m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News

Archive Category: Distribution

Priceline publishes Hotel customer reviews

Priceline.co.uk,  announces the launch of 'PillowTalk' - a 'word cluster' based on their customers' hotel reviews, which subsequent customers can use to narrow down and select the right property for them.

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Amadeus holds talks with joint bidders

Private equity groups Cinven and BC Partners are in advanced talks to acquire the Amadeus travel reservation business in a deal worth about €4.3billion (£3billion), according to today's edition of The Telegraph (UK). The two companies have teamed up to make a joint bid after initially bidding separately for the Madrid-based company, which has been running an auction lasting several months. Last night, sources said the pair were in the process of submitting a bid, believed to be pitched at about €7.35-€7.40 a share. According to unnamed sources, the talks had not yet concluded and there was no guarantee that a deal would be done.

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China's Travel eCommerce: A not too distant view

By Timothy O'Neil-Dunne
Managing Director, T2Impact Ltd.

China is emerging fast, the market for travel is expected to triple. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that travel and tourism spending in China will grow almost 3.5 times between 2004 and 2014, from $87 billion to more than $300 billion. The nation is on an accelerated time line. Initially slower to adopt the Internet and eBusiness practices, however it is now wholeheartedly embracing the value of the internet based Technology.

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Asia leads global rise in international air travel

GENEVA -- Following fears of disease, wars and terrorist attacks, international air travel has rebounded with traffic on all routes up by 38% for the first five months this year compared to last year, according to figures released today by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). While the global statistics show a very healthy increase, Asian airlines recorded a phenomenal 108% jump in international passengers, indicating full recovery from the negative impact of SARS.

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Airline industry must follow aggressive agenda

SINGAPORE -- Last year, the airline industry survived "the four horsemen of the apocalypse -- SARS, conflict in Iraq, terrorism and the economy," Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said in his opening address at the organization's 60th annual meeting. "Now, a fifth horseman -- the price of oil -- could add up to US$1 billion per month to our costs and deny us profitability yet again. If the average price for the year is US$33 we break even."

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OpenGrid names Adrian van Haaften CEO

SAN FRANCISCO -- OpenGrid, a provider of wireless applications to the lodging and travel industries, has named  Adrian van Haaften president and CEO. He was the CEO of Laptop Lane until that company was sold to Wayport in August 2001. Since leaving Laptop Lane, van Haaften has been working as a strategic consultant with with start-ups in the enterprise software and mobility arena, developing business plans, identifying opportunities and securing funding.

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Datalex drives newly relaunched LasVegas.com

LAS VEGAS -- The Datalex next-generation Internet booking engine technology has been deployed at the re-launched LasVegas.com portal, where it enables destination-based travel enterprises to market their services more profitably. Using Datalex's latest technologies visitors, can book hotel accommodations, air and car transportation.

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Thomas Cook adopts MicroStrategy platform

McLEAN, Virginia -- German-based Thomas Cook AG, the second-largest travel group in Europe and the third-largest in the world, is now using the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform as its enterprise business intelligence standard. MicroStrategy, a global provider of business intelligence software, said that with MicroStrategy technology, hundreds of employees at Thomas Cook can better understand hotel capacities and contractual terms, optimize travel routes and track the types of the rooms that are booked.

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e-Travel launches hotel, Web fare search tool

WALTHAM, Massachusetts -- e-Travel, the e-commerce unit of Amadeus, is launching its Aergo (US) 5.0, the latest release of its online travel booking tool for corporations and travel agencies. Marketed as having new and improved features to make booking business travel as easy as booking leisure travel, Aergo (US) 5.0 offers business travelers a new interface, a wide range of search options for finding hotels, and access to Web-only fares from both major and low-cost airlines.

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DOT says changes in Net airline sales not needed

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today proposed revisions to the regulations governing the computer reservation system (CRS) industry that would address changes in airline distribution and ownership since the department last revised the rules in 1992. 

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Internet: Hotelier's best ally or worst enemy?

By Max Starkov | Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

The Internet, which is the greatest direct-to-consumer medium ever created, should prove a fertile ground for the direct sales efforts of proactive, Internet-savvy hotel marketers. And yet, the sad truth is that the majority of hoteliers, far from realizing and exploiting the Web's true potential, often fall prey to the Web-proficient online intermediaries. 

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Travelocity acquires Resfeber Scandinavia agency

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Travelocity has taken another step in its European expansion plan. Travelocity Europe, a joint venture with Germany's Otto trade group, has signed an agreement to acquire the top Scandinavian Internet travel company, Resfeber Scandinavia. The deal makes Travelocity Europe the largest online travel company in Scandinavia -- matching its position in Germany and increasing its European presence.

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Study shows online travel is not impulse buy

NEEDHAM, Mass. -- A new study by TripAdvisor indicates that online travel marketers need to track consumer visits over time to better measure campaign performance. TripAdvisor, the first and only performance-based marketing service targeted specifically at the travel industry, has announced the results of a study conducted during the month of March 2002 to measure consumer purchase behavior for hotel and vacation products. The study highlighted the fact that consumers often take as long as a month to purchase "complex" online travel products, including hotel and vacation packages.

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Worldspan names new VP of supplier services

ATLANTA -- Vela McClam-Mitchell has been appointed by Worldspan to the position of vice president and general manager, Worldwide Travel Supplier Services. In her new post, McClam-Mitchell is responsible for building Worldspan's portfolio of travel supplier participants and delivering enhanced value to this key customer base. 

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Sabre and Yahoo! strengthen relationship

Sabre and Yahoo! today announced that Yahoo!, Sabre, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Travelocity, have entered into a long-term strategic alliance. The new agreement elevates the scope of Travelocity's current relationship with Yahoo! to a major alliance by including an extensive marketing services program, and by making services from Yahoo!'s Enterprise Solutions division available to Sabre. 

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Datalex signs with Siemens Mobile Travel

DUBLIN -- Some ideas, like the seeds of some plants, take longer than expected to germinate. Two years ago, Mary O'Rourke, Ireland's Minister for Public Enterprise, became the world's first secure mobile commerce consumer when she purchased concert hall tickets and an airline ticket with a WAP-enabled phone.

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Brand erosion: how not to market hotels on the Web

By Max Starkov | Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

Over the past six months all major airlines adopted, once and for all, the "Direct Web Distribution Model" i.e. direct consumer sales via the Internet. The abolishment of base travel agency commissions by the major airlines now, six months after 9/11, was no coincidence. The airlines needed this time to squeeze whatever they could from the old distribution system and enhance their new Web distribution strategies. It is a direct result of the newly gained realization that Direct Web Distribution Model works.

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Sabre's Virtually There uses SMS flight information

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Sabre Holdings Corporation today announced that travelers utilizing the Sabre Virtually There Web site now have the option to receive text messages to their cell phone or pager using Short Message Service (SMS) protocol should a flight be delayed, canceled or experience a gate/terminal change within 24 hours of a flight's departure time.

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