From Treebo’s Hero app to Sabre’s cutting-edge technology, and GoIbibo’s ‘Secret’, we have curated the best of this week’s travel-tech launches for you.

Treebo Hotels launches mobile app ‘Hero’ to tap traditional offline sales channels

Treebo Hotels announced the launch of a new mobile app called ‘Hero’ aimed at tapping into the traditional offline sales channels, thereby expanding its customer base and creating new avenues for sales. With the Hero app, Treebo aims to target intermediaries like auto-rickshaw and cab drivers, individual agents, small shopkeepers, and others who typically operate at airports, railway stations, and bus stands. These intermediaries often help customers arriving in the city with their travel bookings, since many of these customers do not make prior bookings.

By bringing this traditional offline activity into the formal online space through ‘Hero’, the brand targets to drive higher awareness about its quality services and amenities through the direct recommendation of these intermediaries. It will thus allow Treebo to tap into a new customer segment that has conventionally transacted with and trusted these offline intermediaries only.

Commenting on the launch, Sidharth Gupta, Co-founder of Treebo Hotels said, “As a hotel chain we have always used both online and offline channels to drive sales for us, and we have deployed technology to drive convergence between them. With the launch of Hero we are tapping into another potent sales channel – the local offline intermediaries. We are not only excited about welcoming a new set of travellers who book through such intermediaries but also about creating opportunities for such micro entrepreneurs to enhance their incomes and become part of the digital economy.”

Goibibo launches ‘Secret Hotels’ feature for last-minute hotel deals

Goibibo unveiled a new feature on its platform – “Secret Hotels”, which will help customers who are looking for hotels at the last minute and have a set budget. The ‘Secret Hotels’ feature requires the customer to provide basic intents such as location, check-in date and basket of standardised amenities. Basis the options filled in by the customer, hotels are selected by an automated Goibibo algorithm that picks the best property suited for customer’s needs at their chosen price.

Image source: Inc42

Commenting on the launch of Secret Hotels, Sanjay Bhasin, COO, Goibibo, said, “We want to consistently provide more choice and add to flexibility of booking hotels for our customers on Goibibo. With ‘Secret Hotels’, we aim to get our users a hassle-free hotel booking experience at special prices, even as they make last minute bookings.”

Sabre launches industry-first pricing technology to deliver end-to-end dynamic pricing strategy

At the Aviation Festival in London, Sabre Corporation launched Sabre AirVision Dynamic Availability and Sabre AirVision Fares Optimizer, two next-generation pricing solutions that uncover new revenue opportunities by enabling airlines to proactively address rapidly changing market conditions in real time. Underscoring the launch announcement, Etihad Airways and Aegean Airlines will be the first Sabre customers to implement the solutions.

“Pricing is one of the most complex issues in the aviation industry, and airlines are under immense pressure to adapt prices in line with constantly changing market conditions,” said Dave Shirk, President of Travel Solutions, Sabre. “Success requires pricing and revenue management technology that will not only push boundaries, but truly equip airlines for the next frontier. As part of our commitment to enable the digital airline of the future, our dynamic pricing solutions give airlines the intelligence needed to compete and grow revenue today and well into the future. This type of innovation can only come from close collaboration with leading airlines who help imagine the future alongside Sabre.”

Sabre AirVision Fares Optimizer empowers airlines to strategically adjust their fares based on real-time market data. It recommends pricing structures based on customer segmentation and competitor price checks, and generates fare recommendations by estimating each customer’s potential willingness to pay. Then, for more tactical adjustments, Sabre AirVision Dynamic Availability – a proven big data solution – enables airlines to quickly respond to ever evolving market dynamics. These two solutions, coupled with Sabre’s shopping data and Revenue Optimizer technology, empower airlines with a complete pricing and revenue management offering.

The new solutions are part of a broader strategic decision by Sabre, which announced earlier this year that it would build a new Digital Commercial Platform that delivers end-to-end personalized retailing for airlines.

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Yahoo’s new initiative Radar is another one in the foray. A virtual travel guide only available to apple phone users. This app went live yesterday to be downloaded for free. It’s a virtual travel assistant for all the travel woes to be catered while in the United States.

While it would populate recommendations and details on the various traveller queries like details on popular sights to be seen while en route a destination, restaurant recommendations, etc the app would be accepting Yahoo Mail as the primary mailbox. It has a chatbot like an interface which has a less practical feel to it.

The thing which sets Radar apart is that it would tap into the mailbox for any trip information like flight details, hotel or rental car reservations then accumulates into a single app. It provides a highly competitive approach to Google Now as well because of the in hand data it possesses. Any change in the data and it would notify you, be it flight delays, gate change or cancellations, etc. It is not necessary to have a yahoo mail address to be able to use its mailbox features as it announced its ability to manage other providers as well.

It has outsourced data from other portals like Tripadvisor and Yelp to offer other travel information like must see sightings and top-notch restaurants. One can get travel ideas and tips from the fellow travellers and can maintain their own “bucket list” for the destination to be visited.

The bot feature, however, feels a bit dodgy and if it is just an assistant to Tripadvisor or Yelp then honestly, it doesn’t feel too significant. It just adds another step in finding useful information if it comes to opening various apps in the last. Also the ‘only available on iTunes’ is a supporting statement that it is in its testing phase. However, what’s the deal with only the United States?

Source: Techcrunch

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A Bengaluru-based tech firm Software Technology Parks of India has rolled out a safety app for women who specifically travel at night. The app Track Me Mobi is aimed at 30-40,000 women working in the IT sector.

The passenger scans a QR code at the beginning of the trip to access the driver details which can be shared with a family member then.

Director of Software Technology Parks of India, Prabir K Das said that the app isn’t restricted to women working in the IT sector.

“Our app informs family members right at the start of the trip of the person’s whereabouts and continues to confirm throughout the trip if the passenger is fine or not.”

Bengaluru police lauded the efforts of the tech enterprise and the next step towards the betterment of the functioning of this app would be integrating police’s database in the app’s ecosystem.

“While the app has basic features like messaging the family members and the office, the next important modification should involve integrating the police into the system. It is crucial for the law enforcement to reach the victim at the earliest. The response time must be short. Such modifications will definitely improve the app”, said DCP East, Boralingaiah.

The app informs family members right at the start of the trip of the person’s whereabouts and continues to confirm throughout the trip if the passenger is fine or not. The unique pin system ensures that the driver cannot tamper with the app. If no information reaches the family members periodically, the app assumes the person is in distress and immediately alerts people in a 3 step process.

In a land seeking desperate attention to security, this step is a breath of fresh air for females travelling at odd hours. Such active endeavours can put the nation to rest. Let’s hope the app gets adopted under good intent that it was created.

Source: News18

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We get inspired to travel from our friends, from people who have explored and experienced. Most of the times, we come across some picture of a beautiful destination or notice the check in of a friend, we go to Google to look up more details, we try to see what all can be done at the destination, try to figure out the number of days required to explore, discuss the idea with some friends and then eventually put together an itinerary and start booking. Some people choose to use search phrases like ‘Turkey tour packages’ and book the first thing in sight but they aren’t really the travellers in question here.

The process from inspiration to experience could take anywhere from few days to a couple of months but it usually goes this way. After we travel, we share the experience over social platforms which will start the chain for someone else. But then the Facebook account isn’t a travel diary. Apart from the photographs and travel tales, there is a lot more content fighting for our attention and this is where TraveLibro enters the picture. Very neatly, it brings together travel and social in one place.

Monish Shah and Malhar Gala, Founders, TraveLibro

TraveLibro was started by Monish Shah, a travel aficionado and a former investment banker and Malhar Gala, a serial entrepreneur. The idea of starting TraveLibro germinated when Monish perceived a gap in travel market while researching destinations for his own honeymoon. The core team comprises of people from diverse backgrounds and the whole team is made up of over 50 individuals working to realise a common vision.

TraveLibro allows travellers to connect with their friends, fellow travellers and travel service providers. They can share their experiences, see where their friends have been travelling, look up details of destinations, find local attractions to explore and start putting together an itinerary. It offers a pre plan option where one can plan details of the trip in advance. And after this, it can also connect to the right agent who can put things in place for the trip.

One can simply sign up using Facebook or Twitter account and start using the platform. There are thousands of itineraries spread across various destinations all over that you can browse for inspiration. The itineraries are tagged in different categories like budget, business, religious, luxury and more making it easier to differentiate and find the right one. These itineraries are created by their team of travel experts, travel agents and other travellers.

However this isn’t the key highlight of TraveLibro. TraveLibro stands for ‘Travel Book’ and that is exactly what its mobile app doubles up as. The app offers an ‘On the go’ feature which creates a timeline of your trip when you are on the go. This way you can save your memories in a neat, organised manner without having to keep a separate record of bits. When you are travelling with friends, they can be tagged in the timeline and the end result will be a beautiful collaborative timeline that will let you revisit your destination once you are back.

While TraveLibro offers plenty for discovery and planning stage of travel, it misses out on the option to book. However Monish has assured us that while we are recording our trips on the app, the TraveLibro team is gearing up to introduce the booking feature. Expect the feature to be rolled out in the coming months. You can find more details about TraveLibro here. The app is available for iOS and Android.

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Victor Hugo once said, “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” IndiGo, the fastest growing and the largest airline in India, gives you a chance to win 100 free flight bookings with its new travel app idea campaign “6EAppsters”. To participate, all you need to do is register and send in the best idea for a travel app to ‘6E Appsters’ via Indigo’s campaign website. You could think about any idea – From trip planing, to mapping app or even activity planning travel app.

How does it work?

1) The applicant needs to register his idea/design/prototype of an exemplary travel app.

2) Valid registrations will receive a confirmatory email with a link that will redirect the applicant to the page where he will be required to submit his idea in absolute detail.

3) Observing the quality and practicality of the idea, the judges of the hunt will shortlist 20 entries for the presentations of their app ideas.

4) The judges, after careful scrutiny, will select the final 5 winners based on the presentations done.

That’s it! The rules of the hunt are simple too. The top 5 entries with the highest scores will be chosen as ‘Winners’. The list will be declared on their website. The winners will be required to present their entries later. The registration, of the hunt, will close on 15^th September, 2015. So hurry up, put on your thinking caps and who knows you might get lucky.

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