Air fare search technology specialist Vayant Travel Technology says it is ready for a new era of personalised shopping having released the third generation of its core OneSearch business to business platform.
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Third gen Vayant search system geared up for a personalised future
Air fare search technology specialist Vayant Travel Technology says it is ready for a new era of personalised shopping having released the third generation of its core OneSearch business to business platform.
The Sofia-based developer said its platform is among the first to be updated according to the principals of Iata’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard which promises Amazon-style shopping for air fares.
OneSearch 3.0 enables personalised offers to be created including fare bundles, baggage allowances and optional extras such as lounge passes and in-flight food and beverage or entertainment options.
Eric Dumas, Vayant chief executive, said: “By adding personalisation at the search stage, OneSearch 3.0 will enable even richer inspirational shopping experiences that drive conversion and loyalty.
“For us we see NDC as an API to do shopping, pricing and personalisation queries. We do see this as a positive sign for the industry to come together to form some sort of standard. From our perspective we offer unbiased results, there is no other influence other than what the customers sends through in the query. One of the core values of the company is that we are independent, we always try to provide unbiased results and do not plan to divert from this overall position.”
Iata director, transformation, financial and distribution services, Eric Leopold, said: “Iata believes that standards enable interoperability while reducing costs, all of which benefit the end user. I welcome Vayant’s support of NDC and look forward to collaboration and innovation in air travel distribution.’
Vayant is working closely with Lufthansa which although involved with other Iata airlines in developing NDC is also understood to be working on its own system.
Vayant has made significant strides in the last year with notable new partners in the UK including Alpharooms and Kuoni. As a B-B player it offers a potential answer for the trade to Google’s powerful ITA software that sits behind Flight Search.
Dumas said he did not see NDC as signalling the demise of any existing stakeholder in the distribution chain and believes the GDSs, airlines and agents will all continue to have a good reason to exist.
