Amadeus: Top 5 high-tech novelties for travel agencies!

On its Top Resa booth, Amadeus coveted the curiosity of many passersby.

“What are these big glasses for?

Is Amadeus introducing the Google Glass?”, could be heard in the surroundings.

In fact, the GDS wanted to better exploit the buying experience of clients, while immersing them in their future trip.

The TourMag team went to meet these innovations.

First test with Inspire Me that allows travelers to choose and buy their trip thanks to the use of Google Glass.

Another novelty: Panoramic Shopping, a new tool of the GDS that uses the Oculus Rift glasses with virtual reality.

The device is a mask that covers the eyes. A flat numerical screen is placed a few centimeters in front of the eyes.

Various sensors able to detect head movements allowing to adapt in real time the image projected on the screen.

Amadeus developed a solution so that the traveler can, from the travel agency, choose her seat on the plane, her hotel room and get an idea on the types of activities offered.

“This is a true innovation, we can’t wait for the product to arrive in agencies!” declares Evantia Giumba, Business Development Director at Amadeus.

The experience is massive and impressive. In one instant, we are projected in the actual environment. Once the device is taken off, it takes a few moments to get in touch with reality.

Our visit continues.

“I imagine that you have already traveled with a group, and that the reservation process was real headache?” then asks Evantia Giumba.

Amadeus solves this issue with two new softwares.

Collaborative Booking is the company’s new product for group travel.

The software is in B2B2C format. It can be used in agencies and can also be offered to clients for personal use.

A leader is elected (either a travel agent or member of the group), to make the reservaton.

“The added advantage of Travelseeker is that the rest of the group sees in real time the leader’s screen and can interact at any time in the integrated chatroom”, explains the Business Development Manager.

Once the reservation is made, each participant can see its own data sheet.

He has to register his personal data and then proceeds to payment.

Travel Planner was the second software introduced.

Also in B2B2C, the user or travel agent types in the departure city, the stop over cities and the final destination in the software.

The number of nights, and the means of transportation desired also have to be mentioned.

From there, the software finds the best priced trips combining the cities registered in the best order.

“Careful, the software offers the lowest price to the traveler but the order of the cities can be changed”, highlights Evantia Giumba.

VisitEurope is the application developed by Amadeus in partnership with the European Travel Commission.

Available on iPad, it inspires world travelers and helps them to plan their trip from beginning to end.

This application provides travelers with photos of the most beautiful destinations in Europe, videos, and a price estimate.

“This application comes from the initiative of Destination Europe 2020; a long term project to promote the destination as a tourist destination on the long-haul market” explains Evantia Giumba.

Available on a world scale, the application is primarily targeted towards the Americas (United States, Canada, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina) to reboots the image of the continent on long-haul flights.

All of these softwares are still in the prototype phase. Their presentation at the Top Résa served as a sneak peak.

“We were given great feedback on the trade fair. Some agencies even volunteered to test the products.

We are creating our softwares step by step with professionals.

We’re insisting on the collaborative aspect to be in harmony with demands”, concludes Evantia Giumba.