Tag Archives: technology

BCD Travel has expanded its agreement with Amadeus as the forward-looking travel management company (TMC) refines its global technology approach to best capitalize on opportunities in the new era of business travel. Under the new agreement, the two organizations will partner on multiple initiatives, each designed to provide BCD Travel with a platform for growth, productivity improvement, and technological innovation. BCD Travel will leverage Amadeus’ technology, travel expertise, content, and global footprint to support its operations in additional markets. This includes incorporating Amadeus’ industry leading NDC content and end-to-end workflow capabilities. For Amadeus, the new agreement also means increased business with a leading global TMC, including opportunities in the UK, Ireland, and North America. “BCD is delighted to be expanding our long-standing partnership with Amadeus,” said BCD Travel President and CEO John Snyder. “This agreement allows us to engage on deeper technology collaboration and deliver high value services through the Amadeus Travel Platform. The expansion of our partnership will provide our corporate clients with more content options, including bringing NDC to life at scale, while streamlining and simplifying our distribution technology footprint and infrastructure.” Decius Valmorbida, President, Travel, Amadeus, said: “We are proud to extend and expand our long-standing partnership with BCD Travel. As the leading technology company in the travel industry, we consistently invest to deliver superior products and services to our customers. The new agreement presents significant potential for mutual growth, and we look forward to partnering with BCD Travel on initiatives to address future challenges and opportunities in the business travel space.”

Almatar Travel Group and Sabre Corporation signed a new technology agreement at the Saudi Tourism Forum in Riyadh, that will see the travel company uses Sabre’s industry-leading technology and solutions to help drive operational efficiency, advance its virtual payments strategy and transform travellers experience. Under this agreement, Almatar Travel Group will benefit from Sabre’s extensive travel ecosystem including its wide geographic scope and breadth of travel content, which includes air, lodging, ancillary and NDC content. Furthermore, Almatar will access Sabre’s portfolio of innovative technology and intelligent platform, Sabre Red 360, which will help enable the travel company to differentiate its offering, compete more effectively, grow faster in the region, and expand its online travel business. Additionally, Almatar will use Sabre’s APIs and Automation Hub to help it stay competitive in the dynamic Saudi marketplace. “With the impressive developments of the Saudi Vision 2030, we are witnessing increased tourism in the country, allowing us to deal with travellers from around the world with different expectations and accustomed to different technology,” said Faisal Al Rajhi, President, Almatar Travel Group. “We turned to Sabre to advance our technology, expand our reach and equip ourselves with intelligent solutions that make shopping and booking travel intuitive, personalised and flexible which is important to differentiate our offerings in a competitive marketplace.” Almatar Travel Group is advancing its payments solution and will deploy Sabre Virtual Payments (SVP) to help maximize value of its B2B payments and to provide payments flexibility and control, increased fraud protection and security, accurate reconciliation and better automation and efficiency. “We are excited to partner with Sabre at this exciting time to support the Kingdom’s vision and the travel and tourism developments,” said …

Faced with increased disruptions, baggage mountains, and staff shortages, airports and airlines are ramping up their investment in technology to digitalize their operations and speed up the passenger journey by offering more self-service options. SITA’s 2022 Air Transport IT Insights report, published reveals that with the post-pandemic recovery CIOs want to ensure operations are as agile and resilient as they are efficient, with IT solutions seen as central to their success. This has spurred an acceleration of digitalization, with airlines and airports looking to key technology solutions to fortify their operations against disruption while automating the passenger experience. The industry’s IT spend is projected to continue its steady year-on-year growth trend since 2020 to support this push for digitalization, with a full 96% of airlines and 93% of airports expecting their IT spend to stay the same or increase in 2023 compared to 2022. Last year airline and airport IT spend rose to an estimated 37 billion USD and 6.8 billion USD respectively. David Lavorel, CEO, SITA, said: “Air travel has recovered faster from the pandemic than anyone in the industry had initially expected, particularly in Europe and the US. While the recovery is welcome, airports and airlines have found themselves on the back foot with staff and resource shortages. This has put strain on operations, resulting in an increased risk of congestion, delays, cancellations and mishandled baggage. Digitalization is seen as key to addressing these challenges, providing more scalability and flexibility.” Airlines are placing great emphasis on IT tools to manage irregular operations and provide the best passenger experience possible even amid staff shortages. Over the next three years, 90% or more of airlines are investing in IT service …

Kanoo Travel, the largest travel company in the MENA region, has started a new partnership with dcs plus, a global leading travel technology company. This investment will further enhance the technological infrastructure, strengthen Kanoo Travel’s operational activity and upgrade the services towards its impressive portfolio of customers. Kanoo Travel will power their operations with TINA, the travel ERP developed by dcs plus. TINA is one of the world’s most advanced web-based ERP systems for the travel industry and is favored by members of large global TMCs. With an operational footprint that spans over an extensive network of offices the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, Kanoo Travel aims to achieve a greater control and efficiency through digitalization. This new partnership will enable Kanoo Travel to achieve greater control through seamless processes, reducing the operational costs and offering a best-in-class traveler experience at every touchpoint of the customer journey. Furthermore, Kanoo Travel will leverage the state-of-the-art technology from dcs plus to optimize business processes, utilizing smart analytics and data, which will be integrated across different platforms at group level for Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Egypt. Zaeem Gama, Divisional CEO of Kanoo Travel: “Our partnership with dcs plus is a fundamental element of our ambitious roadmap to advance the travel industry through digitalization, further reflecting our commitment to provide the most sophisticated travel solutions on a global level. We believe in establishing key strong partnerships in the region to fully execute our full-scale digitization plan and ambitions, which allows us to become agile and seamless especially in an ever-evolving landscape. dcs plus and Kanoo Travel have a collective vision, and together we will capture untapped opportunities …

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 …

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.

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.”  

Hudini, and Incode Technologies announced their strategic partnership to transform hospitality guest experiences. The partnership with Incode will enable Hudini cus-tomers to deploy identity verification during the check-in and check-out processes through enhanced digital bio-metric technology. This association will automate these processes making it quick, seamless and at the conven-ience of the guest. The hospitality industry relies on its ability to connect people and the places they visit to create memora-ble 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 76% of hotel executives are looking to introduce “a fully contactless experience” by 2025. Prince Thampi, Founder and CEO at Hudini said: “Hotel guests crave seamless experiences when they travel. Long check-in processes and complex payment procedures can ruin a guest’s stay. As a leader in biometric identity verification, Incode’s solution removes these challenges and helps to maximise the dig-ital guest experience, without compromising on security or privacy. Through our partnership with Incode, we are excited to offer fully automated identity verification to our check-in and check-out features across our partner hotels.” Both organizations have realized the potential identity verification holds across the hospitality industry and share the ambition for its widespread adoption during hotel check-in and check-out. To further that vision, the partnership will include the following experiences: Transparent guest identification: In a matter of seconds, even before arrival, the industry’s only fully automated identity verification engine validates the identity of a guest. This allows guests to identify themselves at their convenience, triggering Hudini’s systems to …

Cutting-edge technology and innovation will be adopted as the theme for Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019, to be held at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 28 to May 1, 2019. According to a latest research conducted by Colliers International, personalisation Artificial Intelligence (AI) could increase hotel revenues by over 10 per cent and reduce costs by more than 15 per cent – with hotel operators expecting technology such as voice and facial recognition, virtual reality and biometrics to be mainstream by 2025. The research also estimates that 73 per cent of manual activities in the hospitality industry have the technical potential for automation, with many global hotel operators including Marriott, Hilton, and Accor already investing in automating elements of their human resources. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said, “It is important to highlight that the GCC is one of the fastest-growing regional hospitality markets on a global scale and an innovative technology-reliant industry. Its impact on hotels and travel and tourism is multi-dimensional, ranging from voice and facial recognition, chatbots and beacon technology to virtual reality, blockchain and robot concierge. Throughout ATM 2019, the spotlight theme will be launched as a platform to create awareness and inspire the travel and hospitality industry about the next generation of technology, while bringing together senior travel executives to meet and conduct business with innovative tech providers. With technologies like AI and automation quickly maturing, the hospitality and travel and tourism industry must prepare for a wave of disruption in order to reap the overall benefits of these technologies.”

In leveraging the latest in digital technology to provide superior guest experiences, Emaar Hospitality Group marked its industry leadership with the addition of Apple Pay, a new way to pay. A transformational leader in mobile payments, Apple Pay is an easy, secure and private way to make transactions that are fast and convenient. The new service is available for guests across all three hotel brands of Emaar Hospitality Group, covering all 11 operational hotels and three serviced residences in Dubai. Security and privacy are at the core of Apple Pay. When guests use a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device or on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is securely stored in the Secure Element on their device. Guests using Apple Pay at check-in can simply use an iPhone or Apple Watch to pay at the contactless reader at the front desk. There will be no additional need to provide a physical credit card upon check-in.