This is a roundup of announcements related to people moves and business expansions in August 2017. Thursday 3 August Datalex names China sales VP The Dublin-listed retailing tech specialist has named Sai Li as its vice president of sales, China, tasked with growing its business in China and the…

This is a roundup of product news and announcements related to travel devices in August 2017. Tuesday August 1 2017: Lanseria check-in with SITA The airport will use SITA’s self-service technology to enable passengers to check-in and drop before heading for their departure gate. Ryanair enables voice search The…

Sabre Corp. chief Sean Menke shed some light on the company’s plans to reduce head count in a major realignment of its business. During Sabre’s second-quarter earnings call, Menke said the company is reducing head count by about 9% globally under a new cost reduction and business alignment initiative….

It is no coincidence; the most customer-focused airlines earn more than two times the industry average. NB This is a viewpoint by Cormac Corrigan, co-founder of CJ Ignition. Introduction Shortly after to embarking on its Always Getting Better customer experience programme, Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary admitted that its previous…

Online travel firm Webjet is acquiring JacTravel, the UK-based hotel consolidator and specialist in inbound services. A statement from private equity firm Vitruvian, the owner of JacTravel, says the transaction value is £200 million. Financial press puts it at around £200 million says the Australia-based company may seek to…

Polarsteps, an app for tracking trips, has raised €900,000 in funding from Netherlands based investors. The Amsterdam-grown company, (Startup pitch here), says it plans to use the funds to recruit engineers and further develop its service. The app helps travellers plot their trip by checking their location as they…

JetBlue Technology Ventures has invested in bus and coach platform Betterez. The company launched in 2011 and provides reservation and ticketing to bus and coach providers as well as some tours and attractions. The investment follows a recent investment from Amadeus Ventures – the venture fund of Amadeus. In…

Sabre is planning to cut its workforce of 10,000 by around 9%, according to a statement. The release was put out in response to “media reports.” It appears as if The Straits Times in Singapore broke the news. The statement said: “Since our IPO in 2014, Sabre has been…

Tujia.com, China’s Airbnb-of-sorts which includes Ctrip and HomeAway among its investors, will distribute its house-sharing inventory via WeChat’s hotels channel. Tujia held a meeting with analysts and investors last week, which revealed the extent to which the sector is growing in China. The statement talks specifically about “house-sharing”, suggesting…

North America-based Fareportal, best known for hybrid-model OTAs CheapOair and OneTravel, is looking to expand into Europe and Asia and is flexible on how best to achieve this. Fareportal founder and CEO Sam S. Jain told tnooz: “We have clear mission in that we want to be a global…