Inside Track: Avis Budget Declines Majority Carey Stake

Avis Budget Group this month confirmed to Business Travel News that it has declined to increase its stake in chauffeured transportation provider Carey International to 80 percent from 45 percent. Avis Budget had one year to assume the majority stake following its initial $60 million October 2007 investment in Carey (BTNonline, Nov. 19, 2007). "Due to the challenging economic environment, we have chosen not to exercise our option," an Avis Budget spokesperson said in a statement. Avis Budget officials had described the initial investment in Carey as a way to diversify its offerings to offer a complete ground transportation solution to the corporate market. Industry consultant Neil Abrams, president of Abrams Consulting, predicted the investment still would prove wise. "This is a combination of a very uncertain market for chauffeured transportation and a desire to be conservative," Abrams said. "Avis and Carey still would be a formidable branding and operational initiative that will separate them from the competition."

DOT Task Force Recommends Tarmac Delay Practices
A U.S. Department of Transportation task force established to evaluate extended delays on the tarmac in a report this month offered advice to airlines on how to handle such occurrences, but little in the way of binding law. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters in a statement this month said the task force "voted 34 to 1 in favor of a model contingency planning document that can be used by airlines and airports to develop their own individualized plans to deal with lengthy tarmac delays." While airlines applauded the recommendations, Kate Hanni, a crusader for a Passenger Bill of Rights and head of flyersrights.org, called the task force report an "insult to passengers."

Continental Still Part Of SkyTeam
Though the close of the Delta-Northwest merger helps to free Continental of its SkyTeam obligations, the carrier is looking toward the end of next year to officially join the Star Alliance. "There's still a number of things that have to occur before we can fully transition," said senior vice president of sales Dave Hilfman. "As we get closer to transitioning from SkyTeam to Star, we'll have discussions with clients on what that means and new agreements that could be moved over to Star, but today it remains business as usual."

Marriott To Open Chicago Regional Sales Office
Marriott International expects to open a new regional sales office in Chicago by year-end, building on the company's initiative to centralize its sales process and give customers a single sales contact for all hotels in each region across its eight core brands. Marriott opened its first such regional office in the Washington, D.C., area about one year ago (BTNonline, Dec. 19, 2007). Marriott has said its eventual goal is to have about a dozen sales offices across the country.

GetThere To Deliver Asian Language Versions
GetThere next quarter plans to launch its first double-byte language version of the online booking tool with a client in Korea. Double-byte is computerese for Asian-language character texts. In contrast, English character texts are in single-byte. GetThere senior vice president Chris Kroeger said the tool's first foray into double-byte enables it to adapt versions for other Asian points-of-sale. GetThere now offers site administration classes and training in foreign languages.