In the news: Qantas has a new redesigned booking platform; Frasers Hospitality partners with Duetto in managing revenue; Travelport and Sabre ink more agreements with airlines
Aviation: Qantas’ redesigned booking platform aims to convert lookers to bookers
Qantas now has a customer-friendly booking platform (Image credit: TkKurikawa:/iStock)
Travellers searching for flights on Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas, will now find the process a more personalised and intuitive digital experience on the airline’s new platform, redesigned to persuade visitors to become bookers.
“The average traveller tends to visit 38 websites while booking a trip, so it’s important for airlines to be able to offer a customer-friendly platform that encourages visitors to shift from a looker to a booker,” said Cyril Tetaz, executive vice president, airlines of Amadeus Asia Pacific.
The multi-phase redesign was completed in March 2018, using Amadeus technology.
The new platform includes a personalised search and booking experience for each visitor; a feature that proposes relevant cabin upgrade options, redeemable by cash or points; an interactive map that allows customers to search and explore travel destinations using Classic Flight Rewards, Points Plus Pay or cash; a user-friendly fare display with options to suit customer needs; and a two-step booking path for Frequent Flyers to skip from selecting their flights to confirming their booking.
The completion of this digital redesign follows a renewal of Amadeus’ partnership with Qantas for the Amadeus Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS), which is currently used by over 140 airlines.
Hospitality: Frasers adopts revenue solution to manage expanding inventory
Fraser Suites in Singapore – to benefit from the revenue strategy solution (Image credit: Frasers Hospitality)
Frasers Hospitality, which operates nearly 150 serviced-residence and luxury boutique hotels across Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East, has partnered with San Francisco-based Duetto to use its Revenue Strategy approach and cloud-based technology.
The hospitality operator is implementing Duetto’s Open Pricing application, GameChanger, across its global portfolio. The two companies are also working together to innovate new features and strategies for room rates in the extended-stay segment.
Joanne Ang, senior vice president and head of global Marketing and sales for Frasers Hospitality, said the company was drawn to GameChanger for its ability to yield rates and manage digital distribution for traditional short stays and contracted extended stays for many types of customer segments.
“Having expanded from two properties to more than 150 properties over 80 cities, we now not only have a global footprint but also serve segments as diverse as luxury serviced residences and boutique lifestyle hotels. This requires us to have a revenue strategy solution that is capable of handling increasing complexity as we continue to scale.”
The solution would also help the company in pricing inventory, forecasting demand and improving distribution. “This will enable us to make data-driven decisions to ensure we are achieving the best mix of business,” she added.
Describing Frasers “a natural fit” as a design partner, Patrick Bosworth, Duetto’s co-founder and CEO, said: “Serviced residences are one of the most exciting — yet underserved — verticals in the hotel industry today, and Frasers is leading the way in developing not only this segment, but also new strategies for it.”
Frasers, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has now expanded from its first two properties in Singapore to more 80 cities worldwide with about 23,600 rooms.
Distribution News: More airlines join Travelport and Sabre platforms
Japan is preparing for an influx of visitors when it host the 2020 Olympics. (Image credit: shkyo30/iStock-Getty Images)
• Travelport
The Japan National Tourist Organisation has forecast an estimated 40 million visitors will ‘flood’ Japan in 2020 when the country plays host to the Summer Olympics. Travel players, among them Japan Airlines (JAL), are gearing up for this influx with new services and products.
The carrier has signed a new content agreement with Travelport to continue using the company’s Rich Content and Branding merchandising solution to enable its branded fares and ancillary content to reach over 68,000 of Travelport-connected travel agencies globally.
As the agencies now have real-time access to JAL’s fares and inventory and can provide more content and choice for travellers, the airline says it is well-positioned to support the growth in inbound arrivals.
Damian Hickey, Travelport’s vice president, Asia Pacific and global sales strategy for air commerce commented that the latest agreement with JAL marked the company’s “continuing commitment and investment to Japan’s growing travel and tourism industry.”
• Sabre Corporation
Sabre has been busy inking numerous agreements with various airlines in the Asian region in the past week, among them with China’s Fuzhou Airlines and Indonesia’s Lion Air.
Fuzhou Airlines, a full service domestic carrier based at Fuzhou Changle International Airport, has selected Sabre as its first foreign Global Distribution System.
Operating as a joint venture of Hainan Airlines, the fast-growing carrier serves routes to major cities within eastern China with a fleet of 16 Boeing B737-800 aircraft.
Ryan Nan Ren, director of marketing and sales at Fuzhou Airlines, hopes its growth initiatives will boost profitability as well as give the city of Fuzhou (capital of Fujian province) more visibility domestically and abroad.
This agreement marks the sixth HNA Group carrier to join Sabre alongside Hainan Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Lucky Air, China West Air and Tianjin Airlines
The technology provider also signs a new content distribution agreement with Lion Air, the largest privately-owned airline in Indonesia, and its subsidiary, Wings Air.
Sabre has served as a strategic partner to Lion Air and supported both the airline’s reservations and planning and scheduling capabilities since the carrier first began operations 18 years ago.
Lion Air is expanding its operations and has the world’s largest number of aircraft on order. In tandem with its ambitious growth the carrier is broadening its relationship with Sabre, selecting the company as its primary GDS to distribute content across its global travel marketplace.
“With our content now available to 425,000 travel agents across the globe, the extension of our agreement with Sabre will be instrumental to our continued success and will provide us with the visibility needed to support our growth objectives throughout Asia Pacific and beyond,” said Rudy Lumingkewas, CEO of Lion Air.
Lion Air and Wings Air operate an extensive domestic and international network of routes with 166 aircraft based in the main hub of Jakarta.
• Featured image credit: scyther5/iStock-Getty Images
