Business Travel Executive, January 2018

TECH FILES Business Travel Executive JANUARY 2018 32 Bots and Lots More Faster than a transporter beam the age of the robots is upon us at airports and hotels all over the world Travelport Reaches NDC Level 3 Announces Online PCI DSS With fraud and hacking in the travel industry on the rise Travelport the travel commerce platform has launched an online PCI DSS payment card industry data security standard compliance referral service to help its customers achieve PCI DSS certification According to Travelport beginning in March any IATA agent that accepts card transactions against its own merchant agreement or issues Billing and Settlement Plan BSP card transactions is required to provide proof of PCI DSS compliance to IATA Travelport has partnered with Security Metrics a provider in data security and compliance in launching the new program In other news Travelport has announced its certification by IATA as a Level 3 aggregator under the New Distribution Capability initiative Travelport says it is the first GDS travel commerce platform to acquire this status and will work with airline technology specialist Farelogix to implement the first such NDC connections with a global airline Details will be announced soon The coming year is likely to be one of profound changes in travel technology Cryptocurrencies blockchain autonomous vehicles artificial intelligence machine learning are just a few of the promising developments that are already grabbing headlines But lets not overlook the technologies that are already among us providing benefits for travelers Among the highest profile contributors to the world of travel robots both virtual and real have become increasingly common since their introduction just a few years ago From hotels to airports from travel booking sites to behind the scenes heres a look at the ways robots are changing travel Geneva Airport In October 2016 SITA Labs the technology research arm of IT firm SITA toured its autonomous self propelled baggage robot in Singapore and Hong Kong Named Leo after the famed Renaissance era inventor Leonardo Da Vinci the automaton is designed to check in luggage print baggage tags and transport two suitcases at a time This year SITA Labs unveiled KATE an intelligent check in kiosk that can move autonomously and in teams to busy or congested areas in airports to help passenger flow during the check in process The kiosks are being deployed at Geneva Airport KATE the kiosk can monitor a variety of data sources including flight and passenger flow information sense when and where additional check in kiosks are needed and using geo location and obstacle avoidance technology move through the airport without bumping into things or people The robotic kiosks are also designed to automatically return to their docking stations when they are low on power or if they need a fresh supply of boarding passes or bag tags Movable kiosks could not only help airports and airlines better serve passengers when re booking is necessary due to flight cancellations or weather delays but they might also be put on duty in offsite locations such as train stations convention halls and possibly cruise ports Meanwhile in February 2016 Japan Airlines began testing a new android guide at Tokyo Haneda International Airport offering travelers flight information such as schedules destination and weather updates Known as Nao the robot features voice recognition software and is able to communicate in Japanese Chinese and English Air New Zealand Robots were also introduced to passengers aboard Air New Zealand last summer As part of exploring futuristic technology the airline placed a social robot at Sydney airport to help passengers check in and board The experiment lasted five days as part of collaboration with Commbank and used the companys Chip Candrioid social Humanoid robot Amadeus and HRS Integrate Programs Amadeus and HRS Global Hotel Solutions have announced the integration of HRS Meetago small meeting solution with the Amadeus cost control tool cytric Travel Expense The collaboration is an extension of a longstanding partnership to distribute the HRS hotel content already available in the Amadeus distribution channel Amadeus cytric Travel Expense users can now channel small meetings and the associated travel through one tool helping consolidate meeting and travel programs Employees can also organize a small meeting at one of HRS hotels directly through Amadeus cytric Travel Expense The solution simplifies the process by allowing the organizer to prepare one RFP detailing the number of attendees accommodation requirements and the necessary meeting room and add ons sending it to multiple hotels By Tom Otley