FEBRUARY 2018
About OTA         Events             Join us on LinkedIn           Press            Join OTA
Enabling the Future With OpenTravel Monthly News
I would like to begin with a big "thank you" to the members of the OpenTravel Board of Directors, working groups, project teams and many of you for your dedication to continually evolve the OpenTravel Specifications, and meet the needs of the connected consumer and their businesses in this ever-increasing mobile world. 

Note that OpenTravel 2.0 Specification for Hotel Availability and Reservation is complete and will be out for public review this week. This is a key step in building on the foundation of the widely adopted 1.0 Specification. We are having an increase in requests from multiple travel verticals to sponsor new project teams. Our technical committee and others are engaged in proof of concepts and launching a virtual hackathon.

The OpenTravel Advisory Forum Amsterdam is being led by Chairperson Susanne Auinger, who is diligently planning a very informative and engaging event 11-13 April, co-located with HITEC Amsterdam.

As always, we are pleased to welcome Wyndham and Safe Way Travel as new members.

We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam.  Registration is open.

At your service,

Mike Tinkey, CEO OpenTravel
Expert Speakers Confirmed for OpenTravel Advisory Forum Amsterdam
OpenTravel is excited to confirm a number exceptional speakers for the OpenTravel Advisory Forum Amsterdam, taking place 11-12 April 2018. They will be exploring several key industry topics, including the following:

  • Welcome Opening Session: Travel Distribution -- Enabling the Consumer Experience. No one questions the eye-watering rate of change in how consumers dream, search, plan, shop, purchase, experience and share travel. The industry's challenge is to keep pace by providing seamless consumer experiences and services. We open the forum with a panel discussion from at least three points of view — including the traveler, the inventory provider, and the technology provider.

  • Evolving Distribution Standards and the Travel Industry. Transformative technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence drive innovation in product development, security, payments, customer support and other travel distribution elements. As well, new industry protocols such as NDC are shaping travel marketing in the API economy. This session discusses the critical importance of communication interoperability.

  • Joao Almeida — Rail & MASAI
  • Sandy Angel, Director of Specifications — OpenTravel
  • Paul Armitage, General Manager — LeGolf National
  • Susanne Auinger, Chairperson — OpenTravel
  • Emmanuel de Verdalle, Program Manager  ITxPT Consortium
  • Alvaro Hidalgo, Managing Partner — First Logic
  • Brian Lewis, CTO — OpenJaw
  • Evielien Marlier, Project Officer — European Passengers' Federation
  • Kevin Thomas, Head of Architecture — Travelport
  • Mike Tinkey, CEO — OpenTravel

OpenTravel invites you to learn more about the forum speakers. Please check back frequently for the latest news and updates, including additional features on these speakers. 

Online registration and housing  are now open.
OpenTravel Specifications on the Move!
The 2.0 Hotel Specification for Hotel Availability and Reservation has completed member review and will be out for public review this week. It includes functionality for searching for hotels, checking availability, creating offers and booking reservations. This is the final opportunity to review and comment on the specification prior to publication, so you won’t want to miss it!
 
“Special thanks to our project sponsors Disney and InterContinental Hotels group as well as our many member company participants,” said Sandy Angel, OpenTravel’s Director of Specifications. “It’s great to make continued progress on the 2.0 Object Model that provides messaging in both XML and JSON, generates the WSDLs and Swagger, and supports lightweight messaging which eases the implementation process for developers and increases speed to market. We have companies already coding to the specification, which is very exciting!”

For more information, email Sandy Angel at  sandy.angel@opentravel.org.
Virtual Hackathon, Anyone?
OpenTravel is hosting a series of virtual hackathons, with the first hackathon taking place in March. Unique cross vertical challenges focusing on interoperability will be presented to the developers. Along with other prizes, the winner of the hackathon will have the opportunity to have their application presented at the OpenTravel Advisory Forum in Amsterdam. If you are interested in providing your APIs which use OpenTravel messaging, or in sponsoring the event, please email Sandy Angel at sandy.angel@opentravel.org  for more information.
Join Us for a Webinar Focusing on the Long-Distance Bus Arena
OpenTravel and The MASAI Mobile Community (M2C), an OpenTravel member company, are hosting an informational webinar to discuss the goals and deliverables for our upcoming project to create distribution messaging for long-distance buses in our 2.0 Object Model.

The webinar will take place on March 6, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. EST. If you have a stake in the long-distance bus arena, get involved now to ensure your needs are represented! Email Sandy Angel at sandy.angel@opentravel.org  for webinar details.
OpenTravel Enters Into Collaboration Agreements with HFTP and HTNG
“We are excited to enter into collaboration agreements with HFTP and HTNG to avoid duplication of programs, services, and resources and increase efficiency and speed to market of OpenTravel standards across all travel verticals as we support our respective association’s missions and visions” said Mike Tinkey, CEO of OpenTravel.

These agreements are part of the OpenTravel Strategic Plan to work collaboratively with the leading associations across all travel verticals to drive awareness, adoption, and use of the OpenTravel specifications to enable business and consumer solutions for connectivity driven by the travel industry.

 From Frank Wolfe, HFTP CEO: “HFTP and OpenTravel have worked closely for the past nine months to combine efforts to promote and advance the strategic goals of each of our organizations, especially in the area of industry standards, and ultimately to provide forward-moving resources to the industry. With this renewed agreement, OpenTravel and HFTP are committed to maintain the momentum the groups have started.”

From Mike Blake, HTNG CEO: “We are delighted to formalize an allied association collaboration agreement with OpenTravel. We are dedicated to continue our work together and better utilize our respective resources to avoid duplicity of efforts and accelerate awareness and adoption with a variety of standards related projects from hackathons, to work groups, to research and education. We support the mission and vision of each association and have agreed to work in concert to deliver standards to the travel industry with OpenTravel handling standards across all travel verticals and HTNG handling standards within the walls of hotel, cruise lines, etc.” 
TESTIMONIAL
“Inntopia was an early adopter of the OpenTravel specifications because we see clear value in being able to use consistent data structures when integrating our CRM, booking engine, and business intelligence systems with new vendors. When OpenTravel standards started gaining traction, it made our conversations with vendors much easier, and time-to-market notably faster. We especially appreciate the best practices and thoughtful documentation that OpenTravel has continued to produce. When we meet vendors that are new to the hospitality technology space, or unfamiliar with OpenTravel schemas, we always encourage them to spend time on the OpenTravel.org site to get up to speed.”

Andrea Rosamilia, — VP/Product Management, Inntopia
Welcome to OpenTravel's Newest Members!
  Safe Way Travel
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
media@opentravel.org | +1 (512) 220-4017 |  www.opentravel.org