Nordic Hotels & Resorts has officially opened its newest luxury hotel, Sommerro, located in the heart of Frogner in Oslo’s West End. The Art Deco style“urban retreat” is set within the former headquarters of Oslo Lysverker, the city’s original electrical company, and will have 231 rooms, 56 branded residences, seven restaurants and bars, meeting and event spaces with capacity for up to 150 people, a 100-seat gilded theatre, a landmark wellness space with a fully-equipped gym, and the city’s first year-round rooftop pool, sauna, and terrace.
HotelHub has signed an agreement with Priceline’s strategic partnership business unit to provide connectivity to supply from across Priceline’s parent company, Booking Holdings, a provider of online travel and related services, including properties from Priceline, Booking.com and Agoda. HotelHub said the new partnership will significantly enhance its content and pricing options as it gives TMCs using the platform access to ‘pay now and pay later’ rates from Booking Holdings brands. HotelHub customers will gain access to both B2C and B2B rates, when applicable. The partnership will also position the HotelHub platform as the booking tool of choice for SME-sized TMCs, giving them access to extensive hotel content and rates via a white label HotelHub booking platform powered by Priceline. This new SME TMC booking solution is currently in development and slated to launch later this year.
Amadeus has partnered with Karhoo to enable taxi booking via it Cytric Travel & Expense mobile app. It means Cytric users can hail pre-booked or on-demand rides in more than 1,000 cities around the world without having to download another app. In addition, business travellers will be able to compare prices as well as category of vehicles and estimated wait time to book whichever ride best suits their needs. A future enhancement will also link the receipts generated automatically for the clients who use the Cytric expense solution.
FLEETCOR Technologies, a global business payments company and parent company to Allstar Business Solutions, has acquired Plugsurfing, a European electric vehicle (software and network provider to vehicle OEMs, charge point operators, and fleets. Plugsurfing has developed a proprietary EV charging network in Europe with over 300,000 charge points, or nearly 80% of all charge points in Europe. FLEETCOR said the deal allows it to pursue new customer segments by serving CPOs with software to manage their charging infrastructure and providing OEMs with a white-label EV solution.
Inmarsat has been selected as the in-flight connectivity provider for Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787-9 and 737-10 fleet. GX Aviation, Inmarsat’s high-speed global inflight broadband service, has been rolled out successfully on other Qater aircraft and, under the new agreement, it has already been activated on the first seven Boeing 787-9s. Qatar Airways provides one hour of free access to its ‘Super Wi-Fi’, with the option to purchase full access for the remainder of each flight. The announcement comes as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in November.
