Amadeus on Tuesday announced new distribution agreements
with both Fareportal and commerce platform Simplenight as well as a new
technology agreement with HotelPlanner.
The agreement with Fareportal, which owns the CheapOair and
OneTravel online travel agencies, expands on Amadeus' current partnership with
the company to integrate New Distribution Capability-enabled offers. Fareportal
has been integrating NDC content from individual airlines, such as an
agreement with American Airlines last year, and the agreement with Amadeus provides
access to NDC-enabled content on the Amadeus Travel Platform. Amadeus currently
is working with more than 20 airlines to distribute NDC content, more than half
of which currently have content available on the platform.
The agreement is "significant given the role online
travel agencies play in advancing NDC and accelerating its adoption around the
world," Amadeus EVP of airline distribution, search and online, Sam Abdou
said in a statement.
With Simplenight—for which travel is only one of several
supplier types in its network—the multiyear agreement will integrate travel
content and the end-to-end workflow from the Amadeus Travel Platform. The
agreement "will further our goals in delivering a seamless booking experience
for all of our customers worldwide," according to Simplenight founder and
CEO Mark Halberstein.
With hotel-only travel agency HotelPlanner, which counts
group and corporate travel among its reservations services, Amadeus struck an
agreement that will deploy Amadeus Web Services "to deliver advanced
functionality to broaden our hospitality offerings, while improving operational
efficiency and platform productivity," HotelPlanner CEO Tim Hentschel said
in a statement. Among HotelPlanner's specializations is its
Closed User Group product, which makes discounted, unpublished rates
available to members including for business meetings and corporate travel.