Corporate clients of the GetThere online booking tool next month will be able to make reservations on cross-channel rail service Eurostar. The launch follows a series of pilots with customers since March. Precise timing of the availability of Eurostar will vary, based on the global distribution system used by clients' appointed travel management company.
"There is big demand for it, and it has been growing for several years," said Jason Geall, director of GetThere's Europe, Middle East and Africa division, and the former head of sales for Eurostar U.K.
(BTNonline, Nov. 17, 2008) "Travelers will be able to compare and book Eurostar on the same screen as airlines serving the same routes."
However, before clients can book Eurostar, they will need to implement fulfillment arrangements with their travel management company. TMCs can issue tickets or travelers can collect them from self-service machines at the Eurostar terminuses in London, Paris and Brussels.
Like other booking tools, GetThere has been working to add rail reservations to its service. With rail accounting for up to 40 percent of bookings in such countries as France, lack of availability has limited the effectiveness of self-service tools. GetThere already offers French national rail operator SNCF as well as U.K. domestic rail tickets through an arrangement with specialist online rail company Thetrainline.
The online booking tool also is attempting to introduce rail content from Germany and Scandinavia.
Geall said that bookings for all kinds of travel currently are down 15 percent in the Europe, Middle East and Africa for GetThere, which he regards as in line with the rest of the market. However, he added that the company is picking up new business in the United Arab Emirates.
Lower labor costs until now have meant that the case for using a booking tool in the Middle East was marginal, because there was little difference between the offline and online fees travel management companies charge.
"That is changing," Geall said.