Amadeus has announced the creation of a dedicated NDC-X programme to drive the industrialisation of IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC).
Amadeus says its NDC-X programme will bring together experts from across the company to focus on practical use cases of NDC, an XML-based data transmission standard set to change airline distribution and merchandising.
Through the programme, Amadeus will also adopt a test and learn approach to deliver improved capabilities for the industry.
The initiative is a continuation of the company’s efforts to digitalise airline distribution and create new commercial possibilities to build on the new technology standard.
Gianni Pisanello, who has held a variety of leadership roles within Amadeus’ airlines business, both on the IT and the distribution side, will lead the new NDC-X programme.
“We are at a critical moment in terms of the development of the standard, and the readiness of the industry,” said Pisanello. “For NDC to truly take off, we need to create a real standard not only for the protocol itself, but also for how it’s implemented. We also need to ensure that it responds to travel seller requirements, and that it has the right economics to drive investment.”
Julia Sattel, senior vice president, airlines, added that Amadeus is working to solve its airline customers’ technology challenges in areas such as merchandising, dynamic pricing and cloud servicing, “which we see as the heavy machinery in the background which will make NDC and improved retailing a reality”.
Amadeus’ move came just a day after Travelport unveiled product plans to enable airlines and agents in the NDC era.
These products will allow travel agencies to connect through Travelport’s platform in a single workflow combining traditional content and new NDC content.
Travelport plans to include NDC content within an initial set of products, including an industrialised connection for airlines that connects via NDC-standard APIs and a Point of Sale companion application for travel agencies that offers NDC-enabled content alongside the GDS workflow in the Smartpoint desktop.
This integrated app is expected to be launched in 2H2018. This will be followed by a first fully integrated search, book and manage function, combining NDC-connected content and GDS content in the same workflow, which will be delivered via Travelport solutions including its
The first among the distribution companies to achieve IATA’s certification as an NDC Level 3 Aggregator in December 2017, Travelport says it will announce its first NDC-enabled airline partnerships very soon.
It is not enough to keep up with the digital expectations of today’s tech-savvy consumers, Expedia says. Exceeding these expectations is a “travel industry imperative”.
To help travel service providers anticipate new needs, Expedia casts the spotlight on four key trends of 2018.
AI and machine learning: chatbots become ubiquitous
Expedia expects 2018 to be a year where AI, in the form of machine learning, becomes not just a futuristic technology, but an integrated and valuable everyday tool.
Growing “digital impatience” among consumers and expectations for instant responses to queries and purchasing requests has driven adoption of digital assistants. According to Expedia, 62 per cent of global consumers today are comfortable with an AI application responding to their query.
Chatbots are already enabling deeper and easier traveller communication, and are expanding to different mediums: chat, social channels, voice assistants and more. In addition, new tools and technologies in this space will allow hoteliers to connect with consumers in deeper and more meaningful ways.
Voice: Siri and Google go mainstream
Voice-enabled digital assistants are poised to not just change the travel industry, Expedia posits, but nearly every industry we touch in our lives. By 2021, there will be 7.5 billion digital assistants in the world.
Digital assistants today are giving us weather and traffic information, and entertainment content – but they are also enabling us to search hotels, check the status of flights, and more.
“As an industry, we need to be at the forefront of testing voice skills, and aligning with the growing traveler adoption of this technology, to ensure we’re equipped and at full performance when it becomes ubiquitous”, Arthur Chapin, senior vice president – global product and design, Expedia Group. said.
Citing Business Insider UK, Expedia shared that the number of virtual digital assistant users has increased over 40 per cent from 2016 to 2017 with an estimated of 158 per cent increase from 2017 to 2021.
Expedia also shared numbers from Seattle-based voice over IP carrier Speakeasy showing that nearly half of global smartphone users will use voice technology by 2020 and 47 per cent will use voice technology at least once a month.
Activities booking in an experience economy
With 72 per cent of consumers seeking experiences over things, Expedia said there is great opportunity to target consumers who will not just book a hotel room, but also experiences from dinner reservations, to tours and activities to entertainment.
One-stop shop for packages
Consumers expect a seamless, one-stop experience in nearly every area of their lives. A recent multi-generational study by Brand Expedia shows that 80 per cent of travellers find it useful to book all their trip components together, and for Gen Z, the number is massive 87 per cent.
The upside for hotels is that offering rooms in “package bookings”, alongside flights and cars, typically means higher average daily rate, longer booking windows and fewer cancellations. Plus, consumers can streamline their research and booking into one seamless purchase. Package demand on Expedia generated nearly 1.4 times longer booking window when compared to standalone hotel bookings.
For hoteliers, these longer stays and longer booking windows mean more opportunities for them to engage with and upsell consumers – both prior to check-in and on-property, Expedia says.