CRUISE SHOPPES, the consortium of cruise
retailers, contracted Phoenix-headquartered OurVacationStore [www.ourvacationstore.com] to provide a Web-based
cruise booking engine for travel agencies. Cruise Shoppes had been
offering a booking product from CruisePath, but switched to a new
solution after CruisePath announced earlier this month that it was
discontinuing operations. OVS will charge Cruise Shoppes agencies
$99 per month for the tool, plus $5 for every booking.
ITA SOFTWARE [www.itasoftware.com], the Cambridge,
Mass.-headquartered company that provides an airfare pricing and
shopping engine for airlines and online agencies, said its
technology helped Continental achieve record sales on
Continental.com. ITA said Continental recorded 50 days of sales
exceeding $3 million per day since February, when Continental
started using ITA's technology. Before contracting with ITA,
Continental hit the $3 million mark only once before, in 2001, said
ITA.
AGENTWARE [www.agentware.net], an Atlanta-based company
that produces TravelConsole, a Web-search tool for agencies, added
a hotel search function to its latest software release. AgentWare
said the tool gleans hotel rate information from 15 sites,
including Expedia, Hotels.com and Travelocity, and from 11 supplier
sites such as Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton.
ORBITZ AND PEGASUS SOLUTIONS signed a renewal
agreement. Pegasus will continue to provide Orbitz with rates,
photos and other information for properties that don't participate
in Orbitz's merchant program. Pegasus estimates it provides retail
rates for 45,000 properties worldwide. Orbitz also uses Pegasus'
commission-processing service.
TRAVELWEB, the online distributor of merchant
hotel rooms owned by five major chains, Pegasus and Priceline.com,
said it added 1,000 hotels to its distribution network this month.
Now, more than 6,000 properties representing 90 brands have joined
Travelweb, according to the company. Travelweb distributes rooms
through third-party sites like Orbitz and Continental.com, and is
expected to re-launch its consumer site [www.travelweb.com]
before the end of spring.