Amadeus Buys TravelClick, Steps Up Mobile Travel Solutions

One of the best use cases around for mobile payments is in travel. It’s a wonderful notion; there’s so much less to keep track of that way, and when you’re moving around a lot, the last thing you want is to be carrying around a lot of stuff. It increases the odds of failure dramatically; at some point in the system, something’s more likely to break down that way. So in aid of improving travel by putting mobile tools to work, Amadeus has recently agreed to buy TravelClick, shelling out a hefty $1.52 billion for the privilege.

TravelClick is a substantial provider of travel services, with operations in over 176 countries addressing the needs of over 25,000 customers. It offers a complete Central Reservation System (CRS) as well as a Guest Management Solution (GMS) tool alongside some more esoteric offerings like media systems and business intelligence operations. Essentially, TravelClick is a fairly full-service offering for the hospitality industry.

On the plus side, layoffs should be light, if found at all; 1,100 TravelClick employees will be coming along with the purchase as part of the deal.

Amadeus CEO and president Luis Maroto noted “TravelClick has a great team, great technology and a broad customer base, and we are looking forward to welcoming such a successful business into Amadeus. Our ambition is to provide the hospitality industry with the tools they need to grow their businesses and deliver a great experience to their guests….”

Mobility and travel go together like a hand in a glove. While this isn’t exactly a guarantee that more mobile payments systems will show up in travel operations, it does improve the use of mobile in general. TravelClick is a cloud-based operation, which means it can work well on a variety of endpoints, including mobile devices. It would be welcome to see more travel operations incorporate mobile—like I said earlier, it’s a great way to reduce the number of potential failure points in travel—but this could be a good start.

Improving the travel experience is vital to getting users to continue traveling, and in the end, should be a good development for travelers everywhere. Only time will tell just how good, but everything’s set up to be a welcome addition to every traveler’s itinerary.