BUSINESS TRAVEL
IBS Software | May 05, 2023
IBS Software, a global leader of SaaS solutions to the travel and transportation industry, has chosen CarTrawler, a leading B2B technology provider of car rental solutions, to offer car hire & insurance services to IBS iFly Staff & Corporate customers.
This partnership will simplify and enhance the Whole of Trip (WoT) experience for iFly Staff & Corporate customers, in addition to expanding IBS Software's footprint in non-air ancillaries in the global travel industry. Currently, airline staff and corporate travel involves navigating multiple applications to book essential add-ons. IBS Software's partnership with CarTrawler enables iFly Staff users to book car rentals and car insurance through an integrated and seamless staff travel system.
Since its inception in 2004, CarTrawler has provided more than 75 airlines with global car rental and mobility solutions for commercial purposes. CarTrawler also holds the widest breadth of car rental supply of any provider across over 1,700 suppliers in 55,000 locations. Its partnership with IBS Software signals an unprecedented and strategic step to offer an integrated travel experience for airline staff within corporate travel.
Madhu Nair, Head of iFly Staff Product Management and Strategy at IBS Software, says: "We're delighted to partner with CarTrawler, a renowned and well-respected global car rental solutions provider. Motivated by a need to improve, simplify and boost efficiency across the end-to-end travel experience for our iFly Staff and Corporate customers alike, we're working closely with CarTrawler to provide a unique and innovative Whole of Trip travel experience."
Aileen McCormack, Chief Commercial Officer at CarTrawler, says: "We're excited to partner with IBS Software and to support them in the expansion of their Staff Travel & Corporate solution for current and prospective customers, using CarTrawler's technology to seamlessly improve travel experiences through flexible and simple end-to-end bookings."
About IBS Software
IBS Software is a leader in providing SaaS solutions for the travel industry based in Singapore. It manages mission-critical operations for clients in the aviation, tour & cruise, and hospitality industries. The aviation industry solutions provided by the company include fleet & crew operations, passenger services, staff travel, loyalty programs, aircraft maintenance, and air cargo management. It also operates a B2B and B2C distribution platform that provides hotel room inventory, rates, and availability to a network of hospitality companies and channels. Additionally, it offers a comprehensive, customer-centric digital platform for the tour and cruise industry that includes onshore, online, and on-board solutions. IBS Software is a Blackstone portfolio company with 15 offices worldwide.
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BUSINESS TRAVEL
Mondee | April 11, 2023
Mondee Holdings Inc.a technology-driven, next-generation marketplace in a $1 trillion segment of the travel market, today announced a new partnership with TISSINI, a social selling platform empowering U.S. Hispanic women. As part of Mondee's Affiliate Network program, TISSINI’s micro-network of 55,000 U.S. Hispanic women, who have to date been focused on selling products to their local communities, are now expanding into services with the opportunity to sell travel through Mondee's platform.
"We are excited to welcome TISSINI to our Influencer and Affiliate Network program and expand our reach to the growing Hispanic market," said Mondee's Chairman, CEO, and Founder, Prasad Gundumogula. "TISSINI's network brings a unique opportunity for us to connect with a community of consumers who frequently and consistently book travel as a way to connect with family and friends.”
Founded in 2015, TISSINI has quickly become a leading social selling platform focused on empowering U.S. Hispanic women, many of whom are single-mother entrepreneurs. The company offers a range of high-quality fashion and beauty products, and now, with Mondee’s partnership, will be able to expand its offerings to include travel services. TISSINI’s network of women entrepreneurs will now have access to Mondee’s vast inventory of travel products, including flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages.
“We are thrilled to partner with Mondee and bring travel opportunities to our community of entrepreneurs and customers,” said Sion L. Tesone, Founder and CEO of TISSINI. “Travel is an important part of the Latin American culture, and now, with Mondee’s platform, we can provide our customers with even more ways to explore the world and visit their loved ones.”
Mondee’s modern Influencer and Affiliate Network program is designed to enhance the product line-up and increase growth and profitability for the growing closed groups of expert and influencer global travel affiliates. The program provides affiliates with access to Mondee’s inventory of travel products, as well as fintech, marketing and technology support to help drive sales and increase revenue.
“We believe that partnerships like this with TISSINI are the future of the travel industry,” said Mr. Gundumogula. “By leveraging each other’s strengths and expertise, we can create a win-win-win situation for everyone involved – from our affiliates to their customers, as well as our suppliers, offering unique and highly-targeted sales channels.”
ABOUT MONDEE
Established in 2011, Mondee is a travel technology company and a modern travel marketplace with its headquarters based in Austin, Texas. The company operates 17 offices across the United States and Canada and has core operations in India, Thailand, and Greece. Mondee is driving change in the leisure and corporate travel sectors through its broad array of innovative solutions. The company’s platform processes over 50 million daily searches and generates a substantial transactional volume annually. Its network includes 55,000+ leisure travel advisors and gig economy workers, 500+ airlines, and over one million hotels and vacation rentals, 30K rental car pickup locations, 50+ cruise lines. The company also offers packaged solutions and ancillary offerings that serve a global customer base.
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HOSPITALITY TRENDS
prnewswire | May 02, 2023
JetBlue Ventures and Plug and Play Tech Center announce that their partnership has once again been successful in fostering innovation and growth in the travel industry. Their partnership aims to increase collaboration in the travel tech industry as both companies discover and pair startups with commercial aviation business opportunities. Through this collaboration, they were able to create an impactful partnership between travel startup Autio, a location-based audio story app, and JetBlue.
JetBlue Ventures and Plug and Play have partnered together over the last seven years to support travel-related technologies and drive innovation. As part of their relationship, Plug and Play operates a Travel & Hospitality Program, which has allowed JetBlue to meet promising startups in the travel and hospitality sector. To support this program, JetBlue Ventures leverages its industry expertise and resources to help startups in the program succeed while also gaining access to cutting-edge technologies and ideas that can enhance the JetBlue customer experience.
Plug and Play's Travel & Hospitality program has already seen great success in connecting startups with corporate partners in the travel industry. Autio was one of the startups that participated in the Winter 2022 Program, and after evaluating their product, JetBlue determined that they would be a good fit for a pilot run in their in-flight entertainment department.
Initially launched in 2020, Autio offers an extensive library of 10,000+ stories across the entire United States and uses GPS to serve up stories based on geographic location. While many users listen to the stories on road trips, many more are using the app in other settings like walks or even traveling virtually from home. Through its partnership with JetBlue, US-domestic travelers will be able to choose Autio stories based on their flight location for the next twelve months. With over 250 stories available in 29 American destinations, customers can listen to the history of their next destination while looking out their window.
"One of the many benefits of JetBlue Ventures' partnership with Plug and Play is our ability to facilitate connections between startups and a larger corporate company. Autio's partnership with JetBlue is an outstanding example of this. Such successes are what make our partnership with Plug and Play so effective," said Stephen Snyder, Managing Director at JetBlue Ventures.
Amir Amidi, Managing Director of Plug and Play Travel & Hospitality, said, "These sorts of partnerships are exactly what our accelerator program is about. We love working with innovative companies like JetBlue Ventures who are eager to offer new and engaging benefits to their travelers and innovative startups like Autio who can adapt their B2C business to reach new audiences."
"Being part of Plug and Play's Travel & Hospitality program gave Autio an incredible opportunity to partner with JetBlue on our first in-flight integration. As a startup, having the support from Plug and Play has been invaluable as it opened the door for growth beyond our consumer subscription business and into enterprise deals and clients," said Woody Sears, CEO of Autio. "We're looking forward to continuing the momentum built upon this partnership."
You can download the Autio app on the Apple App Store today for only $36 a year and have unlimited access to all of their stories wherever you go. Also, you can hear from Kevin Costner directly on this partnership in his interview with Travel+Leisure magazine.
How Autio's App Works:
Users download the app (available in the App Store) and sign up for an account.
Users can access the curated audio story collection once signed in (guest accounts come with 5 free stories, while paid accounts at $36/year feature unlimited access).
Once users enable location access, they are ready to explore nearby stories. Once in-app, they can reveal hidden surroundings with entertaining stories based on GPS location.
While not traveling, users can still access the map of U.S. stories and toggle to choose content based on their interests.
About JetBlue Ventures
JetBlue Ventures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of JetBlue, invests in and partners with early-stage startups innovating in the travel, transportation, and hospitality industries. The company prioritizes investments that advance the seamless customer-centric journey; reimagine the accommodation experience; next-generation aviation operations and enterprise tech; distribution, loyalty, and revenue management; and sustainable travel. Founded in 2016, JetBlue Ventures is a subsidiary of JetBlue located in Silicon Valley, California.
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