GetThere's DirectMeetings division, in the process of integrating with the offerings by fellow Sabre Holdings subsidiary Travelocity Business, earlier this month unveiled a handful of new features while its officials eye a changing marketplace wrought by alliances between online agencies and meetings management technology firms.
DirectMeetings, long a subsidiary of GetThere and tied closely with its DirectCorporate self-booking tool, also recently has acceded to link to other self-booking tools, in certain cases, should clients insist, DirectMeetings manager Mike Malinchok said. GetThere late last summer specifically agreed to link DirectCorporate to the tools of meetings management firm StarCite
(Meetings Today, Sept. 22, 2003). However, Malinchok said, no customers have yet implemented such a link.
"For all customers, we think a single platform is the strongest and quickest way to increase cost savings," he said. "We will entertain other ideas. It's difficult to take one application and pass it to another application, and we have no plans to integrate with other tools. But if they want to take another group or transient tool, we will take a look at it now."
The latest release of DirectMeetings primarily features cosmetic changes to the tool, including the ability for users to customize further the product's functionality that locates the most cost-efficient sites for a single event given the number of attendees and their departure points. The new release permits buyers to add or remove particular areas of spending—air, hotel, food and beverage—to calculate potential spending at various sites. The new version also includes currency-conversion tools and introduces functionality to add pre- and post-event hotel stays for attendees.
DirectMeetings has continued to grow its client roster, last year signing a deal with New York-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. to provide the technology behind the company's meetings management initiatives in Europe
(Meetings Today, Oct. 20, 2003)—DirectMeetings' first international implementation—and recently has signed three new clients, including an insurance conglomerate, a division of a chemical and pharmaceutical firm and a farm equipment manufacturer, Malinchok said.
As part of the overall restructuring of GetThere and alignment with Travelocity
(BTN, Sept. 22, 2003), DirectMeetings further will be integrated with Travelocity Business offerings, said Pete Stevens, Travelocity Business vice president of marketing. "As we look at the process of automation and driving cost savings, DirectMeetings fits nicely as we go forward," he said. "We need that technology, and we need it to be integrated."
The move also should give Travelocity Business additional allure to small corporations with lightly managed corporate travel programs, Stevens said. "We see that large companies see the value of using technology to further all transactions," he said. "We like DirectMeetings' technology position, and all the things they have at their disposal, as we can bring those down market faster to the smaller spaces. As people feel more comfortable with online booking, they will turn to meetings technology."
That view also is shared by other online agencies that are competitors of Travelocity, each of which has developed some sort of alliance or partnership with a firm that offers meetings technology. Last year, Orbitz formed a partnership with Chicago-based David Green Interactive, a division of meetings and convention management firm David Green Organization
(Meetings Today, July 7, 2003). Effectively, Orbitz for Business will refer to DGO its customers that seek meeting planning services. After that, Expedia Corporate Travel formed a relationship with online meetings management technology firm SeeUthere Technologies
(Meetings Today, Dec. 8, 2003)."There're a lot of parallels between this and what happened a few years ago, with the clamor between online booking tools and meetings, with companies forming partnerships with E-Travel or Outtask's Cliqbook," Malinchok said. "We've integrated into a single solution, but Expedia and Orbitz have partnerships. We have the procurement side—requests for proposals, booking, registration—and we have the travel piece. Orbitz addressed the RFP mechanism with David Green; Expedia with SeeUthere figured out invitations."