AIRLINES AND AIRPORTS
World Travel & Tourism Council | March 14, 2023
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), a travel arrangement services company, has recently announced the Hotel Sustainability Basics (Basics) at ITB Berlin. Basics help tourist accommodation providers with their sustainability journey.
Basics is a set of globally accepted criteria that hotels should implement at least to generate a responsible and sustainable business in Travel & Tourism. The industry supports it and compiles all tourist accommodation providers, regardless of their size and location. A group of influential global hotel brands came together to demand it. It emphasizes a possible starting point over other sustainability initiatives. It will inspire accommodation providers worldwide to start their sustainability journeys and fulfill the fundamental standards of the sector.
It compromises 12 essential criteria and is available to all hotels. This endeavor aims to build a strong base for complex sustainability schemes and enhance sustainability across the industry. It got recognition from the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance as a starting point for the net positive industry. This alliance is the one that announced the latest version of the 'Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality.' WTTC has partnered with Green Key and SGS to design an online verification system to ensure the program's validity.
President & CEO of WTTC, Julia Simpson said, "We are incredibly proud to launch our Hotel Sustainability Basics and its verification scheme. The initiative is a response to the sector's need for a baseline for hotels and other tourist lodgings to introduce the exacting sustainability standards." She added, "Our research shows that most business owners are aware of their responsibility to the environment but need a step-by-step guide that is scientifically verifiable. It is a testament to the need for such a scheme that already thousands of hotel properties from around the world have committed to implement Basics, and from today can begin the verification process."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About World Travel & Tourism Council
Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is a non-profitable and non-government organization dedicated to travel and tourism, founded in 1990. It specializes in the authority on world travel & tourism, travel, tourism, research, economics, private sector, government policies, economic impact, Covid-19 recovery, sustainability, and crisis preparedness. It represents the travel & tourism private sector at a global level. It connects industry experts, CEOs of travel & tourism companies and organizations worldwide. Its focuses on Security & Travel Facilitation, Crisis Preparedness & Management, and Sustainable Growth in the travel field.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
SUNRATE | January 10, 2023
SUNRATE, recognized as a leading financial solutions provider, collaborated with Visa, a world leader in digital payments. The partnership is to enhance the travel solutions offered by SUNRATE.
In the past, SUNRATE's stakeholders had only one way to pay for travel-related expenses with their travel partners. Now with the partnership, they will have a virtual corporate card that makes this process much easier and more streamlined.
SUNRATE, at the end of last year, shared news of a strategic alliance with Agoda, the world's largest online travel agency. In 2021, the company was accepted into the Visa network as a primary participant.
SUNRATE’S corporate cards will help its travel partners to have control over spending track and allocations. In addition, a corporate card will ensure the security of the transactions and the data for the users. Technologies like Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have made it difficult for shared card information to be misused by imposing a time limit on each transaction.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 is an international standard for financial data security. SUNRATE has been certified to meet this standard.
"The launch of Visa virtual corporate cards is a monumental step for SUNRATE as we cement our leadership as a one-stop B2B payment partner, especially for the travel industry. Since our partnership announcement with Agoda, we have worked with many other travel stakeholders, including other OTAs and we take pride in being able to solve their overall business needs. The Visa virtual corporate card will be a key solution for our customers and beyond,"
-Shawn Qin, Head of Card Business, SUNRATE.
(Source: Cision)
About SUNRATE
SUNRATE is an advanced global payment and treasury management platform for international businesses. Having global headquarters in Singapore and offices in China, Indonesia, Japan, and the United Kingdom, SUNRATE collaborates with Citibank, Standard Chartered, and Barclays and is the leading member of MasterCard and Visa. The company has facilitated local and global growth for over 130 firms since its establishment in 2016.
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DESTINATION AND TOURISM, INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Outdoorsy | February 16, 2023
On February 15, 2023, UJET, Inc., an innovative contact center platform, announced that Outdoorsy has chosen UJET as the core of its customer service operations. Outdoorsy is the world's most reliable marketplace for on-demand RV rentals and outdoor travel. Therefore, it required a contact center solution to match its stellar reputation for excellent service and prompt response, keep up with its rapid expansion, and provide the necessary data insights to anticipate shifting consumer trends.
Outdoorsy selected UJET because of its usability, rapid scalability, and cloud platform's dependability, which is backed by CX Intercloud's 100% uptime guarantee. The company recently surpassed $2 billion in total transactions, making it one of the fastest-growing and biggest marketplace startups and private companies on the a16z Marketplace 100 List.
Due to its success and the seasonal nature of an outdoor hospitality business, such as RV rentals, Outdoorsy's customer service experiences significant spikes in demand. Therefore, the organization required a contact center solution adaptable to adjust and maintain optimal service levels rapidly. Additionally, the COVID pandemic increased the demand for novel travel options during the summer of 2021. Outdoorsy utilized the scalability of UJET's cloud platform to add several new agents as the summer rush started smoothly and to scale operations back to normal as the travel surge subsided.
Accurate, real-time reporting became crucial as it expanded rapidly with new agents and customers. Advanced reporting and analytics from UJET provide Outdoorsy with a clear view of customer satisfaction, team performance, and the overall quality of its customer experience, allowing the company to make necessary adjustments in real-time and continuously improve its operations. In addition, UJET delivers Outdoorsy the vital business intelligence it needs to optimize contact center performance and put customers first through its comprehensive reporting and custom dashboards.
About Outdoorsy
Headquartered in Austin, Texas,Outdoorsy revolutionized outdoor access by introducing its RV rental marketplace in 2015. By working together, the company and its hosts have contributed to over 5 million days of booked travel through RV rentals in 4,800 cities across the United States and Canada. Its hospitality ecosystem offers RV owners life-changing financial benefits and gives guests the trust and guidance they need to create unforgettable travel experiences. The company's team is motivated by a mission to restore the connection to the outdoors and each other by assisting guests to 'Bring The Outside In.'
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