The Wrap: Singaporeans first in Asia to use SmartGate for entry to Australia

In the news: SmartGate for Singaporeans, Hotels.com’s redesigned app, eRevMax’s metasearch channels management service, Transaero Airlines’ new agreement with Abacus  

Singaporeans first in Asia to use SmartGate for entry to Australia

A self-service processing option for travellers entering Australia, which expedites speedier entry instead of having to queue to see a customs and border protection officer, has been extended to Singaporeans from February 26. .

SmartGate makes travelling to Australia and passing through passport control much easeri and faster for Singaporeans, especially during busy periods.

Present to announce the extension to all eligible Singapore nationals were Australia’s minister for trade and investment, Andrew Robb (pictured left with Singapore citizens), and assistant minister for immigration and border protection, Michaelia Cash.

“Customs and border protection is launching a trial to allow Singaporean e-passport holders, aged 16 years and over, to use SmartGate self-processing facilities in Australia’s eight major airports,” said Robb.

“The extension to Singaporean travellers will make them the first Asian nation to use this state-of-the-art technology.”

In 2013, there were 385,300 visitors to Australia from Singapore, an increase of 12.1% on the previous year. Last year more people visited Australia from Singapore than any other country in South East Asia.

During the 2012-13 financial year, over four million people presented at a SmartGate kiosk Australia-wide, an increase of 38% on the previous year.

“By 2018 over 80% of all travellers into and out of Australia will hold an ePassport,” Cash said. “As more travellers use SmartGate, customs and border protection officers can focus their attention on people who pose a risk to the border, while legitimate, law-abiding travellers can pass through with ease.”

SmartGate is currently available to Australian, New Zealand and UK citizens on a permanent basis, while US and Swiss citizens are using it under trial arrangements.

Hotels.com redesigns app for iOS7

Hotel booking website, Hotels.com, has redesigned its iPhone and iPad app for iOS7 to provide a fresh new interface that makes the mobile booking experience even quicker and easier for its customers.

The new app, which makes extensive use of high resolution imagery, puts an easy-to-use map at the heart of the hotel search that enables users to find a hotel in the right location almost instantly.

The company said the app’s new interface makes it even easier than before to find local deals for tonight for last minute bookings. It also remembers customer details, and securely stores payment information.

Other features include:

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  A beautiful and highly intuitive user interface


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  The choice for custormers to pay for their hotel at the time of booking or on arrival  at the hotel, enabling them to manage their travel budget and preferences.


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  Customers can easily access their account to check future, current and past bookings without having to be online.


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  Easier for users to navigate their Welcome Rewards account, Hotels.com’s customer loyalty programme, and reap the benefits of the service.

Metasearch channels management service for hotels from eRevMax

Hotel channel management and connectivity solution provider, eRevMax, has partnered with World Independent Hotel Promotion (WIHP), to offer metasearch management capabilities to hotel customers.

Through this partnership, eRevMax’s customers can push real time rates and availabilities to Google Hotel Finder, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak and WeGo to drive more booking traffic directly to their own booking engine.

eRevMax provides XML interface connectivity to all channel classes (OTAs, wholesalers, tour operators, social media, metasearch sites) from a single platform, and allows hoteliers to bid for higher positions in the meta-search channels. This increase the visibility of the rates available on the hotels’ website.

WIHP will also provide hotels with a managed service to execute the bid management process from a digital marketing perspective, based on the clients’ advertising budget.

The advanced tracking available with the service helps hotels know the exact return on investment for each metasearch channel they are advertising on. They also have access to custom-built hotel analytics platform, where they can monitor the performance of their campaign and see the revenue generated by the campaign.

Michael McCartan, CEO if eRevMax, said, “Metasearch has become really mainstream, and has witnessed 13% growth in travel search traffic over last year. With over 28% travellers preferring metasearch to compare hotel rates, it is a highly effective tool that will allow our customer hotels to reach out to a much larger audience and offer an extended scope for pushing more direct bookings through a direct booking eco-system of metasearch sites.”

Transaero Airlines reaches out to APAC with new Abacus agreement

Transaero Airlines, Russia’s second largest carrier, has inked a new two-year distribution agreement with Abacus to provide travel agents at over 20,000 locations with full access to fares, schedules and seat inventory on all routes within the carrier’s.

The new content includes the carrier’s 200 routes across Russia, Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The airline is also making attractive interline offers available to Abacus users.

The agreement includes joint marketing activity such as Transaero Airlines’ participation in future Abacus Corporate Travel Executive Forums in Kazakhstan, which aims to develop  Central Asia where the carrier is a leading brand.

Ho Hoong Mau, Abacus’ vice president for airline distribution, said, “There are lots of synergy in this partnership. Transaero Airlines serves many of the destinations booked in volume by our corporate and leisure travel agents. Where more choice is needed, Transaero Airlines is offering some very compelling prices.”

The Wrap: Singaporeans first in Asia to use SmartGate for entry to Australia