Amadeus Ireland hosted its inaugural VIP Executive Forum in Dublin’s Residence on 29thMay, with highlights including the world launch of Amadeus Cruise Shop and a presentation on the recently introduced Amadeus Featured Results and Amadeus Extreme Search products.
Welcoming the 30-plus guests, Diane Bouzebiba, Managing Director UK & Ireland, outlined the various travel business trend reports that have been published by Amadeus and said: “Our call to action is ‘Talk to us’! We can better assist the earlier we become a partner in your business plans and we can customise technology to streamline processes, to help you connect with your customers, and to make you stand out.”
Volker Lorenz, General Manager Ireland, summarised the Amadeus Featured Results product that meets “mobile channels’ demand for instant, relevant and bookable product”. In particular, the Amadeus Extreme Search facility, which enables agents to make searches based on a client’s ‘inspirational, lifestyle’ choices, attracted much attention with its fastest, cheapest, Wisdom of Crowd (most popular itineraries) and sponsored deal offerings. Amadeus Extreme Search is already live in beta mode on Vayama.com.
Nigel Webster, Head of Product Solutions, introduced the new Amadeus Cruise Shop product that is now on beta test with American Holidays in Dublin and Belfast, eTravel and Tour America. Currently a B2B product, a B2C version will be available later this year, and future releases will include ‘lifestyle’ search criteria. Powerful search functionality enables agents to define results based on customer requirements, providing multiple options and multi-media for all cruises.
Rob Sinclair-Barnes, Director of Marketing, presented the results of a Business Insights survey into the 21st Century Business Traveller with 400-plus regular business travellers surveyed (a leisure traveller survey will be undertaken later). Findings included that 66% now have a self-booking tool and 34% are by mobile or tablet. Their top three priorities are convenience (62%), comfort (22%) and cost (15%). Among GenY (18 – 34 year olds), 36% want to include self-funded leisure on business trips.
