Finnair makes air travel more social with new check-in service

Want to know who your fellow passengers are before you fly? Finnair has made this possible through its new social check-in service by linking its seat map with the passengers’ Facebook page.

When a passenger uses this service the other passengers can view his/her Facebook profile. In turn, the passenger can see who else has checked in on the same flight and where they are seated.

After completing check-in, the passenger can tell his/her friends in his/her social networks the destination and the estimated time of arrival.

For those who are concerned about privacy Finnair assured that the service only shows the customer’s public Facebook profile, and is only visible to the passengers on the same flight.

Additionally, using the social check-in service is voluntary, and customers can choose to travel “incognito” just like before. It is possible to disable the social check-in at any time, thus preventing other passengers from seeing the social network profile in conjunction with the seat map.

Aku Varamäki, Finnair’s social media manager, said, “Many people like telling their friends on Facebook where they are travelling. We wanted to make this a little bit easier, and also add some value in the check-in process for those who want to see who they are travelling with and who are open to meeting new people.”

The first phase of the service only includes Facebook, but Finnair may add more social networks later. The service was developed in partnership with Amadeus IT Group.

Skyscanner’s mobile app users top 20 million

The Skyscanner flight search app has been downloaded over 20 million times, as the travel search site’s mobile apps grew by over 400% in the past year with mobile visits overtaking web for the first time.

Skyscanner said at the current rate the app is being downloaded somewhere in the world every second, and there have been over 250 million searches made since it first launched its apps.

During the busiest travel booking week in January the mobile app was the number one travel app in over 100 markets, including Singapore and the US.

South Korea leads the way in mobile travel search, with 80% of all flight searches to the Skyscanner site now coming from mobile devices. Japan and India are also seeing a rapid move towards planning and booking travel on the go.

However, the trend is not limited to Asia. Travellers from Singapore are now using mobile devices for over 60% of flight searches, while Australia, Brazil, Canada and the US are now using smartphones and tablets for over 70% of flight searches, compared with a global average of 53%.

Bonamy Grimes, Skyscanner’s chief strategy officer and co-founder said, “We’re reached a clear tipping point for customers, particularly in the tech-savvy Far East, in the US and large emerging markets such as Brazil, who now want to plan and book their travel on the go. Yet we’re also seeing our app growth boosting web traffic as users move between platforms to plan and book their travel.”

He added that the company is focused on its mobile strategy on making the most of the technology on each platform, and would continue to build on is free text search and voice recognition technology to make the mobile travel booking process as intuitive as possible.”

Skyscanner launched its first flight search app in February 2011, It is now available in over 30 languages on the iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and BlackBerry, including a new release for BlackBerry 10.

Singapore’s Travel Rave into its fourth year

Travel Rave, Singapore’s travel trade festival, returns for its fourth consecutive year from October 21-25.

Talent development in the industry will take centre stage this year as Asian travel leaders commit to initiatives focused on grooming the next generation of leaders at the Asia Travel Leaders Summit.

The Summit is a dialogue among business leaders focusing on the development of Asia’s travel and tourism industry and talent development. They will also explore how human resources can be shaped to influence service delivery and serve the demands and needs of the fast growing Asian travel community. This year will see participants from Thomas Cook India, Patina Hotels & Resorts, TAUZIA Hotel Management, Panorama Group, Pan Pacific Hotels Group and Dusit International

New to the Travel Rave calendar is the Union of International Associations (UIA) first Associations Roundtable in Asia. Traditionally held in Europe since 2006, the 2013 Roundtable will serve as a platform to facilitate the work of international associations, provide education and networking opportunities to more than 100 international and local association representatives, cover topics of relevance to international association, and offer practical skills and information of use to associations in their work.

Hotels.com launches dedicated Windows 8 app

Hotel booking website, Hotels.com, has launched two new apps for Windows 8, an iteration of its highly successful app specifically designed for mobile and another built specifically for Windows 8 tablet.

The new apps enable customers using Windows 8 on-the-go to easily and quickly research, search and book hotel accommodation, as well as review reservations, read customer reviews and search for specific mobile only deals.

They can pin a page to their homepage at any point in the app, whether it is a specific hotel or an upcoming reservation, allowing them instant access to that information. They can also discover regions from across the world directly on the home page, including Africa, Asia and Europe when using the tablet app, with specified information of the country and city.

Hotels.com also have mobile apps for IOS and Android operating system and Windows 7. They offer access to almost 200,000 hotels worldwide in more than 25,000 destinations, 20,000 last minute deals, seven million user reviews and last-minute hotels rooms close to their location. To date the app has been downloaded 15 million times.