m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News

TripAdvisor destination content now available on Expedia

Expedia.com has launched a new interactive Drive Getaway ideas tool.

The tool, developed in partnership with TripAdvisor, provides users with ideas for driving-distance trips accessible from their starting city on a single tank of gas or less.

Using the tool, people can access lists of TripAdvisor’s top-rated destinations and area attractions, as well as Expedia.com’s highest-ranked hotels that are a specified driving distance from thousands of origination cities worldwide. 

The tool marks the first time TripAdvisor destination content is available on Expedia.com. 

Expedia is trying to capitalise on the current trend of travellers opting for a holiday closer to their home. The online travel company is offering a combination of its tool, deals running in its Biggest Hotel Sale Ever promotion and its new pre-paid gas card offer.

In order to narrow destination options, the Drive Getaway tool allows users to filter results for each starting city by offering three “trip length” choices: full tank (151-300 miles), half tank (76-150 miles) or quarter tank (0-75 miles).

In addition to the recommendations, the tool also provides TripAdvisor user-generated photos of destinations and attractions.

Until the end of July, Expedia.com is rewarding travellers with a $50 Gas Money Prepaid Mastercard when they book a hotel stay of three or more nights at participating Expedia Special Rate hotels in the continental U.S. and Canada for travel before August 15.

French are worst tourists: survey

A survey has indicated that French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as “penny-pinching, rude and terrible at languages”.

The study by Expedia asked 4,500 hotels worldwide to rank tourists on their behaviour. 

Japanese tourists - seen as clean and tidy, polite, quiet and uncomplaining - came top for the third year running. 

“It’s mainly the fact that they (French) speak little or no English when they’re abroad, and they don’t speak much of the local language,” Expedia marketing director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info. He said that 90 percent of French people did their traveling at home.

“So when they’re on holiday they can be a bit stressed, they’re not used to things, and this can lead them to be demanding in a way which could be seen as a certain arrogance.”

In Europe, the British were seen by the hoteliers as the worst behaved. 

Jonathan Cudworth, the head of product marketing at Expedia.co.uk, said: “Being voted the worst tourists in the world by our closest neighbours highlights the fact that the `Brits Abroad’ moniker is a label we still haven’t managed to shrug off.”

“While we are in second place in the global best-tourist rankings, we clearly have a job to do to convince our European counterparts and those at home that we can be better behaved on holiday.”

Britons came second for their overall behaviour, politeness, quietness and even elegance - second for dress sense only to the Italians.

Co-op introduces its own-brand holidays

The Co-operative Group has forayed into the package holiday market.

The Co-op has started selling packages under its own name for summer 2010 in a joint venture with Cosmos Holidays, the UK’s largest independent tour operator, and sister airline Monarch, part of Globus Group.

The Co-op Group’s travel arm, Co-operative Travel, registered annual sales in excess of £1.3bin in its last financial year, but it will now sell its own summer 2010 holidays instead of just acting as agents for third parties.

“The travel industry has suffered more than most in the last 18 months as a result of the recession; a number of tour operators and airlines have ceased trading, so it may seem an inopportune moment to be launching a tour operation,” said Mike Greenacre, managing director of The Co-operative Travel.

“It is, however, a measure of the confidence that we have in our revitalised brand and in the strengths of Cosmos with nearly 50 years’ experience of tour operating and Monarch, a major player for over 40 years, that we choose to launch into such a difficult marketplace.”

It will sell the holidays through its 550 high street outlets, online and via its own call-centre.

The group’s three million members will also be able to benefit from a “double dividend” on top of the annual share of Co-op profits, with an extra point per pound spent on the tour operation, offering around £20 on a £1,000 holiday.

Continental receives final approval to join Star Alliance

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved Continental Airlines’ application for joining the existing antitrust immunized alliance including United Airlines and eight other Star Alliance member carriers.

In addition to United, the eight Star Alliance members who have been granted DOT approval for antitrust immunity are Air Canada, Austrian, bmi, Lufthansa, LOT Polish Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), SWISS and TAP Air Portugal.

The department said in a news release that the immunity would “support increased levels of service in international markets served by the carriers, give consumers more travel options and shorter travel times and reduce fares.”

The DOT order came two weeks after the Justice Department termed the plan as harmful to consumers and competition. The Department of Justice, consumer advocates and travel agents, argue that such deals hurt passengers by reducing competition – a position the Transportation Dept. has largely rejected in its recent alliance reviews.

With this development, Continental and United have scored a big win as the DOT agreed to their request to coordinate flight schedules, prices and marketing efforts on trans-Atlantic flights. The government’s assent on antitrust immunity represents a key component of the airlines’ plan for a close working relationship. The decision will allow Continental and United to coordinate their capacity to Europe, and set fares, while allowing joint marketing and frequent-flier programme activities. 

The Continental-United decision could also play a role in the continuing assessment of a similar application from American and British Airways.

Are you a lodging laggard or a leader?

By Rob Käll, president, Bookt

About a week ago, I spoke with several Property Managers who feel helpless in the face of today’s economic climate.

“Chin up,” I said to the audience. “All is not lost; in fact, there is plenty to gain during this turbulent time. Lodging Leaders will manage not only to sustain through tough times, but also emerge stronger, while Lodging Laggards may end up weaker or losing their business altogether.”

True, an economic downturn can and usually does lead to massive industry upheaval. It can challenge standards and best practices, and test your mettle and your company’s key strategies and processes. But how you respond and adapt, what new strategies you adopt, and the decisions and measures you take now will not only improve your chances of survival, but can also propel you forward in your local marketplace while others are paralysed and standing still.

So how do you make sure that you’re a Lodging Leader, and not a Lodging Laggard? Try some of these strategic moves that can advance your business and brand, to make sure you emerge after the recession better and stronger than ever before.

The Steps You Can Take Now! While no single strategy is a cure-all to the real world challenges businesses are currently facing, look at this downturn as an opportunity to examine your costs, products, services, offers and your technology to find winning ways to greater online success because online is the channel of the travel and lodging future.

Despite market pressures, Lodging Leaders will:

1.  Lead by example and instill confidence in their staff.
Focus internally on increasing employee (stakeholder) motivation (in non-monetary ways if you can’t afford to incentivise financially). Straightforward, honest communication about the company’s action plan is very important because you need your employees to feel settled and sure about their positions. By getting your team involved and motivated, Lodging Leaders will empower their staff to better achieve shared goals – and will ensure that their employees feel that their good performance will tie directly in with the health of the company and security of their jobs.

2.  Invest in channel development, innovation and new niches/services.
Lodging Leaders will examine their local competition and analyse their strengths and weaknesses. Lodging Leaders will reexamine their own brand and objectively evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses. Lodging Leaders will try new things to strengthen their market position and fuel greater demand for their properties.

3.  Leverage technology.
Lodging Leaders will find ways to tap into technology to improve efficiency, reduce costs, collaborate with suppliers and customers, as well as to provide customers with a unique experience.

4.  Partner with thought leaders.
You don’t need to have all the answers yourself. Lodging leaders will connect with experts, make new alliances, and expand their distribution models. Lodging Leaders will enhance their reach and influence, during which time their competitors will keep doing the same-old-same-old, watching their market share dwindle. Whether you are a hotel or vacation rental company owner or manager, you must have your finger on the pulse of the market to stay competitive.

It’s The Laggards Who FAIL!
While winning strategies can be leveraged in today’s climate, equally useful is looking at common mistakes made by companies who ultimately fail. You don’t want to be like them.

Lodging Laggards will:

1. Fail to differentiate with innovation and services that offer customers the price and value they’re looking for in the lagging travel market.
2. Struggle with decisions and respond slowly to changing market conditions and buying behaviour, such as down trading by travel consumers. 
3. Fail to invest in new approaches, and continue to invest in under-performing and money-squandering practices and technologies. 
4. Take the entire burden on their shoulders and not seek guidance, support or tools from experts, advisors and specialists.

Which Lodging Manager Are You?

Now is the time to get in a position to help your organisation compete during, and emerge stronger from, today’s economic reality. Get online. Value and incentivise your staff. Open internal communication is key. Evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. Fix your weakness and play up your strengths. Technology is your friend. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or create new strategic partnerships.

In short, be a Lodging Leader and let the Laggards fall by the wayside. The time is now, so what are you waiting for?

Is your brand genuinely making the most of social media?

With studies like the latest one from Forrester Research painting a rosy picture for social media, its time for travel companies to ensure that they are spot on with their social media strategies.

Interactive marketing will reach nearly $55 billion, representing almost a quarter of all marketing expenditures by 2014, according to a new report from Forrester Research. And the biggest growth area for interactive is expected to be social media. 

The spend on interactive campaigns through social networks, combined with agency fees for creating social media assets (community sites, internal blogs), will exceed $3 billion by 2014, a compound annual growth rate of 34 percent. And as that investment increases, marketers will “improve how they use social media to engage — not just reach — target audiences. This means more expenditure on multichannel social media campaigns instead of just buying banners on community sites,” according to the report.

The phenomenal growth rate of social media spend can be attributed to the channel’s relatively low start base, currently about $700 million in the US. Still, significantly, it has been highlighted that owned social media assets (like internal blogs, community sites) are really the only emerging media getting traction in today’s economic climate.

Such emphatic findings continue to exemplify the role social media is expected to play in the years to come. 

For its part, the travel industry has given ample indication of the fact that social media marketing is only effective when it’s aligned with the business strategy.

A market like Europe, too, has moved strongly. 

For instance, during EyeforTravel’s Sales and Marketing in Travel Summit Europe in Munich last year, TUI Travel plc categorically stated that content, both published and user generated, is essential across all countries and brands. The group believes Travel 2.0 is about transparency, community, personalisation and experience. And it uses it to build lasting relationships with its customers, drive traffic and to empower its customers. 

As EyeforTravel gets ready for this year’s Social Media Strategies in Travel Conference, to be held in Prague (October 13-14) this year, the setting would be ideal to move a step ahead in this arena and to learn about ways on how to let brands engage their brand advocates, allowing them to spread the message on their behalf.

This year’s edition will feature sessions on consumer behaviour, marking budgets for social media strategy, the relationship between social media, CRM, and brand engagement, and many other critical issues. 

Confirmed line-up includes following speakers:

• Steven Taylor, Senior Director Digital, Loyalty, Partner Marketing, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
• Sandra Leonhard, Director of Web Strategy & Business Development, TUI 
• Martin Verdon-Roe, Director of Sales, Europe, TripAdvisor 
• Geraldine Calpin, VP e-Commerce, Hilton Hotels
• Niki van Wijk, VP e-Commerce, transavia
• Iain Pringle, Head of Customer & Loyalty Insight, The Mileage Company, British Airways

For more information, click here: 
http://events.eyefortravel.com/sales-and-marketing/conference/agenda.asp

or contact:

Gina Baillie
Regional Director, Europe
+44 (0)207 375 7197
gina@eyefortravel.com

Founders of Hotels.com launch getaroom.com

The founders of hotels.com have launched a new online hotel booking site, getaroom.com.

Bob Diener and David Litman, who sold hotels.com in 2003, have come up with this new offering, which has been created to offer travellers “the very best values in booking hotel rooms and other types of lodging in major destinations worldwide”.

 

Diener and Litman have worked on a new model by trying to negotiate a great rate and letting consumers know the hotel’s name.

 

There are two ways to book at Getaroom.com. The first is what consumers are used to — going to a website and booking the room. The second way is to register with the site, then call the company’s call centre, and get an “unpublished rate”, which is 10-50 percent lower than other Internet rates, Diener said.

 

If consumers aren’t happy with their booked rate, they can cancel at any time.

 

“Hotels don’t want their rates published,” Diener said. “Occupancy is weak across the board, but hotels don’t want to lower their price across all distribution channels. We won’t publish the rate, so it allows them to offer a much better rate to consumers.”

 

Although the opaque models may offer great bargains, relatively few travellers use those sites “because people feel it’s too big a risk if they have to cancel, and people want to know what they’re getting when it comes to a hotel,” Diener said, according to a report filed by The Dallas Morning News.

 

Getaroom.com’s offices and call centre are based in Dallas, with about 30 full-time employees, 20 part-time workers and up to 50 call-centre employees.

 

Revenue projections for the first year are about $45 million.

==

Ticketmaster signs pact with priceline.com

Ticketmaster has chosen priceline.com as the official travel partner of Ticketmaster.com.

The company has added the online travel company to its network of premier ‘beyond the ticket’ brands.

Users of Ticketmaster.com will gain access to priceline.com’s travel services, including specially tailored hotel, airline, and rental car offers to accompany their live event ticket purchases. 

According to a release, Ticketmaster, a live entertainment ticketing and marketing company, estimates that 20-30 percent of an event's audience is from out of town.

Living Hotels adds its first UK serviced apartment property

196 Bishopsgate has signed an agreement with Living Hotels to promote its fully serviced member apartments to travel agencies and corporate buyers via the GDS and ADS (global and alternative distribution systems).

Living Hotels is a brand specifically designed for apartment stays in partnership with Utell.  

The company stated that serviced apartments have always been challenged with market visibility compared to the traditional hotel market which has dedicated representation in terms of rate structure, terms and conditions, property information and service levels on the GDS and ADS. With its offering, Living Hotels intends to shrink this gap. 

Robert Savage-Hanford, Hospitality Consultant, Living Hotels said “We know that apartment properties are battling against a number of market barriers. Previously as serviced apartments were not uniquely marketed, every property was perceived as a hotel.”

Air France-KLM ties up with Points.com

Points International Ltd., owner and operator of reward-management site, Points.com, has launched a new service for members of Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue frequent flyer programme.

The service will enable members of Air France-KLM’s FFP to purchase Award Miles on-line. 

Points International will take a lead role in the operation, marketing and commercial transaction support for the Flying Blue Buy Miles service.

The Points.com Buy & Gift service enables members of frequent flyer programmes to purchase additional Award Miles online. Like the Flying Blue Buy Miles site, other programmes’ websites are fully hosted and maintained by Points.com and are accessible from links on each programme’s site.

Only a few days before this deal, Points International had added Continental Airlines OnePass frequent flyer programme to the Global Points Exchange (GPX) in a venture that combines 35 million potential traders. Members of the airline’s OnePass programme are now able to establish exchange rates and trade miles between other participating programmes and users on GPX.

BCD Travel opts for Amadeus Agency Manager as mid-office solution

BCD Travel has selected Amadeus to deliver a single mid-office platform for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

The travel management company will use the Amadeus Agency Manager platform to standardise processes and technology.

Agency Manager is a global, multi-GDS mid-office solution that allows TMCs to standardise services, accounting and reporting functions across a diverse range of markets. BCD Travel’s initiative to build a standardised mid-office platform will enable their senior management to track business performance more effectively. They will be able to respond more effectively to issues or opportunities.

Under the agreement, Agency Manager will be rolled out in Germany, Czech Republic, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, in addition to the seven EMEA markets where BCD Travel already uses the solution.

How can travel companies navigate the minefields of the new social media landscape?

There's no doubt that the rapidly changing social media landscape has had a profound effect on consumer behaviour across the European travel industry. The arrival of a ‘new marketing age’ where consumers are more informed than ever and increasingly seek relationships with companies, mean that travel customers are now looking at travel products and services through new lenses.

The most savvy travel companies are adapting their marketing strategy to retain existing customers, acquire new customers and gain market share.  They are relishing the opportunities that social tools and networks provide and are using them to increase brand awareness, generate a ‘buzz’ and perhaps mostly importantly respond to their customers.

‘It’s well known that travel is one of the most talked about subjects on the web.  Conversations are happening around travel brands every minute of the day and it’s vital to be a part of the conversation’, Regional Director, Europe, Gina Baillie.

United Airlines is a great example of how a travel company was recently exposed to negative user-generated video coverage.  The video ‘United breaks guitars’  is a comedic music video venting the frustration of a guy called Dave Carroll who had his guitar broken on a United Airlines flight and was apparently not compensated.  It currently has over 349,647 views and rising.  Carroll aims to reach 1 million views and to post two more songs about the incident. He also posted his written story next to the video for all to see. 
The video has sparked innumerable discussions on blogs around the world and on Twitter.  Just how should United respond to this?  It’s a much debated topic but not responding can have far reaching consequences – not least for increasingly frustrated travelling musicians!

A lack of understanding of how to use social tools is another minefield travel companies must avoid.  Looking to an example from outside the travel industry, the recent inappropriate use of Twitter hastags by UK department store Habitat shows how damaging it can be when companies launch into using new tools without fully understanding their power and how to use them.  The retailer is now under public scrutiny for having tagged its advertising posts on Twitter with keywords - known as hashtags - related to Iran and the country’s political unrest.

Habitat remains unperturbed by the incident however.  ‘There is definitely a space for social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter in our web strategy and we will be spending time and energy on further exploring that,” said Jacques Dekock, chief information officer at Habitat.

To go some way towards fully understanding the new social media landscape, companies can refer to the Conversation Prism by Brian Solis.  It’s a living, breathing representation of Social Media which, according to Solis, ‘will evolve as services and conversation channels emerge, fuse, and dissipate.’  Companies can also analyse how the new web tool connect by examining the Web Trend Map (based on the Japanese subway system). 

Technical analysis isn’t always enough however, and ‘The New Social Media Landscape - What role does social media play in the travel marketing mix?’ will be the title of the keynote session at EyeforTravel’s upcoming Social Media Strategies in Travel conference, 13-14 October in Prague (held as part of EyeforTravel’s annual Sales & Marketing in Travel Summit Europe 2009).   Sandra Leonhard, Director of Web Strategy & Business Development for travel giant TUI will join Thorvald Stigsen, CEO, Momondo, Martin Verdon-Roe, Director of Sales, Europe, TripAdvisor to share key insights from their real world experiences.

Finally, here is a great success story on how when social media works – it really works.  Evian’s recently ‘Roller Babies’ commercial received over 3.8 million views on You Tube.  The babies roller skate around to the track ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by the Sugarhill Gang.  Not only is it a hit on You Tube, the video has received a vast amount of free press around the world.  It goes without saying that Travel predisposes itself to innovative campaigns and some of the most popular travel company examples on You Tube can be found here from the airline industry. 

This article will be followed by a series of articles examining the opportunities and pitfalls of social media and viral marketing for the travel industry in the lead up to EyeforTravel’s Sales & Marketing in Travel Summit 2009.  To stay up-to-date subscribe to EyeforTravel’s weekly newsletter and/or follow Gina Baillie (anigba) on Twitter.  For full event information see http://events.eyefortravel.com/sales-and-marketing/conference/more-information-logix.asp   Please note that the lowest priced conference passes for the summit must be booked before Friday 17th July. 

Making the most of demand patterns and forecasts

IN-DEPTH: Wyndham Hotels and Resorts on integrated RM and marketing approach

Proponents of revenue management feel that this discipline must develop into its description.

RM is about generating incremental revenue over and above the `entry price’ that the consumer has in their mind before beginning their search. RM development must include `value’ data and incorporate search enquiries into the system algorithms. It is not good enough to look backwards and dictate the future.

Assessing the same, Chinmai Sharma, VP - revenue management, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts admits that even though the RM discipline has made great strides in the last few years, there is ample scope for improvement.

“As an industry we have to do a much better job in areas like capturing what the consumer is really looking for (both during pre-arrival / search stage and during stay), in tracking denials and regrets by segment and channel to understand true demand and buying behaviour, in tracking on property spend by customer segment and channel to understand their full value, in understanding online behaviour  especially with the advent of web 2.0 and overall in integrating customer analytics into the revenue management process in order to develop relevant pricing for each customer segment. I also think the gaming companies do a much better job in this area than most traditional hotel companies,” said Sharma.

Sharma, who is scheduled to speak at EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2009 to be held in Chicago (September 16-17) this year, spoke about segmentation, value demand generation and much more. Excerpts from an interview with EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta. 

Incorporation of interactive CRM data across customer segments in the construction of `booking classes’ will be fundamental to generating 'value' offers for the consumer and the business. How do you assess this viewpoint?

I agree with this statement. The more we can segment the market based on customer behaviour including characteristics like purchasing patterns, purpose of visit, propensity to pay, group size, type of hotel / room type selected, day of arrival and length of stay etc, the more we can develop individual pricing strategies and offers that are more useful for the customer and beneficial for the business at the same time. 

This will help not only in developing value offers but also to understand the need to trigger offers based on shifts in customer behaviour.

According to a section of the industry, RM departments should not only focus on cost of sale reduction but should evolve to become Profit Management departments where cost of supply is incorporated into algorithms leading to a Gross Profit model, which in turn will better inform 'value' offers and segmentation integration. What’s your take on this?

I think GOPPAR is already becoming a standard industry metric and we need similar metrics for profitability like ‘Net RevPAR by channel’ (RevPAR less distribution cost by channel) or ‘Net RevPAG’ (Revenue per available guest less cost of marketing/loyalty/acquisition) in order to gain a holistic view of profit and segmentation. 

Such metrics along with some of the CRM data will really help in better decision making processes along with prioritisation of segments during periods of high demand.

If RM strategies were to focus on 'value' demand generation, what do you think is critical in achieving optimal results from the same?

First and foremost, I think it will be critical to be able to collect and organise all customer related data. Other critical areas will include things like the ability to develop and deliver customer centric value based pricing offers, ability for Marketing, Distribution and Revenue Management departments to work together, ability for real time monitoring of customer behaviour and trends, good demand patterns and finally to have a really good Science and Analytics team.

How do you think companies are approaching integrated RM and marketing approach? 

I think this is an area that’s improving fast although still has a long way to go. Although the traditional 4 P’s of the marketing mix suggest that these disciplines should work hand in hand, in practice I have seen varying amounts of integration in the industry. 

I think most companies understand that Marketing’s role of demand generation is a lot more effective when they have access to the demand patterns and forecasts from Revenue Management. 

This helps in channelling demand where it’s needed and developing offers that are meaningful to customers. An integrated approach of Marketing and RM, which includes facets like customer behaviour and loyalty programme management along with Pricing and Distribution is definitely on the radar of some hotel companies including Wyndham Hotel Group. This also leads to a better reporting/analytics infrastructure as that becomes the basis for most of the decision making process in such an integrated environment.

Sharma, along with other 25 speakers including ones from Continental Airlines, Hilton Hotels Corporation and InterContinental Hotels Group, are scheduled to speak at Revenue Management and Pricing in Travel USA conference, to be held as a part of the Travel Distribution Summit N. America 2009.

Travel Distribution Summit N. America 2009

Chinmai Sharma is scheduled to speak at EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2009 to be held in Chicago (September 16-17) this year.

For more information, click here: http://events.eyefortravel.com/tdsusa/conference/

or contact: 

Helen Raff
VP North America
+44 (0) 207 375 7582 (UK)
helen@eyefortravel.com

DealBase to offer personalised hotel deal alerts

DealBase.com, a hotel deals website, has introduced hotel deal email alerts that are fully customisable to a traveller’s preferences.

Travelers tell DealBase.com which destinations they want to visit (out of over 700 destinations), the star ratings of hotels they prefer, and the maximum nightly rate they want to pay, and DealBase.com sends email alerts about deals that match their preferences.

For example, for a traveller that indicated an interest in Las Vegas and New York City hotel deals at four and five star hotels under $200/night, DealBase would send deal alerts for the Hard Rock Casino at $55/night (70% savings) and the Westin Times Square at $199/night including breakfast (37% savings).

In May this year, the website had closed Series A funding, totaling $1 million.

Read more: hotel deals

(Sam Shank, CEO, DealBase.com is scheduled to speak at EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2009 to be held in Chicago (September 16-17) this year.

For more information, click here: http://events.eyefortravel.com/tdsusa/conference/

or contact: 

Helen Raff
VP North America
+44 (0) 207 375 7582 (UK)
helen@eyefortravel.com

Grupo SATA to offer journey updates via mobile phone text messages

Grupo SATA, the Azorean air transportation group, has introduced a new service to notify individual travellers of changes to their journey via mobile phone text message.

The group’s airlines, SATA Air Açores and SATA Internacional, are the first in the world to offer their passengers this service using Amadeus’ new Altéa Automated Customer Contact. 

The new solution was developed in close partnership with Grupo SATA. 

Ricardo Costa, Grupo SATA’s marketing and sales director, said with Altéa Automated Customer Contact, the group can automatically notify its customers about issues related to flight time changes, wait list confirmation or re-accommodation. 

“Our customers can receive personalised and timely communication,” said Costa. 

Grupo SATA already manages both offline and online reservations with Amadeus Altéa Reservation and e-commerce suite of solutions.

The launch of the Altéa Automated Customer Contact solution is part of a broad IT agreement that Grupo SATA and Amadeus have recently signed, to also provide the group’s airlines with new generation passenger service systems.

Read more: mobile  

Mobile Technology in Travel Report: The Detail

Mobile Technology in Travel Report: The Detail is the second in the series of EyeforTravel’s School of Mobile reports. This report features 16 detailed case studies from leading travel companies offering advice and illustrating diverse experiences in Mobile.

For more information, click here: http://www.eyefortravelresearch.com/reportsales/record/id/10/id_permalin...

or contact Amy Scarth on +44(0)207 3757545 or info@eyefortravelresearch.com