Posts by Sharon Evers

Holidayhome provider NOVASOL has expended their assortment further by taking over the holidayhomes of the Germany-specialist ADE holidays.

Because of the acquisition NOVASOL now fulfills the needs that mainly the Dutch market has. Frans Schoon, CEO of NOVASOL Benelux, explains: “Germany is the most important holiday destination for the Dutch, mainly for shorter breaks that are closer to home. The number of holidayhomes in Germany is growing on short-term to over 2000, exclusively offerd by NOVASOL, with expansion planned for the future. With this step NOVASOL will become the biggest provider for destination Germany in the market place.

NOVASOL already was strongly represented in Northern and Eastern Germany, where ADE focused her offers mainly to regions as Eifel, Sauerland, Bavaria, The Black Forest and Hessen. Because of the recent acquisition of competitor Happy Home and the addition of ADE holidayhomes, NOVASOL has built a varied and well spread portfolio in Germany. They also recently opened new holidayparks in Sankt-Andreasberg(Harz)and Kirchheim(Hessen) where NOVASOL takes all the rental and the management for their account.

Vuelandia has launched VuelandiaGlobal, a worldwide wholesale system in hotelaccomodations. Those who are interested can test the system while using the manual at VuelandiaGlobal.com(username and password: vuelandiasalestest). In the try-out environment the net rates are shown, when connecting to the system the commission standards will be set according to the user.

“Our business focus is to provide hotel accommodation to the travel industry. Thanks to close cooperation with thousands of international hotels and local agencies we’re capable of offering an excellent selection of worldwide hotel accommodations against to lowest rates with the best availability” Danny Ruitenberg (CEO Vuelandia) tells TravelPro.

With the advanced online reservation system it’s possible to book hotels or sell the entire range on ones own website with XML interface. The reservation system can be read in twelve lenguages like for example Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Polish.

VuelandiaGlobal offers different payment methods, which include a fully automated deposit revalue system through iDEAL or simply by bank(also from Belgium and Germany). Ruitenberg: “A big advantage is that creditcards aren’t necessary, which is the case with other providers. Ease, speed and service are central values”. The bookingproces in VuelandiaGlobal runs smoothly and is easy. Directly after one makes a reservation they receive an e-mail with the receipt and voucher. And to guarantee customer satisfaction Vuelandia offers a wide range of extra services, including 24/7 support and a dedicated customer service”. For those who want to use VuelandiaGlobal right away, fill in the form and e-mail it to sales@vuelandia.nl.

Starting this week Cubans can rent out their homes through the worlds leading community-driven hospitality company Airbnb. ‘Casas Particulares’ have been very popular for quite some time now, and touroperators already offered ‘casas particulares tours’, in which guests can spend the night at a host family. From now on it’s also possible to rent a room, private house or apartment through Airbnb.

“When Airbnb guests stay in the homes of the Cubans, it will bring business to the country and everybody will benefit from that. From hosts, to artists and from ice-cream salesmen to shop owners” Airbnb informs. “Hospitality is not merchandise in Havana, it’s a way of live.” Since the introduction of Airbnb in Cuba, around a thousand home-owners already signed up their homes and accommodations.

EasyJet celebrated the opening of its new 26th base at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam and announced plans to add a fourth aircraft to its fleet at the airport from October 2015 onwards. The extra aircraft means another estimated 40 jobs will be created, bringing the total number of easyJet employees based at the airport and employed on Dutch contracts to around 160.

CEO Carolyn McCall arrived at the airport this morning in a special Dutch-themed aircraft, with Holland’s signature tulips decorating the airline’s recently revealed new livery. Together with Jos Nijhuis, President Schiphol Airport, Ms McCall cut the inaugural ribbon at the official opening ceremony, attended by easyJet’s new Dutch crew, airport officials, and industry partners.

The base opening has enabled easyJet to introduce nine new destinations including Corfu, Dubrovnik, Hamburg, Ibiza, Nice, Olbia, Palermo, Toulouse, and Venice, bringing the total number of destinations from Amsterdam for the airline to 29. Earlier this week, the airline also announced that it will start flying from Amsterdam to Milan Linate airport, which is ideal for business passengers due to its close proximity to Milan’s city centre.