Posts with the tag "OTA"

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GDS

GDS Amadeus to Acquire German IT Company I-FAO

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At the beginning of this month Amadeus announced the acquisition of German IT company I-FAO. I-FAO developed Cytric, a leading online corporate booking tool which is already used by major European and international companies like IKEA, Accenture, ADP, Siemens or Canon Europe.

Amadeus already fortified its sales presence as the leading leisure travel sales platform in Germany with the 2006 acquisition of TravelTainment (the primary leisure travel internet booking engine in Germany) and is now yet again adding to its suit of products another corporate booking tool (Cytric) right next to their own corporate booking tool, E-Travel (which is also supported by PASS Consulting’s XX/1). Continue reading 

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GDS

Delta Airlines Enters Into Partnership With Farelogix to Use Direct Connects

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Ever since American Airlines started to distribute its content through direct connects, there have been discussions whether others would follow, who would win the direct-connect-GDS-battle and if there is really a value for the consumer in such a direct connect strategy.

Recently, Delta Air Lines started its own direct-connect strategy in partnership with Farelogix. According to their plan, Online Travel Agencies and Travel Management Companies will then be able to access Delta’s full-content through a Delta-Farelogix platform, thus bypassing the GDSs and saving additional costs.

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Travel Industry

Google Expands Hotel Offers

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Hotel offers on Google Maps have been around for quite a while now, but only for a limited number of advertisers. However, the company announced it would expand its pay-per-click Hotel pricing ads in Google Maps.

Considering Google’s ITA-acquisition, it is interesting to see how they foster their travel-related services. Although it is too early to say what this will ultimately mean for the travel industry, it’s definitely worth taking a closer look.

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GDS

GDS and OTA: New Year, Not So New Conflicts

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We all celebrated New Year’s Eve and hope for an exciting New Year. And I am confident that 2011 will have much to offer for us, but right now, we seem to deal with the same problems as in 2010.

The travel industry still centers on the conflict between the GDSs, OTAs and American Airlines and its direct connects. This time, two big players, namely Expedia and Sabre, have made their moves against American Airlines’ direct connect.

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Travel Industry

Facebook Apps Leak User Info – How Safe Is The Internet?

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A Wall Street Journal investigation has revealed that several Facebook apps including the top 10 Apps have been leaking user information to third party companies, in particular users’ unique Facebook ID, which grants access to the users’ names and names of their friends.

With about 500 million registered users and still growing, Facebook is the biggest social network in the world. And about 70% of its users use apps each month to play games or to customize their own Facebook pages. Considering the huge number of users, leaking sensitive data to advertising companies is a serious issue. Continue reading 

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Travel Industry

Travel Market – Online Travel Agencies Are Facing Tough Times

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Online travel agencies are facing tough times in the corporate travel segment. Originally, Phocus Wright had forecasted dynamic growth in the corporate segment, especially for the online travel agencies (OTAs), while a slower growth rate was predicted for the direct distributors among the service providers. In their current “Seventh Online Travel Overview”, the analysts have corrected their forecasts: the growth rates of the OTAs are stagnating.

The business travel segment is now experiencing the same trend as the leisure segment, i.e., direct distributors are outperforming the online agencies. In fact, metasearch engines are the unknown factor currently creating suspense among competitors.
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