, 2016, at the Westin Hotel in Dubai. The application is the first of its kind in the UAE and was developed to measure the satisfaction of visitors and tourists during their stay. Its interactive features enable users to indicate their satisfaction and happiness depending on their location. The tool was developed using the latest Internet Bot technology. It provides visitors with an overview of touristic sights and updates on the features, services and purposes of the touristic sector. Additional interesting information on the UAE are provided as well. The application facilitates live chats and interactive discussions for visitors to express their needs and introduces touristic services and products that can meet users’ requirements. The application’s user-friendly interactive platform features an avatar of an Emirati character, designed to represent the Bot character which assists the tourist. Through the app, users can explore the country’s various touristic destinations and locate important sights, accommodations, hotels and restaurants aside from accessing information on the weather and touristic events across the UAE. H.E. Mohammed Khamis Al Muhairi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Economy, explained that the launch of the app forms part of the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to integrate innovation into the country’s various vital sectors, particularly tourism which he said promotes sustainable growth and competitiveness. He added that such initiatives advance the Ministry’s vision of building a diversified and knowledge-based economy empowered by innovation and new technology. …

Dubai Trade, the single window for cross-border trade and smart trading solutions, is integrating the “Rosoom” e-payment gateway with the Global Village website. The agreement gives visitors the convenience of buying tickets online through the Global Village website www.globalvillage.ae or its mobile application. During the 159 days of its 20th edition, Global Village received 5.3 million visitors. With the new service, this year’s visitors will no longer need to wait in long queues at ticket booths before sampling the shopping and entertainment experience available at Global Village. They have a wide range of payment options to choose from including credit cards, direct debit by linking to the online internet banking portals of major banks, and pre-payment tools such as the e-dirham.

Qatar Airways has launched a digital membership card for its Privilege Club members, providing them with an option to redeem Qmiles when travelling across the airline’s global network. Available to all Privilege Club membership tiers — Burgundy, Silver, Gold and Platinum — the new digital membership card provides travellers with the same level of service as the physical card using their smartphones or tablets. Members can continue earning and redeeming Qmiles on products and services, priority check-in, extra baggage allowance, special discounts at Qatar Duty Free, accessing Qatar Airways’ lounges and using partner airline services, award fee waivers for Gold and Platinum members, Flexi Awards and online redemption discounts. Travellers can now present their membership card on a smartphone or tablet via the Qatar Airways App, mobile website, Apple Wallet, email or as a saved image on a portable device. The digital membership card will now supersede the physical card for all new Burgundy Privilege Club members and their nominated family members, providing them with immediate access to the many benefits of the Privilege Club programme.

Amadeus Gulf has renewed its consortium agreement with Bin Ham and Al Amaan, part of the Bin Ham Group of companies for the next three years.  It also renewed partnership with Abu Dhabi Travel Bureau, in order to fulfill their strategy of developing the off-line and online business. Nabil El Saygh, General Manager, Bin Ham Travel Group, said, “This renewal is the result of the quality of service that Amadeus offer, together with personalized care in order to create a relationship of confidence. Amadeus products bring value to our business through up/cross selling, helping us to serve our customers more efficiently and in a cost-effective manner”. Graham J. Nichols, Managing Director, Amadeus Gulf, said, “We are delighted to renew our agreement with the Bin Ham Travel Group as it clearly demonstrates the confidence they have through experience in our technology, service and support. Our leading products and solutions provide agencies with many opportunities to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in operation as well as ensuring their customer loyalty.  We look forward to a continued and long lasting relationship”.  As part of the agreement, Amadeus Gulf will offer the agencies Front office solution (Amadeus Ticket Changer/Master Pricer Expert), Mid Office (Credit control/Web UETTR) and the Online Solution (E-Power- Mobile Traveller).

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.