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Hotel Industry: Emerging Travel Group Partners with Agoda

October 24, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Emerging Travel Group (ETG) et Agoda ont conclu un partenariat. DepositPhotos.com/depositedhar

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Emerging Travel Group (ETG) and Agoda have entered into a strategic partnership. Announced on October 15, 2026, this alliance is expected to grant Agoda access to millions of lodging options across Europe, the United States, Latin America, and the Middle East.

ETG operates the brands RateHawk, ZenHotels and Roundtrip. The group also aims to strengthen its offering in the Asia-Pacific region, where bookings to East and Southeast Asia are rising at an average rate of 30 % in 2026, according to the company.

A partnership to strengthen distribution

The agreement is built on a cross-distribution of the two companies’ offerings. For Agoda, integrating ETG’s inventory should widen the choices available to travelers on its international markets. For ETG, the partnership should bolster its hotel offering and its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

“This partnership with Agoda represents a significant milestone for RateHawk in the Asia-Pacific region.”, explains Erik Akhmetgaliev, RateHawk’s Regional Director for Asia-Pacific.

On the other hand, Nikita Elagin, General Manager of the Consolidator business unit at ETG, highlights the value of Agoda’s inventory in complementing the offers accessible through the more than 360 suppliers connected to the ETG platform. The group notes it will prioritize a selection of offers based on their competitiveness and their quality.

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Mountains and International Partners Back Summer 2026

September 16, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

La montagne et les clientèles étrangères soutiennent l’activité touristique en Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes durant l’été 2026. DepositPhotos.com/florentmartin

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The tourist activity in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes generally held up this summer, with 56 % of professionals who estimate attendance stable or rising compared with 2025.

The regional clientele has notably progressed, representing 39 % of attendance, while foreign markets remain a pillar of activity.

Professionals nevertheless note spending trade-offs, visitors prioritizing accommodation more than activities and dining.

La montagne profite de l’effet fraîcheur

The mountains confirm their attractiveness, with 65 % of station professionals satisfied with the season.

The image of the destination as a “refuge” in the face of heat waves has notably been cited by 56 % of them as a motor for activity.

The nature-based activities remain highly favored: hiking and walking lead the way (56 %), ahead of cycling (37 %) and water-related activities (36 %).

Demand for **more sustainable mobility** is also rising, notably for charging stations (+9 points).

Les clientèles étrangères restent dynamiques

The international clientele accounts for 26 % of attendance and helps sustain activity. Professionals notably observe a rise in Swiss and German clientele, while long-haul markets, including the United States and Canada, are also progressing.

In the face of budget constraints, 65 % of professionals have kept their prices and 16 % have reduced them. Last-minute bookings now represent 30 % of summer activity for accommodations.

For the rentrée, professionals remain cautious but relatively confident: 61 % anticipate attendance stable or rising in September, while 55 % share this view for the Toussaint holidays.

Travelodge Partners with DerbySoft to Boost Its Corporate Bookings

August 29, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

DerbySoft et Travelodge s'associent, Depositphotos.com photo by TKKurikawa

Costa Rica

DerbySoft and Travelodge have signed a distribution agreement to directly connect the hotel chain’s inventory to business travel platforms. This technical setup enables travel buyers and companies to view and book Travelodge’s offering directly from their usual management tools.

Nick Jacobs, Travelodge’s head of sales, clarifies the aim of this move: « Partnering with DerbySoft allows us to broaden our direct-distribution strategy through a reliable and scalable platform, helping us reach more corporate travelers while ensuring smooth booking processes. »

The integration relies on DerbySoft’s data-exchange infrastructure to keep rates, visuals, and room descriptions up to date. For Travelodge, the challenge is to simplify access to its properties while preserving control over its direct distribution.

Streamlining Payment Flows and Expansion into the Corporate Sector

The collaboration also incorporates DerbySoft’s payment management and invoice reconciliation features. These tools automate settlement and invoicing processes, reducing the need for manual intervention for travel managers as well as for hotel operations teams.

The key figures of the hotel portfolio involved:

More than 630 hotels located in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and Spain.

Over 47,000 rooms connected via the DerbySoft platform.

Two-thirds of the room stock already renovated to the brand’s new aesthetic standards.

Duane Overgaard, General Manager of DerbySoft’s Hospitality division, adds: « DerbySoft’s connectivity solutions help hotel brands expand their reach effectively, while allowing corporate travel agencies to access high-quality content through simplified and reliable channels. »

This initiative also supports Travelodge’s modernization strategy, which continues the rollout of its new dining concept “85 Bar Café” across its key properties.

Simplified Training for Assur-Travel Partners

August 17, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Le site de e-learning conçu par Assur-Travel © Shutterstock

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Offers and Tools for Tourism Professionals

As a wholesale broker and administrator, Assur-Travel has developed modular travel insurance ranges tailored to the needs of tourism professionals.

Since the health crisis, travelers have become more attentive to the guarantees included in their policy. They seek coverages that fit their situation, easy to understand, effective in case of unforeseen events, while remaining affordable and supported by rapid assistance.

Beyond its insurance solutions, the Lille-based company provides tourism professionals with a set of tools and services designed to facilitate the marketing of its offerings and to support them daily in their business.

Innovative tools to simplify management

The opening of an account with our sales team gives you access to a set of tools designed to facilitate the marketing of our travel insurance products and to support you on a daily basis.

Among them, an intuitive e-learning platform allows you to train at your own pace on all topics related to travel insurance. The modules cover, among other things, the guarantees of the contracts, how to present them to clients in plain language, sales techniques, the declaration and monitoring of claims, and the regulatory framework of the profession. Numerous practical cases and content dedicated to tourism trades enrich the training.

Accessible at any time, this platform enables everyone to progress according to their availability, with no calendar constraints. Knowledge is validated through interactive quizzes, up to earning a certification attesting to the training path.

Assur-Travel also provides a credit card comparator. This tool allows you to compare, in just a few clicks, the guarantees of a travel insurance contract with those of the client’s credit card, regardless of their bank or card tier (Classic, Gold, Infinite, etc.).

Partners also have a secure underwriting extran et, a true centralized management space. They can subscribe to contracts, declare and track claims in real time, consult the general terms and conditions, access the amount of their incentives and find all the tools at their disposal, including the credit card comparator.

Finally, always with the aim of fully automating subscriptions, increasing productivity and centralizing information, web services and APIs have been developed by our IT developers to integrate the sale of insurance with that of travel.

Access to digital tools designed to simplify the management of your business and boost productivity!

Human resources for tailored responses

All based in Villeneuve-d’Ascq in the north of France, most Assur-Travel employees speak multiple languages.

To ensure efficient after-sales service and to cope with the surge in activity, the claims department has added 10 new people in the last six months.

That’s around forty people dedicated solely to handling your files and answering all your questions, immediately by phone or email.

Our motto: ensure processing times and, above all, reimbursements that do not exceed five days!

For our major account clients we go even further by assigning them a dedicated account manager who knows all processes and can address each of the client’s issues. A relationship of trust is established, and communication is facilitated.

Finally, to energize the network, we offer webinars and training sessions remotely or in person (on request), depending on the needs and topics of our partners.

A quarterly newsletter is published to inform about our latest news.

If you wish to work with a human-sized company, with contacts who provide tailored answers, do not hesitate to choose Assur-Travel to support you.

Find us at the IFTM trade show on stand R087!

Contact us to offer the best travel insurance to your clients!

Une formation simplifiée pour les partenaires Assur-Travel

For all requests related to your commercial activity (proposals/quotes, contract issuance and setup, addenda, issuance or modification of policy notices, rate changes…), please contact our teams at:

[email protected]

www.assur-travel.fr

Follow Assur-Travel on social networks!

Pierre & Vacances Opens Four Holiday Residences in Switzerland, Partners with TGV Lyria

August 3, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Pierre & Vacances ouvre quatre résidences en Suisse, dont une à Thyon 4, dans le Val d’Hérens - DepositPhotos.com, Gorilla

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For the summer season of 2026, Pierre & Vacances announces the opening of four new premium residences in Switzerland, located in various Alpine resorts.

In the Valais canton, two establishments will open in Val d’Anniviers: the Zinal residence, equipped notably with a restaurant, a gaming room and a children’s area, with access to mountain activities such as visiting the Zinal glacier, rock climbing, and mountain biking; and the Vercorin residence, which will offer a spa, a restaurant, and various activities such as paragliding or discovering the local wine heritage.

A third residence will be located at Thyon 4, in Val d’Hérens. It will notably include a restaurant with panoramic views and will provide access to a range of hiking and mountain-biking activities, as well as the spa at the Grands Bains d’Hérémence.

Finally, a fourth residence will open in Meiringen, in the canton of Bern, near the Sherlock Holmes museum and about twenty minutes from Interlaken.

Guests will also receive a guest card giving access to several local activities free of charge or at a reduced rate, such as the municipal swimming pool, mini-golf, tennis, or certain guided tours.

Make the Train the Gateway to the Swiss Alps

In parallel, the brand partners with TGV Lyria to promote a combined offering of rail transport and accommodation, with the aim of facilitating access to the Swiss Alps without a car.

This partnership takes place in a context where transportation accounts for nearly 70% of greenhouse gas emissions tied to vacations.

The two companies thus aim to encourage travelers to favor train travel to reach mountain destinations.

A subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs and the Swiss Federal Railways, TGV Lyria connects Paris and Dijon year-round to several major Swiss cities, including Geneva, Lausanne, Basel and Zurich.

An additional summer link also connects Marseille to Geneva and Lausanne from April to October, with enhanced service in July and August.

“”With Pierre & Vacances, we concretely facilitate access to the Swiss Alps by combining low-carbon mobility and premium experience,” explains Éric Dehlinger, chief executive of TGV Lyria.

For Pierre & Vacances, this initiative is part of its strategy to develop mountain destinations accessible without a car. “The opening of Switzerland is a strategic milestone in our European development and strengthens our position as a leading actor in mountain travel“, notes Grégory Sion, the brand’s chief executive.

On the occasion of this launch, the two partners offer a joint promotion including -20% on stays in the Swiss residences and on TGV Lyria Standard class tickets. The promotion will be on sale from 16 to 31 March 2026, for trips and stays between 25 April and 12 December 2026.

Publié par Amelia Brille Rédactrice TourMaG.com
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