Travelport Acquires Mobile Development Company

Travelport Worldwide has acquired Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT), a private company based in Dublin, Ireland. MTT’s customer base spans the travel industry, from travel agencies to major airlines.

“They host, designed and run EasyJet’s mobile app, which has had 11 million downloads,” Gordon Wilson, chief executive officer of Travelport, told Travel Market Report.

Other customers are Singapore Airlines, Saudia, BCD Travel, Capita Travel and Events and the LATAM Airlines Group.

MTT’s mobile travel platform and product set allows companies to engage with their customers through sophisticated, tailored mobile services including apps, mobile web and intelligent mobile messaging.  

Its apps and services are then delivered, under the customer brand, to smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, including the Apple Watch.

Serving customers
Wilson said MTT will continue to serve its existing customers, while “[Travelport] will be a customer of theirs and refer customers to them.”

Near-term plans include an overhaul of Travelport’s mobile itinerary manager, ViewTrip.

“They will revamp and reskin it and make it more interactive,” Wilson said. “You’ll be able to add a hotel, make a change or add an ancillary.”

One of MTT’s products that Wilson particularly likes is MTT Engage, which provides real-time, personalized messages and offers to the traveler. It’s a concept that has been talked about a lot but is seldom delivered.

“You can be walking through the airport and Starbucks can send you an offer,” Wilson said.

Another is MTT Concierge Live, which delivers a “day of travel” experience via a traveler’s mobile device including live, contextual travel updates and airport guidance.

A cloud-based approach
While the travel agencies currently working with MTT are very large, Wilson believes the company’s cloud-based approach will be able to deliver more affordable mobile solutions to less massive operations “without the massive bill.”

The world is going mobile, he said. “If you’re an agent and you don’t have a mobile app, you will be irrelevant.”

Smaller agencies may not want to pay for (or need) the sophistication of a large agency’s app, but some customization will be possible. “No agency wants to be vanilla,” Wilson said.