Amadeus unveils Affinity Shopper technology

Amadeus has unveiled technology unleashing consumers from the traditional online search parameters of destination and date. The global distribution giant has developed Affinity Shopper enabling consumers to provide a rough idea of where they might want to go, when and their budget. It also enables users to drill down by interests such as skiing or…

Amadeus has unveiled technology unleashing consumers from the traditional online search parameters of destination and date.


The global distribution giant has developed Affinity Shopper enabling consumers to provide a rough idea of where they might want to go, when and their budget.


It also enables users to drill down by interests such as skiing or adventure holidays and then view options based on where they can go relevant to their interest and within their budget.


Amadeus claims the technology returns options within milliseconds using caching technology which is refreshed every couple of seconds.


Vice president of marketing and distribution Ian Wheeler said: “The travel industry forces you into a certain way of making a decision and if the traveller wants options they have to invest a huge amount of time on the internet.”


Wheeler described the technology as a ‘revolution’ and said Affinity Shopper is part of a suite of ‘Extreme Search’ tools the company is currently working on.


“When you go to a ‘What if?’, scenario you are talking about millions of possible combinations so we have been building a massive computational search platform and finding innovative ways to search and read the data. This is much more in tune with the way people actually search.”


Affinity Shopper allows for single brand search and Lufthansa is the pilot customer for the tool but multi-brand search capability is in the pipeline for launch next year.


The tool also uses maps to make the search more intuitive and help consumers visualise their trip although the information can also be displayed in tables and lists.