m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News

Archives for August 2007

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Thomas Cook on track to hit annual forecasts

Thomas Cook Group Plc has indicated that the synergies achieved through the merger of MyTravel Group plc and Thomas Cook AG would surpass the €140 million expected at the time of merger.

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Capitalising on online `browser’ and offline ‘booker’ behaviour

By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has been quite proactive with its online initiatives in China, especially with its end-to-end Chinese language website launched in early 2004 and localisation of its online advertising efforts.

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Assessing requirement of mapping and location-based services in China

By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai

Mapping and location-based services are increasingly playing a significant role in the local search process. And China is no different when it comes to incorporation of such services into the online travel sites.

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A major boost for Chinese consumer spending on the Internet

Alipay, a subsidiary of China’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group, is set to disclose a new international service which will pave way for consumers in mainland China to buy directly online from global retailers.

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Amadeus’ travel agency partners book Eur31.7 billion-worth of air tickets in 1H

Airlines generated Eur3.6 billion in online booking value through Amadeus e-Retail engine, Amadeus’ online booking solution for airlines, during January-June period this year. This is 38 percent more than in the same period last year.

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Online ‘Booking Stress’ may fuel a travel agent resurgence

A recent SideStep survey of 1744 UK adults, found that 50% of people consider booking travel online to be ‘stressful’. The biggest contributing factors were; too many options, anxiety over sourcing the best deal, researching destinations and finding the time to do the research.

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Bezurk.com set to enter India, eyes China in early 2008

By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai

As part of its plans to be the region–wide leader in the travel search engine category, Bezurk.com is set to launch its operations in India in October this year.

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Which travel companies are going green?

Climate change is driving customer perception, increasing legislation and increasing costs. Travel bosses should be plotting hard or actively trying to create a business that will work in this era of climate change. But who is paying lip service? Which travel companies are actually doing something and who are sticking their heads in the sand?

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Understanding the preferences of consumers of travel search engines in China

By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai

Chinese travelers are some of the most savvy consumers in China.

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Are Chinese companies showing signs of embracing travel management practices?

By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai

Resourcing continues to be a challenge for TMCs operating in China. It is being felt that it takes a long time to train and cultivate qualified travel consultants in this growing market vying for the best resources.

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SAS Scandinavian Airlines focuses on managing and orchestrating customer communications

SAS Scandinavian Airlines has decided to work with Neolane to orchestrate its marketing activities and multi-channel campaigns across the whole of the SAS group.

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hotels.com launches site for Spanish-speaking individuals in the US

hotels.com has launched a new online travel site in hotels.com en espanol (http://espanol.hotels.com) to satisfy the needs of Hispanic consumers who prefer Spanish content.

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Farecast launches new beta Hotel Rate Key pricing technology

Farecast.com has introduced Farecast Hotels search, allowing customers to shop for both airline tickets and hotel rooms.

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By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai: Travel industry tipped for a big leap in China in the wake of major events

The continuing fillip to consumer power, reduction in technology costs and easing of entry barriers are some of the global trends paving way for new business models including ones in the online travel distribution.

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By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai: Aviation capacity deployment in domestic sector heavily skewed towards eastern China

The aviation industry in China has been in news of late with a spate of developments.

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By EFT Correspondent in Shanghai: What is critical in shaping traditional travel distribution company’s evolution?

To chart a successful path in a travel distribution market like China, which is amidst an evolutionary phase, companies need to combine online with offline (bricks + clicks) model.

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SIA set for buying stake in China Eastern Airlines?

The Chinese government has reportedly given the final approval for China Eastern Airlines to sell a stake to Singapore Airlines (SIA).

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Starwood joins Galileo’s BAR programme

Galileo’s Best Available Rate (BAR) guarantee programme has added Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc in its portfolio.

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Survey indicates a la carte pricing on the rise in aviation industry

A survey in the aviation industry has indicated that charging fees for services instead of including benefits in the price of a ticket will become more prevalent.

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SideStep to offer ongoing fare tracking, historical pricing and instant fare alerts

Internet travel search company has come up with a new tool called FareTracker, which empowers users to better manage their trip planning process by tracking one or more flight routes over time and monitoring price changes as they occur.

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Wotif.com posts 60 percent increase in net profit after tax

Riding on strong revenue growth and margin improvement, Wotif.com Holdings Limited has managed 60 percent increase in net profit after tax to $26.4 million as the company shared its results for the year ended 30 June 2007.

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Hawaiian Airlines focuses on IT, BPO and infrastructure services Initiative

Hawaiian Airlines has chosen Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to provide comprehensive IT, business process outsourcing and infrastructure services.

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Fairmont and Pegasus strengthen ties

Pegasus Solutions has signed a deal with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to continue providing the hotel chain with its Global Commission Services.

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Another merchandising first from Sabre

Following the recent launch of its Sabre Branded Fares, Sabre has introduced another merchandising first through its Distribution Merchandising Suite.

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Assessing potential pitfalls of Facebook’s advanced personalised ad system

Reviewing Facebook’s plans of creating an advanced personalised advertising system, a report has emphasised on three potential pitfalls.

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Google in search of "perfect ad pricing model"

A senior Google executive has reportedly shared that the company is making moves towards cost-per-action (CPA) as a more ideal auction-based pricing model.

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Yahoo and MSN agree upon "self-discipline code" for blog services in China

Chinese blog service providers have agreed to sign a "self-discipline code" for blog services drawn up by the Internet Society of China (ISC).

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Ryanair set to charge for airport check-in

Low-cost airline Ryanair is to charge passengers for using the airport check-in desk.

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UK Mobile users plan foreign holidays

Searches for travel agents increased by 137 percent in the second quarter of 2007, according to m-spatial Q2 Mobile Local Search Index 2007. The company charts local searches made on mobile phones.

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Facebook to open goldmine of data to advertisers: media

Facebook is planning to create an advanced personalised advertising system. The model would allow advertisers to target its users based on information that they reveal about themselves on the social networking website.

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A social networking tool dedicated to group travel

Groople has launched travel and social networking tool, offering an integrated solution for the challenges of planning and booking group travel.

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Bedsearcher launches review service, to help in protecting the industry

Accommodation provider Bedsearcher has launched a new review service for its booking site.

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Asiatravel introduces instant confirmation flight reservation service

Asiatravel, a Singapore-based online travel portal, has launched its instant confirmation flight reservation service.

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Datalex sees first tangible benefits of transition to a transaction pricing model

Travel software company Datalex Plc has posted a pre-tax loss of US$900,000 for the first six months of 2007, compared to a profit of US$1.6 million a year ago.

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Virgin set for NZ, intends to keep `air fair' in duopolistic market

Virgin Blue Airlines and its three-year old New Zealand subsidiary Pacific Blue have shared plans for a new domestic airline for New Zealand.

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EFT Travel Distribution Summit North America 2007 Special

Role of suppliers in accentuating the `Anti-OTA feeling’

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Amadeus forays into Asian travel search market

Travel search engine Bezurk.com has chosen Amadeus Meta Pricer for the Asia Pacific region.

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American enhances its booking tool on AA.com

American Airlines has enhanced its price-and-schedule travel booking tool on its website, AA.com. The tool was introduced in June.

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Record profit and sales results for Flight Centre

Buoyed by its second-half performance, Travel agent Flight Centre Limited has shared that its profit after tax surpassed A$100million for the first time, increasing 51 percent to A$120.8million during the 12 months to June 30.

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Kuoni’s first-half turnover rises, net result down

Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd. achieved a 15.6 percent increase in its first-half turnover in 2007, increasing  from the CHF 1 753 million of January-June 2006 to CHF 2 027 million.

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Who should bear the cost of the environmental damage that air travel causes?

Even as air travel in the domestic sector is being considered for its cost and convenience, is the benefit of such mode of transport coming at the environmental cost of the rest?

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Booking travel online and coping with stress due to multitude of options

50 percent of people in the UK find booking their holiday online stressful, according to a recent survey by  travel search company, SideStep.com.

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Americas region leads InterContinental Hotels’ pipeline growth

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) increased its global pipeline by more than 29,000 rooms, expanding the total number of rooms to over 187,000 in the first half of 2007.

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Hotelopia strengthens its portfolio

Online hotel booking specialist Hotelopia has expanded into Japan and Australasia to strengthen its portfolio of over 25,000 hotels in 900 destinations.

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comScore enhances search measurement with qSearch 2.0

Online metrics company comScore has launched new search metric in qSearch 2.0, termed as the second generation of search measurement

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"Skybus' $10 fares have succeeded in attracting budget travel seekers"

Relatively new low-cost-carrier Skybus has got a positive feedback from Compete, an online market research firm.

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Enabling airlines to leverage special fares and fare packages in a more powerful way

In what is being described as an unprecedented initiative, Sabre Travel Network is implementing a new feature integrated into the standard travel agency desktop of its GDS, which allows airlines to leverage special fares and fare packages in a more powerful way.

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ebookers to re-launch its brand

ebookers, a full service online travel company in Europe, is planning to re-launch its brand through a marketing campaign.

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Virgin Blue annual profits jump 93 percent

Virgin Blue Holdings Limited today announced a net profit after tax of A$216 million (US$($174 million) for the year ended 30 June, 2007, a 92.9 percent improvement on the previous year.

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Virgin Blue gears up for expansion, to enter NZ

Virgin Blue Airlines has termed the next 12 months to be a period of steady expansion as the three-airline group enters the New Zealand domestic market for
the first time.

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"BA taunts rivals with US flights from European capitals" : media

British Airways is expected to introduce its first transatlantic flights from Continental capitals next summer.

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A loyalty-driven travel portal to be launched in India

TravelSpice.in, termed as India’s first loyalty-driven travel portal, is being planned for launch in January next year.

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Wotif adds common misspellings to its intuitive search engine

Wotif.com has launched an advanced ‘Text Search’ function, making  navigating through the company’s website easier by adding common misspellings to its intuitive search engine.

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American Airlines creates leadership position to improve customer experience

American Airlines recently chose Mark Mitchell for the new position of Managing Director - Customer Experience.

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American Airlines sues Google

American Airlines has reportedly sued Google Inc., claiming the Internet search company violated a trademark by using the carrier’s name to trigger paid ads for competitors.

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IDeaS chosen for Preferred Hotel Group’s `Preferred Vendor Program’

IDeaS Revenue Optimization has been added as a member of the Preferred Vendor Program of the Preferred Hotel Group.

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Integrating airline’s web-only content with GDS’ offering

Galileo and Air Canada have signed a multi-year agreement for what is being described as a revolutionary graphical agency desktop solution.

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TPG Capital acquires Midwest Air Group for $450 million

Midwest Air Group , parent company of Midwest Airlines, has signed a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of TPG Capital, L.P. in a transaction valued at approximately $450 million.

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travelsupermarket.com’s £11m marketing drive yields results

Travel comparison website travelsupermarket.com garnered a record number of hits in July, with unique visitor numbers peaking at 180,000 on the busiest day.

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Increasing role of video in travel-related decision making process

Eight leisure travel sites have recently joined the Fliqz partner network in an effort to capitalise on the power of online video to fully showcase destinations.

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“The tag of ‘low spending budget traveller’ is misleading”

Hostelworld.com has teamed up with gapyear.com, a portal in the gap year space, to provide latter its hostel booking engine.

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Worldspan integrates Worktopia’s online group and meeting booking service

Worldspan and Worktopia, a global reservation system for planning and booking meetings, have reached an agreement.

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Tiscali partners Thomas Cook to launch a new travel portal

European telecommunication company Tiscali is to launch a new travel portal on its site in partnership with Thomas Cook, offering registered customers access to cheap holiday deals.

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Thrifty Car Rental offers triple `Look To Book’ points

Thrifty Car Rental will award travel agents triple Look To Book points for car rental bookings in the US and Canada of three days or more between August 15, 2007 and October 15, 2007.

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Allowing agents to quickly search for the lowest prices from multiple consolidators at one time

Revelex Corporation, a provider of travel technology solutions for agents and vendors, has come up with new air features for its leisure-booking engine, Power Agent.

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InterContinental Hotels’s operating profit rises

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC stated that its continuing operating profit increased by five percent from £106m to £111m, up 17 percent at constant currency rates as it shared its first half results.

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Space tourism’s ‘green’ marketing dilemma

By the year 2012, two travel sectors will be represented in space. First there were flights, and now there is accommodation.

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Hilton, Wyndham, Delta, Expedia and Travelocity reveal how to manage and measure customer data to build loyalty and maximize sales

According to IBM, inaccurate data costs US businesses $116 billion per year in postage, printing and overheads.  Without properly sourced and managed data, a CRM system has no hope of success.  And this is particularly important in the travel industry, where customer preferences, geographical information and brand loyalty play such an important role in leveraging marketing campaigns.  In order to succeed, in today’s highly competitive market, travel companies need to both be fanatically data-driven and have a consumer-centric philosophy – Two central themes of EyeforTravel’s inaugural conference, CRM Technology for Travel, being held on 9-10 October in Las Vegas.  For more information click here: www.eyefortravel.com/crmtech2007

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Making vacation rental transaction as easily as booking a hotel online

Wyndham Worldwide’s Group RCI has launched Endless Vacation Rentals, a global one-stop shop for travelers to rent a wide variety of vacation rental accommodations at available properties worldwide.

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Yatra.com targets North America

Internet travel services company Yatra.com has chosen Elephant Advertising as the agency of record for the North America market.

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AirTran presents new offer for Midwest Air Group

AirTran Holdings, Inc. the parent of AirTran Airways, shared that, at the request of Midwest shareholders, AirTran has increased its offer for Midwest Air Group, to $16.25 per share in a negotiated merger transaction.

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Rising airfares creating challenges for Asian corporates

Asian corporates need to review their business travel behaviour and implement cost-saving strategies to stay ahead of the region’s rising airfares.

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Emerging Markets (China, India, Russia, Latin America) to soak up majority of 400 million global growth in mobile handsets

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Galileo’s Complete Pricing Plus to provide accurate info about hotel rooms and rates

Galileo has launched new offering Complete Pricing Plus to further automate more complex leisure hotel bookings.

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First combined itinerary shopping and ticket repricing solution for airlines

Worldspan has removed technological borders with Worldspan Rapid Reprice Select, making the travel industry’s first combined itinerary shopping and ticket repricing solution available to airlines worldwide.

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Orbitz launches new technology platform for ebookers in UK, eyes growth in Europe

Following the recent launch of a new technology platform for ebookers brand in the UK, Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. expects the initiative to sustain growth in its European businesses.

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Travelport’s term loan debt reduces by $1billion or so since the end of 2Q

Top line revenue growth and cost control through its re-engineering efforts were the highlights of Travelport’s performance during the second quarter of 2007.

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Northwest emerges as passive investor in Midwest takeover bid

An investors group that includes Northwest Airlines Corp. has offered to buy Midwest Air Group for more than $400 million.

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How consumers research and book B&B travel?

Providing an insight into inngoers’ preferences and demographics, a survey findings indicate that B&B travelers are highly educated, prefer to research and book travel online.

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Expedia evokes bullish sentiments over future performance

Following its profitable second quarter results, Expedia has got an optimistic assessment for its performance and share.

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Flight Centre hopes to achieve sizable profit increment

Flight Centre Ltd expects to achieve pre-tax profit growth of 25-30 percent for the 2006/07 financial year. The company also expects to achieve 10-15 percent growth in total transaction value for the 12 months to June 30, 2008.

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Taking away the burden of paying hefty air fares in advance

Qantas recently introduced a new online payment feature that allowed customers to book a flight and defer payment until closer to their departure date.

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The birth of `Homo Spaciens'

Galactic Suite, a private space tourism company, will open the first hotel planned in space for business in 2012.

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Cathay Pacific signs 10-year deal with Amadeus

Cathay Pacific Airways has signed a landmark 10-year contract with Amadeus to support its aggressive growth strategy and increase operational efficiency.

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First Choice signs £1.2 billion credit facility

Providing an update on current trading and financing arrangements, First Choice Holidays PLC announced the successful syndication and signing of TUI Travel PLC’s debut £1.2bn credit facility.

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TUI expects stable turnover in 2007 despite decline in 2Q

TUI AG shared an optimistic assessment of the development of its operative business in the year 2007 as a whole, even as the company witnessed a decline in turnover and Group earnings in the second quarter compared to the previous year.

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Priceline.com makes changes in its hotel services, enters group hotel sales market

Priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price and Published-Price hotel services, which previously allowed customers to book up to four hotel rooms, have both been expanded to accommodate up to nine rooms at a time.

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Vayama.com focuses on digital advertising

The recently launched online travel website Vayama has chosen interactive marketing firm e-Storm International for digital advertising.

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Silverjet opts for cessation of Flyjet charter flights

Silverjet plc has decided to cease its wholly-owned subsidiary Flyjet Limited’s charter flights operation from 31 October this year.

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AirAsia X confirms 20 percent investment by Virgin Group

Virgin Group has decided to acquire 20 percent stake in new low-cost long-haul airline AirAsia X, which aims to cover destinations more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur.

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Vacationers are not swayed by negative travel news: Expedia Travel Trendwatch

A poll by Expedia.com, conducted in July, has found that 68 percent of US adults who have taken or plan to take a summer vacation this year will not modify their vacation plans because of negative news around air travel hassles and rising prices.

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Sabre-Amadeus proposed JV eyes payment efficiencies and increased automation

Two of major global distribution system companies Sabre Holdings and Amadeus have filed with the European Commission for antitrust approval to create a joint venture that will provide secure, automated payment processing, clearing and reconciliation solutions to the global travel industry.

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Barclays and AirTran launch special offering for small business owners

Barclays and AirTran Airways have come up with AirTran Airways A+ Business Card offering for small business customers.

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Assessing impact of Virgin America on the domestic sector in the US

The newest US start-up airline Virgin America launched its maiden internal US flights out of its San Francisco base.

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Starwood’s Preferred Guest website re-designed, to offer personalised access

Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ website for members of Starwood Preferred Guest hotel loyalty programme, SPG.com, has been redesigned.

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EyeforTravel’s inaugural Central & Eastern European conference analysing key market trends sees impressive early bookings

Rapid growth in internet usage and booming tourism in the CEE region is attracting numerous e-travel companies to the region all keen to maximise the potentially lucrative new profit channels.  A highly diverse and fragmented region, key market information plays a vital role in deciding which country will give you the greatest return on investment.

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Making hotel reviews relevant by getting them from like-minded people

Online travel company Travelocity has introduced a new hotel review tool, enabling consumers to find information from like-minded travelers.

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Richard Branson to take 20 percent stake in AirAsia’s long-haul budget carrier?

Virgin Group’s Richard Branson is being tipped to acquire a 20 percent stake in Malaysia’s AirAsia long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X.

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KLM improves its site to make it user-friendly

KLM has revamped its booking site. It went live recently.

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Aer Lingus to set up its first base outside the Republic of Ireland

Aer Lingus has marked investment worth or so €150 million to set up a regional hub at Belfast International Airport.

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easyJet confident of delivering full year profit growth of 40-50 percent

easyJet’s has stated that its full year guidance remains unchanged, for the year to September 2007 the company expects pre-tax profit growth of 40-50 percent.

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Expedia appoints Pierre Samec as CTO

Expedia, Inc. has promoted Pierre Samec to Chief Technology Officer, from his role as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Development.

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Trust and Leonardo Media develop interface to streamline hotel images distribution

Travelport’s Trust International and Leonardo Media have signed an agreement for the development and implementation of an interface between Trust’s Voyager Central Reservation System (CRS) and Leonardo’s Digital Management Asset Platform.

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Luxury hotel market benefiting greatly from travel agent-generated bookings

The hotel industry witnessed steady growth based on electronic distribution performance for the first quarter of 2007.

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Cheapflights’ sites get record number of users

Internet media travel company Cheapflights recorded 56 million visitors (unique users) globally in the first half of 2007, attributing the figures to its log files.

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Holiday Extras introduces `Undercover’ hotel booking service

Holiday Extras has launched Undercover Hotels booking service, offering special low rate by keeping the identity of the hotel a mystery until the customer gets confirmation email for booking.

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Global hotel deal activity to June touches $56 billion

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels estimates that $110 billion worth of global hotel transactions could be completed by the end of 2007, marking another consecutive record year in hotel sales.

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HRG restructures its European operations, appoints four MDs

Corporate services company Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) has appointed four European Managing Directors as part of its restructuring programme in Europe.

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Targeting late bookers with "map and click" booking tool

Opodo has launched what the online travel company terms as Europe's first "map and click" booking tool, called EscapeMap

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OTAs strengthen their footing in Latin America

EFT Special: Latin American OTA market

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British Airways posts major increment in 1Q profits

Only a few days after being fined £270 million, British Airways PLC reported a 75 percent rise in first-quarter profit.

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Travelzoo’s European publications cross one million-subscriber base

Internet media company Travelzoo’s European publications, including its Travelzoo Top 20 e-mail newsletter and Newsflash e-mail alert published in the UK, Germany and France, now reach over one million subscribers weekly.

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Dollar Thrifty focuses on reducing costs and flattening the organisation

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. is set for reorganization following a series of initiatives mainly focusing upon reducing operating costs and flattening the organisation.

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WestJet posts record year-to-date earnings of $41.4 million

WestJet reported second quarter net earnings of $11.5 million. Overall, the performance was impacted by the one-time non-recurring impairment loss related to costs previously capitalised for the aiRES project.

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dohop.com adopts IndexTools to monitor site traffic

Flight comparison engine dohop.com chosen Nordic eMarketing’s IndexTools web analytics solution to track its site traffic.

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Canaan Partners leads $15m investment in EzRez Software

Canaan Partners, a $2.4 billion global venture capital firm, has led a $15 million, Series B investment in EzRez Software, Inc., a B2B provider of online travel systems.

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Electronic bookings show no signs of slowing down

Consumers continued an upward trend of shopping for hotels online and booking electronically resulting in steady growth for the hotel industry, according to TravelCLICK’s 2007 first quarter eTRAK results.

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Expedia posts $96.1m in net income in 2Q

Online travel agency Expedia’s second-quarter net income rose to $96.1 million, or 30 cents a share, from $95.5 million, or 27 cents per share a year earlier.

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China Southern Airlines looks toward 100% e-ticketing

China Southern Airlines was the first airline in China to sell an Internet e-ticket in 2000 ... and its commitment to e-ticket sales six years ago is paying major dividends to the nation´s largest carrier. As the airline moves towards a 100% ticketless travel environment, China Southern Airlines currently has more than 30% of its overall sales volume sold as e-tickets. With deregulation on the horizon and the much heralded open-skies policy (to be in place by 2010) sure to change this dynamic travel market, how much will e-ticketing influence the success of both China Southern and its rivals?

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Condo.com forms JV with CondoHotels.com

Condo.com and CondoHotels.com, the online directory of condo hotels, have joined forces to create the largest condo hotel marketplace where site visitors can buy, sell, rent and book condo hotel units around the world.

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Cheapflights.com adds hotel search and search-by-date features

Cheapflights.com has worked upon two enhancements in new hotel booking and flight search-by-date website features.

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hotels.com adds interactive mapping tools

hotels.com has added new, interactive mapping capabilities to facilitate the selection of hotels and trip planning process.

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Hertz introduces new discount car rental brand Simply Wheelz by Hertz

The Hertz Corporation is rolling out Simply Wheelz by Hertz, a new company under the Hertz brand.

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Turning traditional hotel advertising on its head

Westin Hotels & Resorts is rolling out a new advertising campaign, transforming some of the most hectic transportation hubs into “places of renewal.”

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BA fined £121m over price-fixing scandal

British Airways has been fined £121.5m by the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading after the airline reportedly admitted price-fixing of fuel surcharges on long-haul flights.

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Travelzest raises £1.5m, to continue with acquisition of niche travel operators

British online travel group Travelzest plc has raised approximately £1.5 million to continue its strategy of the acquisition of niche travel operators.

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JetBlue Airways ties-up with Bill Me Later, enhances customer payment options

New York-based JetBlue Airways Corporation has adopted Bill Me Later service, offering travelers the ability to pay for tickets more quickly, and without entering credit card information

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Yahoo! takes Trip Planner to UK and Ireland

Yahoo! UK & Ireland has introduced interactive tool Trip Planner, which integrates several existing Yahoo! products and services such as Flickr, Yahoo! Travel Guides and Yahoo! Maps apart from enabling travellers to document their personal travel experiences.

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TripUp develops social travel application Couch Swap for Facebook platform

Social travel network TripUp, Inc. has launched CouchSwap, a  new social travel application developed specifically for the Facebook platform.

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