Business Travel
PR Newswire | November 03, 2023
IBS Software and Royal Caribbean Group have partnered to deploy cutting-edge retail technology at the heart of its operations.
This will enable Royal Caribbean Group to provide a more seamless vacation experience to their guests and deliver even better personalized services at every step of the trip: before, during, and after.
By deploying IBS Software's next-generation iTravelCruise travel platform, Royal Caribbean Group is able to place guests at the center of the retail experience. The company will be able to deliver tailored guests experiences by empowering every sales channel with an integrated and flexible omni-channel platform. This translates into offering improved bundling and selling services that contribute to the entire vacation experience – such as booking flights, hotels and transfers – as well as providing guests with personalized offers, credits and loyalty rewards throughout the trip using an integrated guest wallet.
The iTravelCruise platform plays a significant role by delivering high-performance transaction processing, high system availability, security and stringent performance requirements for Royal Caribbean Group, providing a faster, more flexible and seamless booking experience for guests.
Marta Poulter, Chief Information Officer at Royal Caribbean Group, said, "At Royal Caribbean Group we never stand still in our mission to constantly bring our guests new and differentiated experiences. This is made possible by replacing legacy technology with the latest cloud-based retail systems, as it gives guests far more flexibility over what they can book to make their trip as seamless and easy as possible."
Rafeh Masood, Chief Growth and Digital Officer at Royal Caribbean Group, said, "By adopting this modern digital platform, we'll offer more opportunities to our guests to continue vacationing and building memories with us, with the benefits of flexible, personalized offerings."
Jitendra Sindhwani, President at IBS Software, commented, "We're thrilled to partner with the Royal Caribbean Group to fulfill their goal of placing retail technology at the heart of its guest experiences. The travel industry is shifting from being product-centric to guest-centric and Royal Caribbean Group has an inspiring vision to continuously provide value to every guest, at every stage of their vacation journey. Backed by next-generation cloud-based architecture, digital solutions like IBS Software's iTravelCruise SaaS platform are driving the transformation needed for companies to unlock their full growth and scale potential. We're beyond excited to be on this journey with Royal Caribbean Group as they transform the future of cruise."
More information on IBS Software's next-generation digital platform for tour and cruise, enabling cruise lines to leverage smarter technologies.
About IBS Software
IBS Software is a leading SaaS solutions provider to the travel industry globally, managing mission-critical operations for customers in the aviation, tour & cruise, hospitality, and energy resources industries.
Tour & Cruise Industry:
IBS Software's platform provides a comprehensive, customer-centric, digital platform that covers onshore, online and on-board solutions.
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Travel Technology
Spirit Airlines | September 13, 2023
Cover Genius announced entering into a partnership with Spirit Airlines.
By integrating the company's XCover, Cover Genius empowers its partners to provide personalized protection options during the checkout process.
Through this partnership, Spirit Airlines' passengers enjoy a top-tier experience, featuring straightforward protection options during booking and seamless digital claims processing.
On September 12, 2023, Cover Genius, a leading insurtech for embedded protection, providing a global distribution platform for any insurance or other type of protection, announced a partnership with Spirit Airlines, a market leader in offering customizable travel options starting with an unbundled fare.
This integration with Cover Genius' award-winning global distribution platform, XCover, will offer Spirit Airlines' non-US and non-Canadian citizen passengers the opportunity to purchase personalized embedded protection. This coverage comes with the added benefit of a swift claims process, marking the first time such an option is available to them.
Cover Genius, selected as the insurtech partner for some of the world's largest airlines, empowers its partners to provide customized protection options during the checkout process. These options can be flexibly bundled or unbundled to cater to each customer's specific requirements. With licenses or authorizations spanning over 60 countries and encompassing all 50 US states, Cover Genius enables partners to effortlessly extend protection to customers from any location, facilitating international expansion.
Rana Ghosh, Vice President of Omnichannel Sales at Spirit Airlines, said,
We are committed to providing our Guests with the best value in the sky, unbundled fares and customizable travel options.
[Source – Globe Newswire]
Partnering with Cover Genius enables them to augment the Guest experience. It allows them to provide customized travel protection for various regions and destinations, added Ghosh.
Through the partnership, Spirit Airlines' passengers enjoy a best-in-class experience with straightforward protection options while booking and seamless digital claims processing. The management of Guests' requirements, starting from the initial sale to administration and claims, is efficiently handled by Cover Genius' consumer brand, XCover.com. This exceptional service has led to an industry-leading post-claims Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +65. Furthermore, the award-winning service design has demonstrated a remarkable 7x reduction in support tickets.
Angus McDonald, CEO and Co-Founder of Cover Genius, stated,
We are thrilled to partner with Spirit Airlines to help international travelers feel more confident in their booking.
[Source – Globe Newswire]
While embedded protection in travel is a common practice, many airlines provide customers with a standard one-size-fits-all policy that fails to address the varying needs of different travelers. The approach has been changed to offer customers flexible protection, customized according to their itinerary or destination, and supported by real-time data. Additionally, customers benefit from a hassle-free claims process that includes instant payments in more than 90 currencies, said McDonald.
International Guests with Spirit Airlines now have the choice to acquire embedded protection supported by XCover. Notably, Spirit Airlines presently serves 27 destinations spanning 14 countries outside of the United States.
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Travel Technology
Marriott International | October 09, 2023
Marriott International launches the Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement to drive sustainability and supplier engagement in collaboration with EcoVadis.
HARP focuses on achieving Net Zero targets and sustainability goals by pooling resources and expertise to address common challenges in the hospitality sector.
The initiative utilizes EcoVadis' sustainability rating methodology and platform to increase supplier visibility and accelerate supplier performance improvement.
Marriott International, along with Accor, Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotel Group, Avendra, and Entegra, has launched the Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement (HARP) in collaboration with EcoVadis.
HARP aims to accelerate sustainability practices within the hospitality sector by fostering collaboration among trading partners. By utilizing EcoVadis' sustainability rating methodology and platform, HARP seeks to enhance supplier engagement, drive performance improvement, and focus on key industry categories.
Chief Customer Officer at EcoVadis, Richard Eyram, stated that as companies aim to involve their value chain partners in sustainability initiatives, they come to understand the intricate nature and shared difficulties within their sector. The hospitality industry can maximize its collective influence through partnerships and collaboration across the industry. Through the consolidation of efforts, alignment of priorities, and the exchange of best practices, members of HARP can attain favorable results, leading the way toward achieving Net Zero targets and a more sustainable future for everyone.
The alliance addresses common challenges faced by the industry in achieving sustainability goals, with a particular focus on increasing supplier engagement and performance. By pooling resources and expertise, HARP members aim to work collectively toward Net Zero targets and a more sustainable future. It addresses these fundamental challenges confronted by its collective supplier sustainability programs, such as:
Increasing supplier engagement rate to increase supplier visibility, beginning with the supplier assessment.
Accelerating the performance improvement curve of suppliers.
Increasing the relevancy of those engagements by concentrating on the industry's most important categories.
HARP has implemented EcoVadis's sustainability rating proven methodology, scorecards, and improvement platform to attain these objectives. The EcoVadis Sector Initiative features are designed as a network compliant with antitrust laws and enable more efficient supplier enrollment, transparency, collaboration, and analytics. Together, these capabilities provide HARP with visibility over the sustainability performance of the hospitality supply chain and enable HARP members to align on the industry's top priorities. This results in a positive message to the supplier community and a more cohesive direction that allows targeted improvement.
HARP member suppliers will have access to additional capacity-building and engagement activities, as well as tools and best practices, in order to achieve this targeted development and meet the needs of the hospitality industry. Marriott and the seven HARP founding members collectively rated more than 2,000 suppliers upon the initiative's foundation. HARP intends to increase this number in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the sustainability performance of its supply chain and to maximize improvement.
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