What will iAlbatros' IPO change?
Moncef Khanfir - The decision by SMT Software to merge with iAlbatros and adopt our identity sends out a strong signal to the market. This will enable us to increase our investment capacity and consolidate our presence in Italy and Spain. While we are already connected to the main self-booking tools, we want to position ourselves on new trends. We're keeping a close eye on all the new entrants to the market, and we're not stopping at anything. The approaches developed by Airbnb and other players seem to be appealing to the business travel market. So we can't afford to miss out.
Why have you diversified into meetings?
Moncef Khanfir - We listen to the customer and we saw that the meetings and events segment was juxtaposed with individual bookings. So we seized this opportunity. We're agile enough to adapt to demand, and we've already signed agreements with 2,000 hotels in France that are connected to our new iMICE platform. In this context of disintermediation, this is the kind of solution that is going to break through. We don't want to be seen as a simple hotel booking platform, that's too simplistic. I don't think hotel booking tools have a future.
What is iTracker, iAlbatros' other new feature?
Moncef Khanfir - This is a solution for locating business travellers in the form of a small satellite-connected device with four days' autonomy. In the event of danger, the traveller simply presses a button, which sends a signal to the security HQ and can transmit the GPS data to a player like International SOS for assistance. We have also defined high-risk zones, and if passengers approach them, an alert is triggered in real time. We are building bridges between sourcing, booking and security.
