BTA Industry Partner Newsletter

INDUSTRY PARTNER UPDATES

New Amadeus NDC Whitepaper In the last 18 months, despite the pandemic, momentum around NDC hasn’t stalled. In fact, the widely shared vision to focus more on traveller needs and simplify processes has driven much progress.

To explore the progress and sentiment around NDC we reached out to partners across the industry such as airlines, travel sellers and corporations, as well as our own Amadeus experts. Driven by the collected insights, we are able to provide an overview of where we are today as an industry in terms of NDC readiness, shed light on some of the barriers that still exist to reach full industrialization, and show what modern travel retailing looks like.

Download our paper 'NDC 2021 and the path to industrialization' to find out more about the next steps needed to further accelerate NDC and to see what other industry leaders are doing.

Click here to Download Paper We hope you find it useful and we’d love to hear your feedback! Contact us at sales.uk@amadeus.com We wish you all a safe return to business travel.

ANA to increase London – Tokyo frequency from 31st October 2021 ANA – Japan’s largest five-star airline – is increasing the number of weekly flights on the London – Tokyo Haneda route. Currently operating four flights a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from 31st October an additional flight will operate on Sundays.

The Paris – Tokyo Haneda route will change to three weekly flights on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while the Brussels – Tokyo Narita will add an extra service on Wednesdays (currently operating on Saturdays).

ANA will also operate special flights from Frankfurt to Osaka on 16th December and to Nagoya on 20th December. For the full schedule visit: https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/topics/notice200415/#5

ANA Future Promise The ANA Group has a history of engaging in programmes designed to drive social good, and the ANA Future Promise unites all of these successful Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives under a forward-looking slogan. The Group has named the period up to 2030 as the ‘Decade of Action’ and is committed to achieve net zero emissions for aircraft operations by 2050. ANA has recently announced a number of initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions, such as the introduction of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, aircraft weight reduction and digitisation of in-flight libraries. Visit our new dedicated website and learn more about ANA’s sustainability initiatives: https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/topics/ana-future-promise/

ANA Connections – Sign up and win a gift card ANA Connections is ANA’s Trade newsletter. Subscribe here to receive all of the latest news and useful information, including updated flight schedules and advice on government entry restrictions.

Introduction of new policies to control access to Premium and Package Fares Following feedback from our TMC customers and in response to the recent introduction of Standard Premium fares from Avanti West Coast, evolvi has introduced a new Standard Premium fare category to separate the Premium fares from other Advance fares, and added a new user policy which empowers TMCs to control which corporates can book them.

In addition, a second policy has been introduced which similarly controls access to the existing Standard Package and First Package categories, which offer fares with inclusive supplements such as meal vouchers, car parking and Underground travel.

A briefing document has been sent out to all evolvi TMCS, however, if you wish to receive a copy of this, please contact evolvi Support.

CMAC Group unveils fresh new look As part of the ongoing evolution of its brand, CMAC has released an updated identity to reflect who they are today and to symbolise their future.

Since 2007, CMAC has evolved from a reliable and trusted business continuity solutions provider based in Accrington, to become a thriving pansector organisation with established European services.

CMAC represent a client portfolio of world-leading organisations and industry partners who rely on them every day to provide best-in-class managed transport and accommodation solutions to passengers and staff, often in challenging circumstances.

They selected a new logo that is solid and bold, yet simple. Without going too far from the old identity, CMAC have added more focus on the ‘simplicity’ of their service (represented by the single dot) and opted for a more contemporary and rounded typeface which reflects CMACs agility.

“Today we are celebrating a new milestone for CMAC whilst taking the time to reflect on our evolution.

We’ve served businesses since 2007 with our award-winning fully managed ground transport solutions. Often the service that we deliver is critical, complex, and high intensity.

From rescuing stranded passengers overseas to seamless staff shuttles and taxis for business travel, our reputation for reliability and consistently exceeding expectations is second to none.

I’m enormously proud of the CMAC team and what we have achieved together over the last 14 years, their commitment and passion for creating seamless traveller experiences has been the cornerstone of our success.

I’d also like to thank all our customers for their continued support as we go from strength to strength.

Our focus will remain on serving our clients and partners industry-leading solutions made simple.

Over the next few months, all the other visuals around CMAC will align around this new direction: on the website, in advertising, and in some places in the portals.

It’s still CMAC, but with a fresh new look.

Here’s to ‘our people moving your people’!”

- Peter Slater, CEO

Sabre Corporation, the leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, and Qatar Airways, the award-winning international airline, are now finalizing a new distribution deal that will provide long-term access to the airline’s content through the Sabre travel marketplace.

Qatar Airways intends to strengthen its partnership with Sabre to take advantage of Sabre’s global reach and leading position in corporate travel for the distribution of Qatar Airways’ products to travelers worldwide. Implementation work is starting to enable unique NDC offers created by Qatar Airways to be distributed through Sabre’s new distribution capability (NDC), which provides a consistent end-to-end workflow that integrates within well-established agency operations.

“A new approach to retailing is required in order to respond to the personalized service and enhanced flexibility that travelers expect,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions. “Sabre is committed to supporting Qatar Airways in enhancing its retailing capabilities by enabling the airline to distribute personalized offers through our marketplace to corporations and travel agencies around the world. Collaboration will be crucial in travel’s recovery, so I’m proud that we are now finalizing a long-term, sustainable agreement with Qatar Airways that is beneficial for all parties in the travel ecosystem.”

Sabre’s technology enables Qatar Airways to effectively market and sell its expansive roster of fares globally through the Sabre marketplace. Reaching a network of more than 425,000 travel agents, it is one of the world’s largest marketplaces, processing over US $120 billion in estimated travel spend.

HELLO FUTURE Travelport Launches Global Accelerator Dedicated to Tackling Travel’s Biggest Retailing Challenges -First challenge to innovate digital marketing solutions that personalize targeted offers to customers using AI and machine learning -Selected start-ups given chance to receive up to $100,000 in AWS Activate credit Travelport, a worldwide leader in travel retail, last month announced the launch of a new global accelerator program in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Travelport Accelerator, dedicated to addressing the travel industry’s biggest retailing challenges.

“No single person or business has the solution to all of travel’s retailing challenges,” said Tom Kershaw, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Travelport. “The most effective way to drive innovation, especially at pace, is to unite bright minds from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations and focus their energy on solving a specific problem. That’s precisely what Travelport Accelerator will do. We look forward to working with companies across the world, both large and small, to drive the modernization of travel retailing for the benefit of the entire travel ecosystem.”

Travelport Accelerator Travelport Accelerator will see tech start-ups and innovators looking to enter the travel space take aim at a series of different travel retailing challenges, such as data protection, hyper-personalization, and customer acquisition. Once the challenge has been set, companies with existing technology and products that are relevant to the challenge and use cases outlined on the accelerator webpage are invited to apply.

A cohort of up to 10 companies will be selected to proceed to the next stage, which involves pitching solutions to an esteemed panel of judges from some of the world’s most renowned travel companies, including American Express Global Business Travel, Internova Travel Group, Direct Travel and Christopherson Business Travel. A group of up to three participants will ultimately be selected to move to the final round, solving the challenge in collaboration with Travelport and AWS. Each will be given access to Travelport+, Travelport’s next-generation travel marketplace.

Selected start-ups may receive up to $100,000 in AWS Activate credit and each participant will receive mentoring from travel domain and technical subject matter experts with deep experience working on AWS. The program also offers collaboration opportunities with AWS travel customers and members of the AWS Partner Network (APN) looking for technology solutions to their most challenging problems.

David Peller, Managing Director, AWS Travel and Hospitality, said: “With millions of active customers, AWS enables organizations of every size, around the world, to innovate. Travelport Accelerator supports that effort by giving travel innovators the potential to pitch their technology to some of the most influential leaders in the global travel industry and to influence the future of travel retailing. We’re proud to collaborate with Travelport on this as we work together to optimize Travelport+ and create a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing.”

The First Challenge The first challenge set by Travelport and AWS is to introduce cutting-edge digital marketing technology for travel companies, which uses behavioural and demographic traveller data to deliver highly targeted and personalized, real-time offers to customers. The solution must complement the advanced capabilities of Travelport+, which in a normal year will process hundreds of millions of travel transactions, and reduce the cost of customer acquisition and retention for Travelport’s customers.

Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer, Travelport, said: “The sheer volume of channels that communicate messages to people today is breath-taking, as is the amount of content each pushes out. Our brains are therefore forced to prioritize the information they receive. If you’re not compelling enough, you’ll be at the back of the queue – forgotten, literally. To be heard, it’s now table stakes for digital marketing to be highly targeted and hyper-personalized. Historically, this has been a challenge for travel companies because selling travel is complex, access to travel data has been limited, pricing is real time, demand trends evolve rapidly, and offers contain multiple products. Due to this, according to a recent study by Sojern, 84% of marketing professionals in the travel industry now see AI and machine learning for personalization of digital marketing as a high or very high priority. Challenges, however, are there to be overcome, and we believe this challenge can be solved by bringing together the right people and the right technology. We can’t wait to get started!”

Travelport Accelerator is now part of Travelport Focus, a Travelport innovation hub supported by AWS. The hub contains three pillars: Technology, Intelligence, and Customer Voice. Travelport Accelerator sits in the Technology pillar, alongside product telemetry, and is focused on creating experiences that redefine travel retailing. The Intelligence pillar sees Travelport, AWS, and global analysts conduct and publish research, data, and insights that inform decision making and inspire industry change. Customer Voice lets Travelport’s customers and developers have their say on product design and roadmap.

Accor partnership delivers planner efficiencies Meeting and event planners can now book any Accor property in the UK at the touch of a button thanks to a new partnership with venuedirectory.com.

The venue finding platform covering 80 properties nationally is now directly integrated with Accor’s diary management system. This means that the planner’s RFP will be shared directly with the conference team at the specified Accor property. The result is a rapid and competitive response to the planner’s RFP and increased efficiencies for the property.

Dana Lewis, VP M&E, Luxury M&E & Leisure, Northern Europe at Accor, who has been championing the project in the UK, explains: "This has been a tough year for us all in the industry and we are delighted to work with venuedirectory.com through this time to deliver this significant technology enhancement.”

Her colleague Katja Reisch, Director of MICE & Leisure Distribution Northern Europe at Accor, adds: "This was a really important project for Accor and we are delighted that our team have worked throughout with venuedirectory.com to get this deployed. The next stage is to roll this out across the rest of Europe and then the international hotels, smart connections across the meetings distribution network is a key part of our future recovery and global efficiencies.”

Planners can book with confidence through venuedirectory.com in the knowledge that their RFP will automatically be entered directly into Accor’s processing system. Michael Begley, CEO of venuedirectory.com, explains: “This speeds up the response process for hotels which ultimately brings huge time-saving benefits for meeting and event planners. Our partnership with Accor delivers efficiencies all round and, as more and more hotels and venues are directly integrated with our systems, the integration will facilitate bookings and support the recovery of our industry.”