Jennifer Axness
As we bid farewell to 2024, we’re reflecting on a year filled with innovation and leadership in the travel and hospitality industry – a year in which we’ve kept our partners and customers ahead of the curve with the latest trends and technologies.
Let’s dive into some of the highlights that have made 2024 truly special!
Discovering and sharing the latest industry trends
In 2024, our research revealed key themes that highlight the industry’s commitment to innovation and emerging technology trends in the ever-changing travel landscape. The Travel Technology Investment Trends 2024 Report, for instance, showcased hoteliers’ efforts to enhance guest satisfaction and operational efficiency through personalization and artificial intelligence (AI): a focus that emerged as a dominant theme across our findings throughout the year.
Our Mastering the GDS: A Guide to Effectively Engaging Travel Sellers Report emphasized the growing importance of the global distribution system (GDS) as a key channel for hotels and destinations seeking to expand their reach. This shift toward smarter, more impactful distribution strategies is driven by technology. Meanwhile, the Hotel Sales Stars: The Ultimate Strategy Playbook identified six transformative sales and event trends, with sustainability, value and personalization taking center stage, underscoring the industry’s increasing awareness of environmental impact and delivering exceptional experiences.
The Driving Change: Future Trends in Mobility Report revealed traveler preferences for car rental and transportation, with a shift towards more flexible and diverse mobility solutions. And our collaboration with UN Tourism produced a series of data-driven reports throughout the year on travel trends in the Americas, helping destinations enhance their competitiveness through strategic planning and growth.
Forging partnerships, pioneering growth, celebrating customer success
In 2024, we achieved remarkable progress by advancing our product offerings and building new alliances. Highlights included the exciting launch of our migration to the Cloud, designed to enhance scalability and performance, and celebrating many outstanding achievements with our customers.
Business Intelligence – Revolutionizing travel with intelligent insights
Our Demand360® solution now includes air data in the Source Markets dashboard, enabling customers to identify emerging markets and adjust strategies accordingly. We also launched Amadeus Advisor, an AI-powered chatbot for our Agency360® solution, expanded our partnerships with many including Mews, Duetto, and Remington Hospitality, and introduced My Property, offering a complimentary view of forward-looking property performance to over 44,000 demand data provider properties.
For Destinations, we launched Navigator360™, the first business intelligence tool providing air, hotel, and sociodemographic data to help destinations manage tourism with data-driven insights. We also established new partnerships in 2024, including the one with Puerto Vallarta, and showcased the impressive results our BI tools can achieve for a destination. Success stories from other places, like Emprotur Bariloche, highlight the positive impact of our BI tools, ultimately inspiring new destinations for travelers.
Media – Engaging travelers through award-winning campaigns
Our media efforts over the past year have focused entirely on enhancing the travel experience. Successful digital campaigns for Fiji Airways (via Travel Seller Media), Quest Apartment Hotels, the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, and Capital Region USA, all aimed to inspire and engage travelers. Travel Seller Media also supports Amadeus clients by engaging travelers who visit travel agency tools to plan their trips. Our efforts were recognized with four Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) awards, including two for The Originals‘ upper funnel video strategy, and one each for Oliver Hospitality and Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental Abu Dhabi. We also developed technology to deploy advertising in web services, helping hoteliers and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) reach travel sellers beyond the Global Distribution Platform, ultimately benefiting travelers with more personalized travel options.
Hotel distribution – A year of growth in leisure and business travel
In 2024, Amadeus made significant strides into the leisure travel market with the launch of Amadeus Leisure Connect, a cutting-edge hotel distribution solution designed to seamlessly connect travel sellers with hotel providers, enabling them to access real-time rates, availability, and inventory for their directly contracted hotels worldwide.
Additionally, we introduced the ‘Hotels & More’ module in the Bistro Portal, a distribution solution for travel agencies and call centers. This module offers centralized access to a wide range of hotel accommodations, allowing travel sellers to efficiently manage hotel content and provide more personalized experiences for their travelers.
We celebrated customer success with two significant partnerships: a groundbreaking agreement with China’s leading online travel platform, Fliggy, and a new partnership with French travel agency CDS Groupe, strengthening our global presence.
Mobility – Enhancing traveler flexibility and convenience
This year, we expanded our car rental portfolio through partnerships with Virtuo, Sani Car Rental, addCar, StarCar, Ameria Car Rental and Ezi Car Rental New Zealand. Our collaboration with Trip.com integrated Amadeus mobility into both the Trip.com and Trip.biz platforms, making it easier for travelers to book and manage their transportation needs. Additionally, the launch of Amadeus Value Cars simplified car rental content management for travel agencies, ensuring a smoother experience for travelers by seamlessly handling all settlements and payments.
Travel Protection – Expert talks and trends in our new video series
In 2024, we introduced the Amadeus Travel Protection Talks, an exciting new video series that brings together top insurance partners and industry experts. The series dives deep into the future of travel protection, uncovering emerging trends to keep travelers safe and informed.
Sales & Catering / Service Optimization – Optimizing traveler experiences with innovative solutions
This year, we harnessed decades of expertise to develop an enhanced Delphi solution, featuring a new user interface, expanded integrations for limited-service properties, tailored training options, and a centralized database to grow customer relationships. Hotels and venues of all sizes are now better able to meet the needs of their guests.
Additionally, the new HotSOS Housekeeping desktop user experience has significantly streamlined operations. With real-time collaboration across departments, optimized room cleaning, and easy room assignment options, this update contributes to improved efficiency and guest satisfaction, ensuring travelers enjoy a seamless and delightful stay!
Reservations – Leading the way in hotel booking innovation
In 2024, we launched the iHotelier Suite, a customizable set of solutions designed to address the unique challenges faced by hotels. This suite includes the industry-leading iHotelier CRS and Booking Engine, along with options like Amadeus Web, Metasearch, Guest Management Solutions (GMS), and Digital Media. These tools empower hotels to enhance their services, ultimately benefiting travelers with more personalized and efficient booking experiences.
Success stories like El Conquistador Resort, which more than doubled its direct booking rate after transitioning from a branded property to an independent hotel using the full suite of Amadeus solutions, highlight the effectiveness of these innovations. Similarly, Little America Cheyenne and Little America Flagstaff achieved remarkable results with Amadeus Media Solutions, seeing significant increases in revenue from direct bookings.
The release of iHotelier Component Rooms has provided hotels with the flexibility to sell various room combinations based on guest demands, maximizing room revenue potential and catering to diverse guest preferences.
Finally, a major highlight of the year was Amadeus’ significant partnership with Accor, integrating the Amadeus Central Reservation System (ACRS) with Accor’s operations. This collaboration aims to enhance Accor’s booking capabilities and streamline its reservation processes, marking a transformative impact on the hospitality industry.
As we look ahead to 2025, our top priority remains enhancing the travel experience for everyone, everywhere. We will continue to leverage cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of industry trends, implement sustainable practices to promote travel solutions with a lighter environmental impact, and expand our global presence. With this in mind, we remain committed to driving innovation and supporting our partners. Here’s to another year of success and growth!
