Fred. Olsen To Transform the Guest Dining and Retail Experience with IBS Software

IPSWICH, England, March 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has chosen IBS Software to improve the onboard dining and retail purchasing experience across its entire fleet, providing a range of new options to order food and drink that balance guest safety with convenience. Fred. Olsen will be implementing IBS's iTravel Point-of-Sale (PoS) system, to lay the foundations of a superior technology landscape onboard where guest will have greater flexibility to order food and beverages and other onboard retail services from the convenience of their cabin, in addition to the traditional over-the-counter purchases or waiter assisted orders. 

The pandemic has elevated the critical role PoS systems play in the day-to-day operations of a cruise ship. They are an integral part of transforming the guest experience to deliver onboard dining services safely while simultaneously enhancing the entire process. The issue for cruise lines is that traditional PoS systems work in silos across ships with no centralised administration capabilities. Additionally, they typically require specific hardware to function and therefore have very low portability and tend to be stationary at various points onboard. These factors significantly impact cruise line's ability to innovate and provide top class service to guests, who increasingly expect state-of-the-art tech onboard.

By deploying iTravel PoS, Fred. Olsen can take advantage of its mobile-first approach through which all key sales functions for crew are also available via hand held devices, allowing it to easily adapt to changing needs and customer preference. It also seamlessly integrates with other vital on-board systems including food and beverage inventory, dining and property management systems.  

As part of the implementation, IBS Software will also deploy iTravel-Super Highway to facilitate centralized management and significantly improve operational capability from shore. iTravel-Super Highway is a framework that facilitates real time synchronization of data between shore and ship thereby allowing ongoing tasks, such as restaurant and menu item set-up and management of business rules for each ship to be centrally managed from headquarters, for maximum operational efficiency. The sales from each ship can also be consolidated and monitored real time from headquarters and hosted on the public cloud.

"We are pleased to grow our collaboration with IBS Software. We expect iTravel-PoS to improve guest experience and drive efficiencies for Point of Sales operations across our fleet as well as simplify our technology landscape," said Damon Impett, Director of IT Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

"Fred. Olsen is a forward thinking cruise line and it's really fulfilling to be a part of their digital transformation journey. IBS' vision is to provide cruise lines with a seamlessly integrated shore-ship digital platform supporting reservations and onboard operations. With Fred. Olsen also selecting IBS for PoS we have begun to realise this vision." said Asish Koshy, Vice President and Head of Tour & Cruise Solutions, IBS Software.

iTravel POS is part of iTravel Suite which is an integrated shore to ship family of products for cruise lines that also include iTravel-Cruise (Reservations), iTravel Dining (Table Reservations) and iTravel Navigator Guest Mobile App.

About IBS Software

IBS Software is a leading SaaS solutions provider to the travel industry globally, managing mission-critical operations for customers in the aviation, tour & cruise and hospitality industries. IBS Software's solutions for the aviation industry cover fleet & crew operations, aircraft maintenance, passenger services, loyalty programs, staff travel and air-cargo management. IBS Software also runs a real time B2B and B2C distribution platform providing hotel room inventory, rates and availability to a global network of hospitality companies and channels. For the tour and cruise industry, IBS provides a comprehensive, customer-centric, digital platform that covers onshore, online and on-board solutions. IBS Software is a Blackstone portfolio company and operates from 15 offices across the world.

Further information can be found at https://www.ibsplc.com/.

About Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is a family-founded company of Norwegian heritage with a fleet of four smaller ships – Bolette, Borealis, Balmoral and Braemar – each carrying less than 1,400 guests. In 2021, 2022 and beyond, the cruise line will offer a range of closer to home UK and European breaks, as well as longer, international sailings from eight UK departure ports, and a fly-cruise programme.

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