SAN FRANCISCO --
Onelink Corp. aims to roll out booking and settlement services for
nonair suppliers and their agents by early second quarter.
The company is
beta testing, having first implemented a Web portal that enables
agents to book hotels. The beta-test agency is PNR Travel in Marina
del Rey, Calif., and the portal is operated by Onelinks CCRA
International, a hotel program that makes preferred rates at more
than 12,000 hotels available to 18,000 subscribing agencies in
25,000 locations worldwide.
Frances
Kiradjian, the firms chief strategy officer, said Onelinks
settlement program (known as Onelink4travel) will be tested in
mid-February with members of one of CCRAs partnering agency trade
groups and one or more of CCRAs roster of hotel
partners.
She added that
she expects the car rental segment, and perhaps other segments, to
participate when Onelink rolls out the booking and settlement
product in early April. Initially, she said, agencies wishing to
use the system will have to sign on through their trade
associations.
The partnering
organizations are ASTA, Cruise & Travel Stores, Cruise Shoppes
of America, IT Group, the National Association of Commissioned
Travel Agents, the Outside Sales Support Network, Vacation.com and
the Western Association of Travel Agencies.
Meanwhile,
Kiradjian said Onelink aims to have agency training centers in Los
Angeles, New York and Washington.
Also, in two
weeks, she said, it will roll out a travel agent reference guide
for all 25,000 CCRA subscriber agencies.
To contact
the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Nadine Godwin
at [email protected].