Cendant Launches Co. To Handle Ticketing, Fulfillment

Cendant Corp.'s Travel Distribution Services division this month unveiled a new company to offer corporate clients ticketing and fulfillment bundled with or separate from the Highwire online booking tool and the Galileo International global distribution system. Cendant acknowledged that its new Seattle-based subsidiary, called Travelport, will compete with Galileo's travel management company subscribers.

Responding to questions about bidding against Galileo-connected corporate agencies, Travelport Corporate Solutions president and CEO Marka Jenkins said Travelport still is working with corporations that want to buy online booking and GDSs in partnership with their agencies. "Working with the agency partner is correct right now, because it's what the market is looking for," Jenkins said. "But if customers want to evolve, then we're making sure we're listening to the corporate accounts and responding to what they need."

Sabre Holdings also emphasized that GetThere's similar offer is responding to customer interest. "It's not for everybody, and it really is a menu concept, so we'll see," said Sabre chairman and CEO Bill Hannigan. "At the high end of the market, this is more the exception than the norm because the procurement-led processes at many of the largest companies means having the direct relationship with all of the service providers and negotiating their own contracts and their own service-level agreements."

"Whether it's through Travelport or an existing travel management company, we must reduce the costs of distribution," said Cendant Travel Distribution Services CEO and president Sam Galeotos. "We've had several Galileo subscribers and corporations ask us whether there is any way we can do these services for them more cost effectively. Several corporations want to be pilot sites." He said "some" among Highwire customers Avery Denison, Conagra, Deloitte & Touche, Hallmark, Nike and Wells Fargo—and Galileo clients EMC, IBM, Nestle, Nordstrom and The Gap—"have expressed an interest in a better mousetrap. And you'll see major wins."

GetThere provides fulfillment to a handful of customers—including CT100 member Computer Associates —from such partners as TQ3 Travel Solutions. However, Cendant is positioning its own Cendant Travel agency, claiming $1.5 billion in sales, to serve midsize and large companies. The leisure-oriented agency's corporate clients thus far include only Cendant companies. Cendant in January said its Cendant-affiliated agencies, plus Rosenbluth International, represented about 25 percent of Galileo's U.S. booking activity. American Express is acquiring the latter. Officials said Cendant Travel offers reservations, ticketing, processing, integrated data management and reporting, 24/7 global customer care and VIP handling, among other services.

Citing potential double-digit savings on travel management costs, Travelport officials said they will be piloting its fulfillment offer with midsize corporate accounts beginning in the fourth quarter. Asked how it would refocus the agency operations—including call centers in Nashville, Tenn., and elsewhere—on the corporate market, Jenkins said, "Most of it is already in existence today. We have a lot of people who are familiar with corporate travel."

Yet, Travelport is adding tools, including data consolidation and reporting from Cornerstone Information Systems—which also just signed a deal with Worldspan —and some new technologies of its own. "There are still as many manual processes in the lifecycle of the transaction as there are that have been automated," Jenkins said. "Originally, the travel management companies were fulfilling, but we're seeing a change in that, as well as how we're now focusing on PNR completion. It's not just about the online booking tool, but really in how we're modifying the GDS."

Jenkins referred to new instant messaging technology that she said would reduce manual handling. Automated e-ticket fulfillment, refunds and exchanges, automated sales reporting, PNR service notification and e-mail schedule change notification also are in the works. Cendant said it hopes to be working with Galileo subscribers on automated ticketing by the first quarter of next year.

Expedia and Orbitz—as well as traditional travel management companies, including Amex and Carlson Wagonlit Travel—are marketing the all-in-one aspect of Cendant's fulfillment solution. Notwithstanding further consolidation activity, however, Cendant is the only player targeting the large market that owns all three of the online booking, GDS and fulfillment pieces. Expedia outsources for GDS, Amex for GDS and self-booking technology, CWT for GDS, and Orbitz for fulfillment and GDS. While the new Travelocity Business targets midmarket and small accounts, Sabre on the large end does not own the fulfillment service.

According to Sabre's Hannigan, "from a pricing perspective, you would assume over the long haul that you would have more control over costs if it was in-house." He said Sabre is "not a TMC at the high end of the market, and we don't pretend to be," but denied that means GetThere's FSO program has limitations compared with a "high-end TMC.

"We are not providing all the services with Sabre Holdings employees," he continued. "We are outsourcing a meaningful portion of that work to traditional TMC customers, and some companies are very comfortable with that. I think it's early, in many ways, in the corporate space."

"There's a lot evolving," Travelport's Jenkins said. "You'll see some simplification to the GDS contracts of the past. 'GDS' may not even be in there. You won't see language like 'liability' and 'limited damages.' It's going to be a services contract with comprehensive options for fulfillment services and touchless automation complementing a core GDS."

Worldspan last week clarified after declining to comment earlier this month on its fulfillment service that offers "all typical agency functions." A company official told BTN that "Worldspan stands by its statement that we do not compete with our customers to win business from end consumers. The Worldspan Ticket Management Center is an option that we have available for corporations that approach us seeking a ticketing solution in a touchless environment. It does not perform the full service functions that only our travel agency partners can offer. Services offered by the TMC must be supplemented by a full service travel agency or an in-house travel desk in order to accommodate VIP help desk functions."

Worldspan senior vice president and general manager of worldwide supplier solutions Vela McClam-Mitchell this month chided rivals for competing with agency subscribers. After politely asking travel suppliers to stay out of the technology business, she said, "Travel agencies will have to work with suppliers and make sure we don't compete with you. I know some of the tech suppliers do compete with you, and one of the things Worldspan has done is we've focused on the segment we're in and that is being a tech supplier. We'll enable you, but we will not compete with you—our CEO has stated that."

As for Sabre's CEO, "Channel conflict is real, but it's not as real as it was six or three years ago," Hannigan said. "I had breakfast this morning with one of our big TMC CEOs, and it's a very comfortable conversation. While there are certainly opportunities where we run into each other, for the most part I would put our partnerships against anybody's."