Booking rooms on the go with ImpulseFlyer’s iPhone app

Online luxury travel site, ImpulseFlyer, has launched its first iPhone app that features a carefully curated collection of luxury and boutique hotels in Asia.

The free app, available in Apple App Store, is simple in its layout featuring Impulse Flyer’s collection of hotels, intuitive and user friendly. Two tabs at bottom of the page – “Featured Hotels” and “Hotels” – allow users to choose, browse and book from the collection. A click on a specific hotel takes you to a short description of the property, and you can book directly on any room category at any preferred dates. Search can also carried out according to destinations.

VIP ImpulseFlyer members have the added bonus of access to their weekly private flash sales, said the company.

You can also share what you have discovered on the app with the “Invite Friends” tab.

Steven Gong, Impulse Flyer co-founder & chief executive officer said the app gave its iPhone-carrying members more freedom in accessing the hotels while on the move, instead of having to wait till they have use of a laptop.

Co-founder & chief technology officer Andy Croll added the company, which already has a mobile-optimised website, wants to raise the bar with its first mobile app.

Travelport Merchandising Platform unveiled

Travelport has launched the Travelport Merchandising Platform, which transforms the way airlines deliver their products and the way they are displayed to travel agents.

The platform enables airlines to:

• differentiate and distribute their full suite of products and services, including fares and ancillaries with complete consistency across all channels.
• distribute their content using whichever technology best suits their business model.
• achieve greater brand consistency by controlling how their product is presented across all channels.
• maximise return on investment by demonstrating differentiation from their competition and increased ancillary sales.
• deliver a compelling user experience in all channels, driving competitiveness, and enabling more profitable revenue.

For the agents the platform:

• gives them access to the full range of airline products, including ancillaries, in their familiar, consolidated and integrated workflow that assists them in making the best informed choice for their customers.
• offers a better, more complete service demonstrating their deep product expertise to customers.
• maintain high levels of productivity and reduce training times.

Derek Sharp, Travelpoart managing director, global distribution & sales, said, “The Travelport Merchandising Platform paves the way for significant change in the distribution landscape by enabling airlines to go to market with all of their products in the right place, at the right time, in every channel. It provides complete consistency in how an airline’s product portfolio is presented and sold across all channels.”

The three retailing solutions under this platform are Travelport Aggregated Shopping (launching now), Travelport Ancillary Services (available now) and Travelport Rich Content and Branding (launching in late 2013).

IHG connects with Ctrip via Derbysoft

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has begun adding its entire portfolio of 4,600 properties around the world to Ctrip, China’s largest OTA through DerbySoft.

The XML-based connection between IHG and Ctrip went live recently. Over the next several weeks DerbySoft will continue rolling out hotels in IHG’s portfolio onto the Ctrip system.

Ctrip is the largest OTA in China, which includes more than 250,000 hotels worldwide and more than 60 million registered users.

With 160 operating properties and 30% of its global pipeline in China the XML connection with Ctrip allows online booking of its properties for both outbound and inbound Chinese travellers.

The DerbySoft connection to IHG’s CRS, Ctrip users will also be able to view real time availability and receive an instant booking confirmation.

Based in Dallas, Texas, and Shanghai, China, DerbySoft provides technology services to seven of the 10 largest hotel companies in the world and many of the world’s largest OTA. This is the company’s first such distribution channel connection to Ctrip.