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Travel Daily News
3 days ago
- Business
- Travel Daily News
SIHOT and Dingus automate tour operator hotel reservations
SIHOT enhances integration with Dingus, enabling real-time tour operator reservations, automated contract management, and improved hotel operational efficiency and compliance. GERMANY – SIHOT, one of the leading hotel management systems, has upgraded its integration with Dingus, Spanish hotel distribution platform, to streamline hotel operations with real-time reservation updates for contracted tour operator agreements within – Property Management System. A popular channel manager solution for holiday resorts in Spain and Caribbean, Dingus supports holiday resorts with room and rate distribution to leading tour operators – generally unavailable on standard channel managers. Through the enhanced interface, availability is now synchronised in real-time between Dingus and SIHOT to ensure availability is accurate. Hotels can download reservation data which will automatically link to preexisting tour operator contracts to manage contracted allotments within the This development provides hotels with greater control over inventory and availability by being able to better manage negotiated contracts and allotment reservations. By synchronising with contracted allowances the PMS automatically determines whether reservations fall into the agreed allotments for a specific agreement and assigned to the specific contract number or if the reservation should be drawn from general availability. In allowing inventory allocation to be updated in real-time, hotels can prevent overbooking and maintain control of availability. Hotels can now also access prepayments and reservation deposits which are processed through the Dingus extranet and recorded on hotels' reservation accounts in the The enhancement also supports Spanish law compliance with automatically generating and issuing customer invoices inclusive of guest I.D documentation, if provided by the external channel. In addition, extra supplements purchased via Dingus distribution channels are downloaded to SIHOT with Non-Refundable rates fully supported between the two systems. Carsten Wernet, Chief Executive of SIHOT said, 'Following high demand from our hotel customers and to meet the increasing challenge of administrating negotiated contracts for tour operator reservations, we have worked closely with Dingus to improve reservation and payment data sharing. As a result, the manual management of tour operator reservations has been automated – saving hotels valuable time, increasing speed of response and improving the quality of data and invoicing processes. ' Milena Galindo, VP Strategy & Partnerships, Dingus, said, 'Hotels are under increasing pressures to reduce their cost of operations, streamline processes and ensure there is a clear record of reservations and payments to meet increasing compliance requirements. Our new integration with SIHOT allows hotels to have complete transparency and control over their distribution strategies with tour operators to maximise commercial opportunities in this sector of the travel industry.'
Irish Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Irish people to spend €530m on package holidays
Irish people could spend almost €530 million on package holidays this year, official figures show. State regulator the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) licensed 79 travel agents and eight tour operators this month as the industry geared up for its busiest period of the year. Based in information submitted by travel agents, the IAA estimates their total turnover this year will hit €529.4 million, which indicates the amounts they believe customers will spend buying package holidays. The spend is slightly ahead of the €524.2 million that the industry forecast 12 months ago. READ MORE While the figures do not indicate which destinations Irish people favour, recent surveys show that sun holidays continue to top the list. Travel agent Click&Go's last round-up of holidaymakers' plans showed that six out of 10 Irish people intended to seek warm weather this summer. [ Package holidays are back. Here's why Opens in new window ] Its survey found that cruises were next best, followed by city breaks and then the United States. Most Irish people intend travelling abroad at some point. The IAA's calculations are tied to the bonds that travel agents must have in place to protect travellers should their businesses fail. Tour operators' revenues should reach €3.9 million this year, a sharp increase on the €3 million estimated for 2024. The authority holds two licensing rounds a-year in spring and autumn. It advises people not to book holidays with agents that are not licensed.
The Guardian
10-05-2025
- The Guardian
Holiday cancellations: can you sell or transfer your trip if you can't get a refund?
Even the best-laid holiday plans can go awry. Illness, bereavements, break-ups, money problems, redundancy, pregnancy, jury duty, floods – all of these can throw a getaway into disarray. But while you may miss out on a break in the sun or relaxing city break, you do not necessarily have to lose all of your money as a result of problems at home that force you to cancel your trip. You can now sell on your holiday in much the same way you sell on a concert ticket, although that is not the only way to get some money back. This will depend on how close you are to going away and what sort of booking you made. It is unlikely that you will get all of your money back when you cancel a package holiday as most are sold as not fully refundable. The closer you cancel to the departure date, the more it is likely to cost you. Tui, one of the biggest tour operators in the UK, will keep the deposit paid on a holiday if it is cancelled 70 days or more before departure and then a growing percentage of the overall price as you get closer to take-off. For example, if you cancel 65 days before, you will have to pay 30% of the booking price, while if there are two weeks or less to go you will pay the whole cost. Jet2Holidays has similar charges. If you put the holiday together yourself, then often the flight part will not be refundable if you decide not to travel. Ryanair's terms and conditions say if you do not travel, you are not entitled to money back. EasyJet allows cancellations within 24 hours of booking but charges a £49 fee online (£55 if you do it through customer services). Some other airlines offer refundable tickets. These typically cost more than standard tickets when you buy them – so check which type you have. Hotels' terms and conditions vary and some allow free cancellation up to a day before the booking, although there could be a fee, while some are partially refundable. However, many will be non-refundable. First, contact your tour operator, airline, ferry company or hotel as soon as you know that you will not be travelling to see what money you can get back. Some travel operators may be lenient when it comes to cancellation caused by unforeseen illness and let you move the holiday to another date out of goodwill. Matt Gatenby, a partner at the law firm Travlaw, says that if you contact a company to explain you have been taken ill, it may suggest you can go at a later date. Airlines, however, are typically not as lenient or sympathetic, he adds. Even if a booking is non-refundable it is worth contacting the company and explaining what has gone wrong. If, for example, you are cancelling because you have been diagnosed with a serious illness, some will waive the usual rules and offer a refund if you can provide a doctor's letter as evidence. Many travel insurance policies have cancellation cover which will pay out if you have to cancel for reasons set out in the T&Cs. For example, one policy from Admiral (£36 for a family of four for a year) pays out in case of death or serious injury of you or a close relative; a Covid diagnosis; quarantine; court cases; unemployment; damage to your home from fire or unemployment. Make sure that you have enough cancellation cover for the trip. The one above will pay out up to £1,500 a person but with an excess of £150. What it will not pay out on is if you cancel because you had a pre-existing condition or if you simply do not want to travel. It is possible to sell on a holiday you can no longer use, but it is not straightforward and you are unlikely to recoup all of the money you have spent. A number of websites and groups on social media have emerged in recent years whereby people who have non-refundable holidays, flights or hotels can pass them on to someone else once the names on the bookings have been changed and fees paid. This week, on a Facebook group called 'Holidays for sale booked and paid but can't go or cancel', one woman was selling a week-long family holiday to Turkey – which starts on Sunday – for £800 after paying more than £1,600. She said it was because she would not have a passport on time. Another person was selling a double room in Amsterdam for three nights for the end of June for £350. She said it had cost her £481. Two websites, SpareFare and Transfer Travel, operate eBay-style marketplaces in which people can sell on their holiday, flight and hotel bookings. On SpareFare, a US-based site, there is a two-person holiday to Faro in Portugal, with flights from Gatwick, for 10 nights this week for £1,001 – half the price it would currently cost from the provider, according to the site. A week-long holiday in Mallorca from 21 May, with flights from Manchester for three, is £1,005, almost half of the market price. Transfer Travel, meanwhile, has return flights for two to Jamaica in September for £950, down from £1,950. Two weeks in Corfu with flights from Luton and accommodation at the Aqualand resort is £1,040 for two. You can check whether a package holiday can be transferred by contacting the provider. With package holidays, flights and hotels in most cases it simply involves changing the names and details of the booking once you have found a buyer and agreed a price. Erik Ritland,the owner of SpareFare, says swapping the name on a holiday is an easier process than it was in the past and requires the name, date of birth and address of the buyer. Changing the name usually involves a fee. For Tui, this is £25. On Jet2holidays it is £50 unless it is within two weeks of travel and then it goes up to £150, while changing the date of birth is £10. Ryanair name changes are £115 a person for each flight, meaning it can often not be worthwhile selling on your booking. On SpareFare, the seller pays the name-change fee because they are the only person able to alter the details, says Ritland. The fee is included in the amount they charge for the holiday. The site charges the seller 12% commission on the final selling price. Transfer Travel charges 15% commission and the seller pays for the name change. On both SpareFare and Transfer Travel, a buyer can barter or bid for a different price to that being advertised. Each site says that they ensure the holidays and flights are legitimate before sale through a verification process. You claimed on insurance If you have claimed on an insurance policy, for example if they have a serious illness, you cannot then go on and sell the holiday to someone else. 'That would be fraudulent as they would effectively have a double refund,' Gatenby says. Insurance companies usually require a cancellation invoice from a travel business before they process a claim to prevent such a thing happening.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
60,000 people were stuck in Russia's airports as Ukraine launched a massive drone attack, Russian tourism body says
As Russia prepares to celebrate Victory Day, its airports were plunged into chaos by drone attacks. At least 350 flights were canceled or delayed for hours, a Russian tourism body said. Russia's Defense Ministry said it shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones on Wednesday. At least 60,000 passengers had their flights delayed or canceled at airports across Russia as Ukraine unleashed large-scale drone attacks this week, according to a national tourism body. Russia's association of tour operators said in a statement on Wednesday that at least 350 flights were affected by the threat of drone strikes, including trips out of the country to destinations such as Istanbul and Dubai. The affected facilities included Moscow's four airports and air travel hubs in the regions of Sochi, Kazan, and Kirov, per the association. Its statement said many of the flights were delayed overnight, while some flights that did manage to depart had to wait up to seven hours. Russian independent Telegram news channels posted photos of large crowds gathering in airports and stranded passengers resting in departure hall areas. "This delay will provoke subsequent delays according to the domino principle," the tourism operators' association warned. "The aviation infrastructure is working at its limit," it added. It advised travelers across the country to prepare for further disruption by bringing cash to buy food and drink at airports and taking a "small supply" of water with them. The chaos comes as Russia is set to hold an annual Victory Day parade on May 9 that commemorates the Soviet Union's role in ending World War II — a major source of national pride promoted by Moscow nowadays. Russia says it's expecting 29 world leaders to attend the parade, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who arrived on Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Kyiv has warned visiting leaders that it can't guarantee their safety if they fly into Moscow, which has been harassed by Ukrainian drone strikes for years. "We cannot be held responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reports on Saturday. The week leading up to Russia's Victory Day parade has seen Ukraine launch an intensified series of drone strikes over three consecutive days. They appear to be ramping up in severity, with the Kremlin saying on Wednesday that it shot down 524 drones. Business Insider couldn't independently verify that figure, but if accurate, it would record one of Ukraine's largest drone attacks on Russian territory. Oleksandr Kovalenko, a popular Ukrainian military observer, wrote on his Telegram channel that Wednesday involved the "most massive raid of Ukrainian attack drones" since the full-scale war began. However, he also accused Russian reports of overplaying the number of drones launched by Ukraine. Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, wrote in his Telegram channel that Russian forces had repelled at least 14 drone attacks on the capital on Wednesday. Emergency services were dispatched to several locations where debris had fallen, he added. No casualties were reported as of press time. Previous Ukrainian drone attacks have caused Moscow's airports to close before, including a wave of strikes in September that shut three of the region's four air travel hubs. Russia also regularly attacks Ukrainian cities, primarily with ballistic missiles and Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones. Most recently, Kyiv reported that a mother and son were killed during a missile and drone attack on Tuesday evening. Read the original article on Business Insider
