FEATURES AND ADVICE
TravelWifi | November 11, 2020
TravelWifi CEO Wallace Davis announced today the recent acquisition of Barcelona-based Wifivox, the leading provider of mobile Wi-Fi solutions in Spain. Founded in 2013, Wifivox has offices in Barcelona and Madrid. The company offers rentable Wi-Fi hotspot devices that can be ordered online and then picked up or dropped off at major airports and approximately 2,000 locations throughout Spain. Wifivox has a collaborative agreement with the official Barcelona tourism board and maintains more than 830 B2B partnerships in sectors ranging from events and media production companies to travel agencies and the hospitality industry.
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COMMERCIAL TRAVEL
TravelPerk | January 25, 2021
Although the pandemic has likely always adjusted the manner in which organizations decide to cooperate with their workers, colleagues and different substances in topographies other than their own, business travel isn’t likely to die out entirely.
According to TravelPerk Co-founder and CEO Avi Meir, a look at consumer travel trends may offer insight into the future of business trips.
“There was a lot of traveling for leisure over the holidays,” he said in an interview with PYMNTS.
For sure, the traveler throughput delivered by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) discovered more than 9.2 million travelers went via air during the 10-day occasion stretch in 2020. Unexpectedly since the pandemic started, there were three days straight in which more than 1 million travelers traveled every day.
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HOSPITALITY TRENDS
Rakuten, Cloudbeds | August 04, 2021
Cloudbeds, the fastest growing hospitality management platform today, announced a partnership with Rakuten Travel Xchange, the hotel wholesale and travel technology division within the Rakuten Group. The collaboration connects Cloudbeds with Rakuten Travel, the highly ranked OTA in Japan, and 400+ B2B partners connected worldwide through API connections, travel agent portals, and websites. The unique and diverse distribution channels allow Cloudbeds to extend its reach to the extensive Rakuten Travel Xchange customer base through a single connection. In addition, Rakuten Travel Xchange adds the Cloudbeds inventory of properties that use its award-winning technology platform to manage all aspects of their business, from booking engines to payments.
“We are always seeking high-value partners to complement our expanding platform, “says Anna Tsujihata, Head of Hotel Contracting and Connectivity, of Rakuten Travel Xchange. “With Cloudbeds now part of our global distribution platform, we expand our offerings to travelers seeking unique properties with superior guest experiences.”
“As global travel reopens, we want our properties to be available to the largest customer base possible,” says Sebastian Leitner, VP of Partnerships for Cloudbeds. “By partnering with Rakuten Travel Xchange, a major global player and distribution channel in Japan; we significantly increase our global footprint. We are excited to partner with them.”
The announcement comes as the pandemic wanes and travel demand is increasing. Since the beginning of the year Rakuten Travel Xchange has seen bookings increase month after month, with strong demands coming from the United States and Mexico in particular. As restrictions have started to lift in other markets, travel in these geographies has followed similar trends. What is clear is that there is a large amount of pent-up demand. Rakuten Travel Xchange is seeing this demand in real-time across its global distribution network.
About Rakuten Travel Xchange
Rakuten Travel Xchange is a hotel distribution service providing travel retailers around the world owned by the Rakuten Group, Inc., a global leader in Internet services. It enables accommodation partners to distribute their inventory through an extensive global distribution network that includes Rakuten Group’s branded sites, other online travel agents, wholesalers, airlines, app-only players, loyalty programs, and an assortment of offline retailers including travel agents and call center operators.
About Cloudbeds
Founded in 2012, Cloudbeds is the fastest-growing hospitality management platform in the world. Its SaaS platform provides tools to manage better properties of all types and sizes, allowing property managers and owners more time to focus on their guests while building revenue, driving bookings and increasing operational efficiencies. Trusted by more than 20,000 hotels, hostels, inns, and alternative accommodations in more than 157 countries, the Cloudbeds suite is a fully integrated platform of capabilities designed to help properties unify their management, reservations, and booking systems, grow revenue, and automate workflows with confidence and ease. For more information, visit www.cloudbeds.com.
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