Kate Harden-England

📍 Corendon Airlines partners with IBS Software to transform commercial operations, expecting to handle over 37 million passengers. They'll use iFly Res for unified seat/tour operator inventory and advanced Revenue Management. The deal includes dynamic optimisation and real-time data for improved operations and competitive pricing. Corendon will enhance customer experience via NDC-based distribution offering dynamic, personalised options. First phase roll-out in December, second phase in March 2025. Corendon is the third Turkish airline, after Sun Express and Freebird, to adopt IBS's solutions.

💸 TripAdmit, a digital engagement solutions provider for tours, raised €1m in funding from DataOp for its TipDirect app. The Dublin-based company will expand in North America and Europe, enhancing tour guides’ tipping and upselling capabilities with cashless, AI technology. Co-founder John Maguire aims to develop the tech and lead in existing markets, while ComOp's Glen Magee supports TripAdmit for its innovative digital tipping technology in the growing tours market.

🌪 Sabre Hospitality partners with Sensible Weather to offer Weather Guarantee services through SynXis Booking Engine, providing guests with automatic reimbursements for adverse weather events during their stay. This integration aims to increase booking conversions, reduce cancellations, and improve guest satisfaction by ensuring a positive experience despite weather disruptions. Ethan Wiseman and Nick Cavanaugh, heads of their respective companies, believe this will give travelers confidence in committing to travel plans.

📊 Malaysia Airlines selects Sabre's PRISM solution to power and optimize its corporate segment. PRISM provides advanced data analytics and ingests data from over 5,000 sources, with 200m+ individual corporate flight bookings in 2023. Fully hosted on Google Cloud, it offers weekly data submissions, API for daily updates, and is GDPR compliant. Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi, CEO of Airlines from MAG, expresses the choice will enhance corporate travel, drive growth, and boost revenue.

🏖️ First Choice launches "First Choice Insiders," a new influencer marketing strategy targeting next-gen travelers by enabling them to ‘shop the look’ from five travel influencers. The program, inspired by the fashion industry, integrates influencers' handpicked trips with detailed itineraries into the First Choice website for direct booking. Managing director Bart Quinton Smith emphasizes the shift in young travelers' online behavior, favoring immediate purchases at the inspiration stage. The launch follows Expedia Group's Travel Shop announcement, stressing the growing trend of blending travel inspiration with e-commerce.

📃 VFS Global's Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD) service expands to Bulgaria, Iceland, Estonia, and Slovenia from the UK, offering convenient visa application and biometrics enrollment at preferred locations. The service is a response to increased demand for personalized services and aims to save time and money by processing multiple applications simultaneously without the need for in-person appointments. Anirudh Singh, COO of Europe and CIS at VFS Global, cites the rise in demand during the pandemic and the ongoing trend of travelers seeking comfort and convenience.