Airlines and travel firms deny refunds

The Guardian | April 22, 2020

All of the UK’s biggest airlines and most big holiday companies are breaking the law by denying refunds within 14 days for travel cancelled during the pandemic, according to Which? Most have instead offered vouchers or credit notes. Ryanair has started telling customers they will have to wait until “the Covid-19 emergency has passed” for a refund. Passengers booked with easyJet and British Airways have told the Guardian they could not get their money back. Which? says customers of holiday companies, including Love Holidays and Tui, are in a similar boat. It is estimated up to £7bn could be owed for cancelled trips but the airlines body Iata and travel company association Abta say firms would be bankrupted by repaying it now when they have no income. Which? has backed calls for the government to extend the processing deadline to 28 days and for vouchers to be guaranteed against insolvency and eventually redeemable for cash.

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Explore cutting-edge revenue strategies in the hospitality industry. Adopt the latest hospitality management trends to optimize the revenue stream.

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Explore cutting-edge revenue strategies in the hospitality industry. Adopt the latest hospitality management trends to optimize the revenue stream.

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Business Travel

Airbase and TravelPerk Partner to Enhance Travel Expense Management for Businesses

businesswire | June 28, 2023

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Hospitality Trends, Hospitality Management

Sojern and Profitroom Join Forces to Drive Direct Hotel Bookings

PRNewswire | August 08, 2023

Sojern, the leading travel marketing platform, and Profitroom, a globally renowned award-winning booking and technology platform, announced a new collaboration. In today's era, where hotels closely monitor their budgets, the collaboration aims to equip hotels worldwide with a powerful combination of advanced booking technology and data-driven marketing solutions. This will enable hoteliers to effortlessly reach travellers searching for a place to stay and drive direct bookings on their website, ultimately leading to increased revenue. "With travellers increasingly relying on multiple digital channels to discover, plan and book their trips, the hospitality industry is undergoing a profound shift," said Josh Beckwith, Managing Director, Global Strategic Accounts and Partnerships, Sojern. 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Sojern's enhanced Travel Marketing Platform now enables hotels to engage with guests throughout their entire journey. "We are excited to join forces with Sojern and help hoteliers accelerate growth while increasing direct online revenue," said Samantha Williams, Commercial Director, Profitroom. "By leveraging each other's strengths, we will equip hotels with a winning combination of innovative technology and data-driven marketing solutions. This partnership will enable hotels to stand out in a crowded marketplace, increase direct bookings, and boost revenue. Profitroom has already made significant progress in the Polish, South African, LATAM, UK and Nordic markets with among 3,500 hotels and resorts worldwide. This new partnership with Sojern will further enhance our global reach amongst hoteliers." Sojern recently announced the latest version of its Sojern Travel Marketing Platform, featuring enhanced AI-powered audiences, showcasing the company's commitment to leveraging its deep technological expertise on a global scale. By continuously advancing its platform and investing in partnerships like the one with Profitroom, Sojern demonstrates dedication to innovation and delivering exceptional results to its 10,000 customers annually around the world. Profitroom, at the forefront of hotel technology solutions, assists hotels in adapting to evolving technology landscapes by introducing innovative ways to engage with customers while saving them time. Notably, Profitroom recently introduced an AI-based automatic copywriter, simplifying the process of creating compelling email campaigns. This cutting-edge technology enables hotels to generate tailored messages for guests with just a few clicks. Sojern is set to join Profitroom at their On Tour event in Johannesburg on Tuesday, August 22, 2023. The series of events, which will be hosted in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg, Hoedspruit and Nelspruit, aims to equip hoteliers with the best hospitality booking technology, offering discussions on the latest trends and highlighting strategies to increase revenue. Providing hoteliers with a networking platform and opportunities to develop industry relationships, the event also offers tools to keep them updated with the latest insights and trends, positioning them at the forefront of the industry. Sojern is among an esteemed group of partners joining Profitroom throughout the tour. About Sojern Sojern is a leading digital marketing platform built for travel marketers. Powered by artificial intelligence and traveller intent data, Sojern provides multichannel marketing solutions to drive direct demand. More than 10,000 hotels, attractions, tourism boards, and travel marketers rely on Sojern annually to engage and convert travellers around the world. About Profitroom Profitroom powers more than 3,500 outstanding leisure hotels and resorts across the world. The award-winning Profitroom Suite exposes hotels' full business potential with the complete set of e-commerce tools and industry-leading experience personalisation. Profitroom reservation platform supports all channels and yields direct bookings performance. It's built on the guest-centric foundations to strengthen guest loyalty and retention.

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Features and Advice

Amadeus and Emburse to Simplify Travel and Expense for Global Enterprises with Strategic Partnership

businesswire | June 29, 2023

Leading travel technology company Amadeus and Emburse, the global leader in spend optimization, are joining forces through a strategic partnership to better address the business travel demands of global enterprises. The partnership will ensure a seamless experience from trip planning and booking, through to expense reporting, reconciliation, reimbursements and spend analytics. This relationship delivers more choice to enterprises that are looking for an integrated suite of modern, sophisticated travel spend management tools, without having to compromise on quality by being tied to a single vendor. Amadeus and Emburse can now deliver a fully integrated solution to new customers, as well as offering each other’s solutions to current customers. Amadeus will promote Emburse Chrome River as a recommended integrated expense management offering to corporations in the United States and specific markets in Europe (UK, Scandinavia and Benelux), while Emburse will add Cytric Travel and Cytric Easy for Microsoft Teams to its portfolio of travel spend optimization solutions. “Emburse and Amadeus have had data integrations for some time, and we share a number of high-profile customers, but with this partnership, we’re really taking things to the next level,” said Eric Friedrichsen, CEO of Emburse. “The two companies offer a number of complementary solutions that span the entire business travel journey. This relationship enables us to empower global enterprises with state-of-the-art tools that offer greater simplicity for their end-users, while creating value for the enterprise through greater visibility and more efficient travel spending.” Through the global reach of this partnership and their commitment to innovation, Amadeus Cytric Solutions and Emburse can now offer a compelling alternative that not only meets the travel and expense (T&E) requirements of global enterprises with complex travel programs but also elevates the impact to a global business through the enablement of travel analytics, travel companion apps and integrated card programs. “This partnership enables us to go beyond managing travel booking and expense. By leveraging our two companies’ complementary strengths, we are greatly enhancing the traveler’s digital and mobile experience and corporations’ travel spend and policy management throughout the entire travel journey. All of this will enable corporations to optimize their travel spend in terms of cost, carbon emission and productivity collaboration,” said Rudy Daniello, Executive Vice President, Amadeus Cytric Solutions. The two companies will continue working together to collaborate and innovate in building end to end spend management. About Amadeus Travel powers progress. Amadeus powers travel. Amadeus’ solutions connect travelers to the journeys they want through travel agents, search engines, tour operators, airlines, airports, hotels, cars and railways. We have developed our technology in partnership with the travel industry for over 30 years. We combine a deep understanding of how people travel with the ability to design and deliver the most complex, trusted, critical systems our customers need. In 2019, we helped connect over 1.9 billion people to local travel providers in over 190 countries. We have a global mindset and a local presence wherever our customers need us. Our purpose is to shape the future of travel. We are passionate in our pursuit of better technology that makes better journeys. Amadeus is an IBEX 35 company, listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under AMS.MC. The company has also been recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last eleven years. About Emburse Emburse is a modern spend management company offering solutions that revolutionize the way organizations manage employee expenses, process invoices and make payments. Emburse humanizes work by empowering business travelers, finance professionals, and CFOs to eliminate manual, time-consuming tasks, so they can focus on what matters most. Its innovative offerings, which are tailored to meet the unique business needs of specific industries, company sizes, and geographies, are trusted by more than 9 million users in more than 120 countries. Over 18,000 customers, from start-ups to global enterprises, including Bosch, Grant Thornton, Telefónica, Lufthansa Systems, and Toyota, rely on Emburse to make faster, smarter decisions, improve compliance, and optimize spend -- making corporate spend deliver meaningful value for the organization. Emburse is recognized as a leader in expense management and accounts payable automation by analyst firm IDC, and has received multiple awards for innovation and its high levels of customer satisfaction.

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