mobile applications

In the space of just a few years, Grab has become the leading car-sharing and meal delivery service in South-East Asia. Founded in 2012, the company operates in 500 Asian cities across eight countries. On average, more than 2.5 million people use the app every day. A windfall of customers that could not have been left to chance.

Faced with sluggish demand for air travel, which has been undermined by the coronavirus pandemic, the carrier Wizz Air is trying to reinvent itself. It has just signed a deal with CarTrawler, a B2B provider of car rental and mobility solutions, to build a platform that integrates flights and transfers for both departures and arrivals. CarTrawler already works with Emirates,...

At a time when mobile ticketing is still groping its way through the Paris region's transport system - despite a number of smartphone-based initiatives and, more recently, the "SMS Ticket Bus" system being trialled in response to the health crisis - RATP is taking a new step by opting for external growth. The urban mobility specialist has just acquired the...

The densification of the base of services provided by the "CityApp-VDL" application is a project that the City of Luxembourg has been carrying out for over a year. It is part of a municipal initiative to make Luxembourg a "smart city", and was created in consultation with 1,700 participants from the Grand Duchy and cross-border regions. The...

Business travel is adrift with covid-19. And the few "travel bubbles" are not changing the situation dramatically. While we wait for a hypothetical vaccine, a number of big names in the industry are working on a way to revive the travel business. For example, there is a pilot project for a digital health passport, the...

The Star Alliance connections service is nothing new. Launched in 2017, the service was designed to facilitate connections between Star member airlines. Passengers can access connection times at the time of booking. But once on the ground, the transfer formalities involve the intervention of staff...

French business travellers accustomed to relying on Citymapper for their urban journeys in Paris, Seoul or Montreal will now be able to do the same for their everyday journeys. The mobile application has just added six destinations to its French catalogue, which until now has been limited to Paris and Lyon - Monaco has also been included for just over a year now....

Has the travel agency model been weakened by the past few months? Julien Kauffmann - On the contrary, I'd say that the current crisis has put the agency back centre stage. Its role has been reaffirmed, in particular through its ability to reassure travellers, to give them precise information on the conditions of their...

As part of its multi-channel strategy, American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) is enhancing both its instant messaging service and its Amex GBT Mobile application. Messaging on the Amex GBT mobile application, which enables travellers to chat with a travel adviser, has now gone live in more than 24 countries....

CWT is extending its messaging and chat service by integrating Microsoft Teams into its channels for discussion with travellers. From mid-August, users of the solution - 44 million worldwide according to Microsoft - will be able to use their company's internal messaging tool to chat live with a CWT advisor....

Well-known to business and leisure travellers alike, the TripIt application is to expand its customer portfolio. TripIt Pro - the premium version of the travel companion - is now available free of charge to all users of the Concur TripLink platform throughout the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), as announced by Concur....

Already an essential part of the business traveller's toolkit, the smartphone is acquiring a new status in these times of health crisis. Just as catering services are turning to digital ordering, hotels are using mobile tools to protect their customers by limiting the number of interactions required. The trendy citizenM brand has...

The well-being of business travellers has been one of the major trends in business travel for several months now. To adapt to the new expectations of companies, CWT has decided to turn to a specialist in jet lag to reduce its effects through a mobile application, Timeshifter, which is now available to the agency's customers...

In the coming months, will new technological trends emerge from the R&D capabilities of the major players, or from more agile start-ups? Evantia Giumba - There is a trend towards consolidation in the travel sector. The big players have the resources to invest heavily in technology. But that doesn't mean that...

For several months now, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has been testing a new ticket integrated into the SBB mobile application with 15,000 users. The trial was so well received by users that SBB decided to extend the new EasyRide service to all public transport users in Switzerland....

Many business and leisure travellers are frustrated when they book a hotel on an online site, only to find a few days later that the rates have fallen. It's a frustration that can also be found in air and rail ticketing, especially as today's technologies can refine and monitor the price of tickets...

Don't call it a "VTC platform" any more: Uber has been diversifying for a long time now, with the launch of its famous self-service scooters and bicycles. Today, Uber is even getting on board electric scooters: a first for the American giant, which has chosen to team up with France's Cityscoot, whose vehicles will "soon" be available for booking via...

Travelling professionals used to letting CityMapper guide them around the world's top business destinations - from New York to Hong Kong, from Sydney to Sao Paulo - will now be able to use their application to travel to Monaco. The Principality has just joined the CityMapper catalogue, which is currently 'limited' to around forty...

Removing the need to keep your eyes glued to your smartphone, and freeing up your thumb at last: this could be the next step for the digital industry. That's what the latest news from easyJet is all about. The airline has just announced the launch of its "Speak Now" feature, described as "an advanced technology for...

BCD Travel is taking advantage of the summer to launch the new version of its TripSource application in July, available in five languages and 113 countries. The business travel agency has taken particular care with the design of the tool, which corporate clients can now customise with their own visual identity, to keep travellers in a familiar environment. BCD...