Travel tech news from Skobbler, Triposo, Apple, Roomorama, Ctrip, UK Airport Parking, IHG, Priceline, Kayak, FoodPanda, Thailand Tourism, Indian Ministry, TrustYou, Passkey, Nor1, TRX, and Hyatt makes to our scan for April 7.
Maps
1. Skobbler, a mobile map-based solutions provider announced that Triposo is now using skobbler’s GeOS technology to power its in-app maps. skobbler GeOS is a new access technology platform that provides app developers and web service providers easy, yet powerful implementation of OpenStreetMap data into their products.
2. After developing its own proprietary maps, now it looks like Apple might be developing "Street View" type navigation system that offers a key benefit over Google's version. The patent filed by Apple describes a navigation technology that looks and works like Street View, but instead of using fingers to view other directions, a user would simply move the device up, down, left or right.
[caption id="attachment_107841" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="Credit: Apple/USPTO"]
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Travel portals
1. Roomorama, Asia’s online platform for short-term rentals, has introduced the Instant Booking ability for selected properties in over 15 European destinations such as Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Roomorama will be expanding this service actively in all its 5,000 destinations worldwide.
2. New site for comparing UK airport parking has launched. The site offers a comparison of airport related travel extras such as airport parking, lounges and airport hotels.
3. CTrip, China's largest online travel agency, will now offer all of IHG's 4,6000 properties, thanks to its inaugural hook-up with DerbySoft, the hotel distribution platform.
4. Priceline is now Google's largest customer. Remarkable.
5. Kayak finally became profitable.
6. Foodpanda, Singapore-based food delivery service has launched its native app for iOS and Android platform.
7. Thailand Tourist Police has launched Tourist Buddy, an app for iOS platform. The free app is packed with travel and safety advice for tourists and travellers around Thailand.
Partnership, Integration
1. With enhanced integration of Passkey and Nor1 products, hotels will be able to capture even more upsell revenue from their group guests with. Passkey's GroupMAX focuses on upsell opportunities “at the time of booking,” confirming room upgrades and other upsell components prior to check-in. Nor1’s eStandby is integrated into GroupMAX to provide guests options for upgrades that are confirmed at check-in, based on availability.
2. Truexpense, the expense reporting solution of TRX Inc is fully integrated with Sabre's online booking tool GetThere. This integration improves the pre-travel authorization process for Truexpense customers using GetThere and also enables better policy compliance for companies using both tools. Both tools work in sync, making it easy for the employee to see which travel options fall within appropriate expense categories.
3. Japan Airlines is reducing passenger queues and increasing its flexibility with SITA’s common-use passenger processing platform, AirportConnect Open. SITA delivered the new platform to seven Japanese airports as part of a five-year agreement. SITA is also providing Japan Airlines with fully-managed services and a total of 169 integrated common-use workstations across Fukuoka, Sendai, Niigata, Komatsu, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa airports.
People
1. PhoCusWright founder Philip Wolf has joined the board of TrustYou.
2. Hyatt has announced the appointment of Alex Zoghlin as the company’s first global head of technology.
Others
1. There's surprising proof that US airlines actually listen to customer surveys and act on them. The WSJ reports that passengers are responding by taking the surveys seriously, with nearly one in five passengers participating on some airlines.
2. Indian ministry of tourism has launched an online portal that will allow hoteliers who are seeking hotel project approvals, hotel classification and approvals for other related services to track the progress of their case online in real-time.