Tag Archives: travel technology

Sabre Hospitality announced a new partnership with BookLogic  which marks a significant step in expanding the global distribution and retailing capabilities of both companies, focuses on driving growth in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions, with particular emphasis on United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey as well as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This partnership reflects both companies’ commitment to regional growth and innovation. The collaboration will begin by connecting up to 1,200 hotels from BookLogic’s portfolio to leading Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) and Internet Distribution Systems (IDS). Future plans include expanding to online travel agency (OTA) integration, BookLogic’s long-tail distribution channels, and comprehensive retail solutions. This layered approach allows BookLogic to scale its offerings and marketing distribution opportunities to meet the evolving needs of the hospitality industry, offering hoteliers a complete ecosystem and landscape for managing optimized operations, distribution, and efficient guest engagement. Sabre Hospitality and BookLogic also share strategic priorities in payment automation, dynamic packaging technology, alternative regional distribution, and guest experience, creating a strong foundation for future growth and innovation. “Partnering with BookLogic will enable Sabre Hospitality to expand its reach in key markets such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey,” said Frank Trampert, Senior Vice President, Global Managing Director at Sabre Hospitality. “By leveraging the power of our SynXis platform, BookLogic will offer best-in-class distribution and retailing services to independent hotels, helping them unlock new opportunities and drive operational efficiency in a competitive market.” Leveraging Sabre’s SynXis Retailing platform integrated with the BookLogic system, the partnership brings a robust set of features and connections to the MEA region, one of Sabre Hospitality’s key growth areas. SynXis, the leading global hospitality commerce and distribution platform, connects hotels to over …

Riyadh Air has entered into a strategic agreement with Sabre Corporation where the airline will adopt comprehensive SabreMosaic Offer Optimization technology that provides the intelligence to enable the airline’s ambition to be the first carrier to operate on offer- and order-based technology across the entire retail spectrum from its first day of operations in 2025. With a bold vision to create personalized offers across a broad range of customer touchpoints, Sabre and Riyadh Air are co-innovating in the realm of offer optimization to create industry-first technologies to fuel the future of airline retailing. Powered by Sabre Travel AITM and utilizing Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) toolkit, this innovative approach enhances offer construction with smart customer segmentation and intelligent bundling – enabling Riyadh Air to unlock value and benefits from effective offer optimization capabilities. As it begins operations in a highly competitive regional environment, Riyadh Air will deploy SabreMosaic Air Price IQ, Ancillary IQ, Bundle IQ, and Upgrade IQ to generate and manage dynamic offers. Riyadh Air will also deploy SabreMosaic Continuous Revenue Optimizer for true continuous pricing, making it the first airline in the world to operate without traditional fare filing and booking classes in the direct channel. This revolutionary technology enables Riyadh Air to offer diverse and customized travel options, delivering tailored experiences to customers while optimizing revenue. “We are excited to partner with Riyadh Air as they become the first airline to operate entirely on offer- and order-based technology,” said Darren Rickey, Senior Vice President, Global Airline Sales and Account Management, Sabre Travel Solutions. “Riyadh Air’s forward-thinking approach and vision to be a digital-first airline align seamlessly with Sabre’s commitment to leading the transformation of airline …

Sabre Corporation announced that Malaysia Airlines has selected PRISM to power and optimize its corporate segment. By using automated, real-time data insights and trends, PRISM offers advanced data analytics, enabling a more customized travel solution for business customers.  A truly global tool with international customers and data sources, PRISM ingests data from more than 5,000 sources internationally with more than 200 million individual corporate flight bookings in 2023. PRISM provides uniquely valuable insights and analytics, including robust contract profit modelling and performance reporting, along with more than 350 preformatted reports containing thousands of different data configurations. In addition to being fully hosted on Google Cloud, PRISM now supports weekly data submissions from its data sources. Those opting for the API option will benefit from automated daily data submissions. PRISM offers daily corporate booking trend data, enhanced user analytics driven by Google Cloud’s BigQuery and Looker capabilities, API connections to link to airline CRM systems, and enhanced user tools to streamline sales collaboration with partner airlines and commercial clients. “Selecting the right business intelligence solution is essential for enhancing our corporate travel offerings, driving business growth, and boosting revenue while elevating the travel experience for our customers. This is why we’ve chosen Sabre PRISM, to help us achieve these goals by optimizing and streamlining our sales processes,” said Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi, Chief Executive Officer of Airlines from Malaysia Aviation Group. With PRISM, airlines gain a comprehensive view of corporate travel while ensuring compliance with GDPR and other global data privacy regulations. It is the only solution that offers a built-in analytics tool, on-demand reporting, and API connectivity.  Additionally, Sabre offers PRISM customers 24/7 self-service access to analytics and reporting, as well as in-house technical and …

Speaking at the Bavel Travel Summit taking place in Spain, Maria Sellar from Terrapay called out gender bias in the travel technology industry. During a speech titled ‘Breaking Barriers: Inclusion and Diversity in Travel Industry Leadership!’, Sellar went on to demand the travel technology industry bridges this gap or risks falling behind. Whilst addressing the 200+ crowd of travel tech professionals at the event in Sitges, Spain – organized by B2B travel payments company Voxel – Sellar shared her own experiences of discrimination and highlighted research seen by Terrapay that proved the stark inequality between males and females in the sector, including that: • Only 28% of tech employees are female, but more worryingly still the percentage of women serving as CEOs in technology companies is only roughly 17%. • There’s some evidence things are going backwards: there was a decline of 2.1% in the representation of women in big tech companies between 2020 and 2022! • Between 2016 and 2022, an average of only 15% of tech startup founders were female, according to Startup Genome, 2023. “You only need to look down the list of attendees at travel technology events to see how male dominated it is, there’s not much statistical analysis to be done – and again, when you look at who is speaking on stage or who are the CEOs, the gap is obvious and worrying” commented Sellar, who at B2B travel payments provider Terrapay is the General Manager for Travel. She continued “For anyone with any doubts about the value of gender equality, consider that it isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a strategic advantage that fosters creativity and a broader range of perspectives, ultimately benefiting the …

Emirates and Expedia Group have strengthened their decade-long partnership to provide travelers with an even greater value proposition through a wider selection of products and services. The partnership will see Emirates collaborating with Expedia Group to promote select strategic destinations on its platform, making it easier for travelers to seamlessly book their Emirates journeys. Additionally, more joint marketing campaigns will be implemented, leveraging data insights to optimize user experiences and drive engagement for Emirates on Expedia Group sites. As part of Emirates’ efforts to deliver an enriched customer experience across diverse platforms, engage with new consumer segments, and tap into premium traveler preferences, the airline has reaffirmed its partnership with Expedia Group and has signed agreements with tech solutions providers Huawei and Tap Payments on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market. These partnerships align closely with the airline’s objective of continuously engaging with diverse consumer segments and audiences to provide exclusive benefits and value across a spectrum of travel touchpoints. Tap Payments Emirates is set to expand its Business Rewards partnerships by joining forces with Tap Payments, one of the largest fintech companies in the region. Tap Payments facilitates online payments across the region by connecting businesses with simple, secure, and unified payment experiences. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with Tap Payments on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM). Together, Emirates and Tap Payments aim to reach, engage with, and attract Tap’s extensive small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customer base across the region, ultimately enrolling them in the Emirates Business Rewards Program. Additionally, Emirates will offer Tap Payments Rewards members the option of a seamless conversion and transfer of points from the Tap Payments Rewards program to Emirates …

Sabre Corporation announced a new alliance with Red Sparrow Tourism Consultancy. The deal will give travel agents across Egypt increased opportunities to grow their businesses with Sabre’s intuitive technology. Through the agreement, Red Sparrow will be licensed to represent and distribute the Sabre brand to travel agencies across Egypt. This will further amplify Sabre’s growing presence in Africa while giving agents enhanced access to Sabre solutions, including Sabre Red 360, which provides a full spectrum of bookable content through a customizable interface. Through Red Sparrow, Sabre-connected agents will also have access to a localized helpdesk in Egypt. “We’re excited and proud to be combining Sabre’s advanced technology with our deep market support and expertise,” said Tarek Hefny, Country Manager, Red Sparrow. “With continued focus on further, significant growth for the Egyptian tourist sector, it’s more important than ever that travel agents here have access to the industry-leading solutions they need to enhance offers and experiences for travellers while growing their own revenue.” This latest agreement further expands Sabre’s geographic footprint in Africa, following a recent distributor deal with SABRON Tech Ltd for key markets in East Africa. “Working collaboratively with our travel partners across the globe is incredibly important to Sabre, and for the growth of the wider travel ecosystem,” said Sean McDonald, Managing Director, EMEA, Agency Solutions. “So, we’re delighted to come together with Red Sparrow to provide travel agents in Egypt with the technology they need to make compelling recommendations and create personalized experiences for their travellers through Sabre’s smart workflows.”

Sabre Corporation announced a multi-year renewal agreement with lastminute.com N.V. Under the long-term technology agreement, lastminute.com expects to drive a better customer experience with Sabre’s advanced shopping and virtual payments solutions. Using Sabre’s rich GDS content and Bargain Finder Max shopping API, lastminute.com will be able to build and display compelling itineraries for travelers in seconds. This will help enable the OTA to customize booking experiences by tailoring search results for the most relevant fares, based on itinerary preferences. “Sabre is foundational to lastminute.com’s technology strategy, and the support of our shopping and payment capabilities are areas that are keys in our partnership,” said Luca Concone, CEO, lastminute.com. “We are in a strategic partnership that drives technology innovation to help travel companies increase customer loyalty and drive revenue, and in turn are creating a turn-key travel planning and booking experience for the end user.” As a B2B payments provider to lastminute.com, Sabre Virtual Payments technology offers increased flexibility and control, enhanced fraud protection and security, accurate reconciliation, and better payment automation and efficiency.   “Lastminute.com has the ability to provide a seamless customer experience from shopping, booking and payment and that translates into the ability to gain more share of wallet for the online travel agency,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer for Sabre Travel Solutions.  “We help drive conversion with customer-centric technology and cloud-native microservices enabling more agility and shopping products to turbocharge the retailing experience.”   Through the Sabre GDS, lastminute.com will have access to more than 400 airlines, 1.6 million lodging options, and hundreds of tour operators, rail, and car rental providers to sell customized travel packages from suppliers around the world.

Representatives from more than 80 of the world’s leading travel technology companies are preparing to exhibit at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, which will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from Monday 1 to Thursday 4 May. Over 2,000m2 of exhibition space will be dedicated to industry technology during the 30th edition of ATM, representing a 54.7% increase in sector participation compared to last year’s show. ATM 2023’s Travel Tech space will also be supplemented by a brand-new Sustainability Hub, which will shine a spotlight on the latest environmentally responsible travel trends and innovations. The ATM Travel Tech Stage sponsored by Sabre, will host a selection of in-depth panel discussions that will explore how modern innovations such as artificial intelligence, big data and Web3 are enabling seamless operations, professional development, payments, accessibility, sustainable travel and enhanced customer experiences. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, said: “My colleagues and I are delighted to see such strong representation from travel technology professionals at this year’s show. Encouraging innovation is especially pertinent to ATM 2023 as it is a crucial component of our theme, ‘Working Towards Net Zero’. It is essential for our industry to support and invest in the most promising technologies today in order to build a better and more sustainable travel sector for future generations.” Sponsored by Sabre, the ATM Travel Tech Stage will host a series of innovation-centric discussions and events throughout the show. The first session, ‘Technology: The Enabler of Sustainable Travel’, will see industry experts discuss how online tools are making it easier for consumers to mitigate their environmental impact when purchasing and planning trips. Moderated by Shashank Nigam, Founder and CEO of …

Amadeus and House of Travel Bahrain have renewed their ongoing partnership with the signing of a new multi-year agreement. This will help one of Bahrain’s leading travel agencies to benefit from the latest optimization and digitalization tools as well as a host of other technology. Eng. Nashat Bukhari, GM – Amadeus Saudi Arabia & Bahrain, commented, “We are thrilled to continue working with House of Travel in Bahrain as part of this new, multi-year agreement. The suite of Amadeus solutions that will be deployed is designed to help House of Travel enhance its leading position in Bahrain. The agency will also benefit from advanced optimization and productivity tools, and market insights.” Jehad Amin, CEO & Vice Chairman – House of Travel, added, “At House of Travel Bahrain we only work with the best partners, so we can deliver on our mission to improve the customer and traveller experience. After a thorough review, we’re delighted to have selected Amadeus as our preferred technology partner. Thanks to this ongoing partnership, House of Travel’s consultants will be able to spend even more time focusing on serving the needs of customers and delivering an unmatched level of service.” Highlights of the deal include the deployment of touchless, robotic tools to accelerate and automate administrative functions as well as Amadeus Online suite, a complete end-to-end online booking solution with integrated payment gateway and trip notifications. House of Travel Bahrain will also benefit from the latest market insights from Amadeus.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Company for Visa and Travel Solutions (SVTS) for broader collaboration on streamlining travel arrangements. The signing took place during the first day of the World Travel Market in London between Wael Basaffar, SAUDIA’s VP sales, and Abdullah Aljorias, the Chief Business Officer of SVTS. According to the MoU, the two parties will share the use of each other’s office spaces around the world and co-invest in technological solutions for online interconnectivity. The two companies will also explore ways to create, develop, and apply joint services and marketing. In addition, the MoU proposes the possibility of joint operations support bureaus to help run day-to-day activities. There is also a possibility of SAUDIA offering exclusive deals across its international network. Mr. Basafar said that the MoU comes as part of SAUDIA’s commitment to broadening its partnerships with government agencies and the private sector locally and internationally for greater online interconnectivity of services, which supports the Kingdom’s digital transformation agenda and plans to streamline travel arrangements for visitors from across more than 100 destinations in four continents. Mr. Abdullah Aljorias, Chief Business Officer, clarifies that the memorandum was signed to enable the company to reach its long-term objectives. The primary purpose is to provide all new and innovative solutions and digitization services that contribute to simplifying processes for passengers. It also works to benefit from all the service and sales centers across the world that both companies provide. According to Aljorias, SVTS looks forward to ongoing partnerships that encourage a wide range of government, semi-government, private sectors, and individual beneficiaries.