Reviewing hotel reviews. Australia banks on Hopper. Digital nomads in Europe, more
01/06/2023 by Ian Jarrett

Commbank opens a travel account with Hopper

Australia’s CommBank is the latest organisation to hop onboard Hopper to help make it easier for the bank’s customers to book flights, accommodation and car rental – both domestic and international.

Hopper ‘s range of travel features will be part of the CommBank app from next year,

CBA’s group executive, retail banking, Angus Sullivan, said Hopper will help customers “dream, plan and book travel, and manage their travel finances, all in one place within the CommBank app”.

With more than 100 million app downloads, Hopper is the #1 most downloaded travel app in North America.

The CommBank app will integrate with Hopper via the company’s B2B initiative, Hopper Cloud, and offer customers the lowest price on 300 airlines, two million hotels and 100 rental car companies.

Through Hopper Cloud, the company is syndicating its travel fintech products and inventory to companies that aspire to sell travel.

 

Reviewing the hotel reviews

Shiji ReviewPro Guest Experience Benchmark for the first quarter of 2023 analysed more than two million reviews from 9,500 3 to 5-star hotels from Asia Pacific to the Americas.

Key findings from the Q1 2023 report include:

  • The Asia Pacific region leads in review volume increases, showing a 69.1% growth from Q1 2022, to Q1 2023, though still below pre-pandemic levels.
  • com dominates online reviews with a 43.5% share, followed by Google and TripAdvisor.
  • Despite Booking.com’s high market share, its low source index impacts overall review scores.
  • Room and Value indexes were among the lowest, while Location and Cleanliness indexes scored the highest.
  • TripAdvisor leads in positivity,com in negativity, but 74.7% of reviews remain positive.
  • Global hotels responded to 62.2% of reviews in Q1 2023, with five-star hotels leading in responsiveness.

Michael Kessler, CEO of Shiji ReviewPro said, “Understanding how one’s hotel is performing against the global or regional industry is the secret of many of the world’s best hoteliers. Those who prioritise quality service tend to be the most successful.”

 

Keeping safe in South Africa

Tourism organisations in South Africa are working to harness technology to ensure tourists’ safety.

A Tourism Operations Centre will be established to manage the implementation of safety objectives.

“The private sector is in the process of securing funds and they are confident of deployment by July,” said Minister of Tourism, Patricia De Lille.

De Lille said the Department of Tourism had been working with the police service (SAPS) to develop tourist safety tips that had a QR-code that allowed tourists to scan the tips and access them electronically.

A safety app called SECURA, solely dedicated to tourist safety nationally, integrates emergency medical responses, breakdowns and crime-related incident assistance. It also includes SECURA’s panic button – which is accessible via mobile phone or in the form of a panic button on the app, which connects travellers and tourism stakeholders to emergency responders.

 

Digital nomads, head this way in Europe

Bucharest in Romania has been named as the best European country for those in search of an overseas digital nomad lifestyle.

In reaching their decision, travel experts at Panache Cruises studied factors such as WIFI download speeds, cost of initial visa application, monthly visa salary requirements, average monthly costs per person, average monthly rent for a one bed apartment, average cost of a restaurant meal and each countries happiness score.

The survey was conducted with British digital nomads in mind.

Other top locations for digital nomads to move to are Madrid, Nicosia in Cyprus, Budapest and Zagreb in Croatia. Rounding out the top ten are Athens, Lisbon, Tallin (Estonia) Valletta (Malta) and Reykjavik (Iceland).

 

 

Panache Cruises says, “Those in search of working in the sun should consider moving to Spain or Cyprus, who rank second and third, respectively – both with high scores for WIFI download speed; ideal for workers relying solely on the internet to make a living.”

James Cole, founder and CEO of Panache Cruises said cruise ships are now making it possible for digital nomads to live at sea, too.

“Although many might think a cruise cabin would not be a good place to get work done, cruise lines are increasingly improving factors to make it possible for cruise agents and remote workers to get their work done while exploring countries off the beaten path.

“High-speed Wi-Fi, business centres, meeting rooms and lounges on board are all being designed to make working from ships a more comfortable and long-term option for travellers.

“Remote workers travelling by cruise can benefit from working all over the world, truly living out their ‘work from anywhere’ dreams.”

 

Indigo opts for Juspay

India’s Indigo has welcomed onboard Juspay as its official payment partner for all flight bookings, domestic and international, across 26 different currencies.

The carrier said it recognised payments as a vital element to further improve the customer experience.

“As a customer centric airline, we are committed to provide our customers with the best possible experience at every touchpoint,” said Neetan Chopra, chief digital & information officer, IndiGo.

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