REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. -Software giant Oracle Corp., based here,
bought E-Travel, a Concord, Mass.-based purveyor of Web-based
self-booking applications for the corporate travel market.
The E-Travel self-booking product will now be called Oracle
eTravel, and it is being integrated with Oracle's travel expense
reimbursement solution, Oracle Self-Service Expenses, and other
Oracle applications.
Gary Bloom, executive vice president of system products
development said the two companies began exploring integration
opportunities for their products several months ago and "one thing
led to another, as they say."
The members of E-Travel's management team will retain their
current positions and E-Travel will become a separate business unit
of Oracle to "preserve its travel focus and expertise," Oracle
said.
"We really want to retain the things that made E-Travel special
but leverage the resources of Oracle," said John Wookey, vice
president of Oracle financial applications.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and
officials from both companies declined comments on a published
report which quoted $35 million as the purchase price.
Oracle's travel department previously began piloting E-Travel's
self-booking application with about 250 employees, according to
John Ackermann, E-Travel's president.
The implementation of Oracle eTravel will now be expanded
internally throughout North America, for use by more than 20,000
employees, Oracle said, commenting that it expects to "achieve
significant cost saving each year in corporate travel
expenses."
By the end of this month, E-Travel will implement its ETLink
system for users of the self-booking application, providing the
ability to bypass computerized reservations systems and book
directly with Continental, Hertz and, through Pegasus Systems,
hotels.
Ackermann said that as part of Oracle, his company will have
additional resources to add more suppliers, more quickly, to
ETLink. "We will be investing even more in ETLink to keep up with
demand," he said.
As for marketing self-booking applications in general, E-Travel
will "use all the distribution channels available to us," including
travel agencies and Oracle's direct marketing and direct sales
forces, Ackermann said.
E-Travel said its product is distributed by 12 of the largest
corporate travel agencies, including Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and
is in use by over 200 corporate customers including The Coca-Cola
Company, Fidelity Investments Limited, First USA Bank One Company
and Philip Morris Management Company.
Andy Williams, Carlson Wagonlit's vice president of emerging
technologies and interactive marketing, commented, "Oracle's entry
into the market for automated travel management solutions validates
the market as well as E-Travel's position in it."
The Oracle officials said that with the acquisition of E-Travel
their company's focus in the area of booking applications will
continue to be on the corporate side.
Although there is a potential to extend some of the applications
to the consumer-direct, leisure market, that is not in the plans
right now, they said.