Amadeus and Traveltainment planning to inspire travel technology

GDS and travel technology supplier Amadeus is to place a major emphasis on providing inspirational tools and intuitive user experience for inclusion on third party websites.

Two projects have been developed within the Madrid-based giant – at the Amadeus IT Group and leisure division Traveltainment – and will be launched

Traveltainment’s system is currently being trialled by STA Travel in Germany and is a front-end search and booking platform for consumer websites.

Internet Booking Engine v.3 allows for a wide ranging of multi-dimensional search parameters to be included such as location, price parameters, holiday type, accommodation requirements, duration and by review – aggregated on a single user page.

Other features include around 400,000 images of destinations and a growing number of 360-degree view pages (currently 5,000).

The system also allows for flight, hotel, packaged and self-bundled holidays to be included in the results.

Traveltainment chief executive Any Owen-Jones says the new service will hopefully allow companies to see users selecting holidays based more on personal requirements rather than price.

IBEv3 is also being developed for integration into a Microsoft Surface application and follows the company’s existing foray into the touch-screen world with its pilot product for travel agents.

Sister division Amadeus IT Group is jointly spearheading the group’s push into inspiration-led web tools with the launch of its Affinity Shopper system.

The first version of the platform is a tool for travellers looking for fares on airline websites.

Amadeus has abandoned the traditional departure airport, destination and date elements of a product search in favour of what it calls “natural” parameters such as budget limit, trip type (single, return), geography and activities.

The Ajax-led interface plots search results on a map and allows users to reconfigure their requirements as they move through the process.

Users are able to select fares for the booking area of the platform through a range of formats including a traditional list form or bar calendar display.

Amadeus has already secured three partnerships for the system, including one with a major European airline to be announced shortly.

The other two agreements will be revealed by the end of the year, says Amadeus IT Group vice president for product development, sales and e-commerce platforms, Denis Lacroix.

Over a year in the making, Affinity Shopper was developed to integrate data from a partner’s existing back-end and sit alongside existing search and booking functionality.

Lacroix says Affinity Shopper is aimed initially at airlines but will be available and targeted at online travel agencies and business travel agencies in 2010.

NB: Affinity Shopper and the TravelTainment IBE system will be showcased at PhoCusWright’s Travel Innovation Summit on Tuesday 17 November 2009.

GDS and travel technology supplier Amadeus is to place a major emphasis on providing inspirational tools and intuitive user experience for inclusion in third party websites.