NEW YORK -- The following is a selection of recent announcements in
the travel technology field:
Worldspan said it was selected as a preferred CRS by Boeing
Travel Management Co., which handles business travel for the Boeing
Co. and more than 200 other U.S. corporations. It also offers
leisure travel services to Boeing employees and their
families.Approximately 45% of Boeing Travel's annual bookings will be
made through the Worldspan system, Worldspan said.
Worldspan introduced coupon suppression for paper and
electronic air-ticket transactions and miscellaneous charge-order
(MCO) transactions.The functionality gives Worldspan-connected agents the option of
printing only those coupons that are required by their local
settlement plan. Coupon suppression streamlines the ticketing
process, reduces agents' printing costs by eliminating unnecessary
coupons and supports paperless documentation for electronic tickets
and service-fee MCOs, Worldspan said.
Amadeus, Ericcson and Smart opened a Competence Centre in
Stockholm to develop wireless travel management (WTM) services with
components for booking, corporate travel management and mobile
office functions such as e-mail and access to the Internet and
company intranets.With WTM, business travelers can access and manipulate travel
information from handheld devices and mobile phones while adhering
to their company's travel policies.
Sabre Sales Manager, a tool for airlines to flash targeted
messages to agents and travelers during the booking process, was
activated by American, Sabre said.Sabre promoted Scott Smith to vice president and general
manager of Sabre Business Travel Solutions. Smith has been with the
company since 1982, serving most recently as vice president of
sales and marketing for Sabre BTS.IBM announced a new service to help companies in the travel and
transportation business create auction sites.Expedia.com added a Holiday Shopping section that
includes links to on-line shopping.Travelzoo.com, an Internet portal where more than 150
travel companies post special deals, introduced a free Web-based
tool called Hitmaster that provides advertisers with instant
feedback on how much interest individual ads generate from visitors
to the site.Travelzoo.com also introduced a Top 20 list of the best deals on
the site, selected by its editorial staff, which is e-mailed, free
of charge, to people who sign up for it.
WorldRes.com, a hotel distribution network, said it
crossed the 10,000-property mark with the activation of more than
1,200 Accor hotel properties.Worldres.com also expanded its relationship with Sabre so that
its entire inventory can be booked by the CRS' users, including
Sabre-connected agents, Travelocity.com members and corporate
travelers using the Sabre BTS reservations application.
Henry Harteveldt, formerly marketing director for GetThere.com in
Cambridge, Mass., left the company and plans to join Forrester
Research of Cambridge, Mass., on Jan. 3. He will manage Forrester's
Consumer Technographics research program as well as its
business-to-business and consumer strategy practices.Chicago-based iExplore, a start-up Internet company that plans
to launch an adventure travel research and booking site early next
year, said it received funding from Tribune Ventures, a division of
the Tribune Co., and Bear Ventures, a private equity investment
company.