Universal Air Travel Plan in February added to its fold its first hotel vendor, La Quinta Inns & Suites, marking a first step in what the network hopes leads to eventual widespread acceptance among both hotel and car rental companies.
The La Quinta agreement grew out of a trial run that began in 2009 with UATP client Wal-Mart, UATP president and CEO Ralph Kaiser said. Wal-Mart uses the UATP network with American Airlines as its issuer, and it approached the airline to use its account to handle transactions from La Quinta, one of its primary hotel vendors for domestic travel.
"We like to make sure we're cutting-edge without spending millions of dollars on incredible amounts of resources innovating things that won't make a difference," La Quinta president and CEO Wayne Goldberg said. "This partnership is creating something that will be a major platform for our industry, for airlines and other retail outlets."
Both Goldberg and American Airlines, UATP's founder, described the launch period with Wal-Mart as a success and said La Quinta now is ready to offer UATP acceptance to other corporate clients. At the same time, UATP is involved in discussions with other hotel brands and also has talked to all major car rental suppliers about introducing acceptance, Kaiser said.
"The chief benefit is going to be the data and reconciliation," he said. "We'll be offering the same detailed data for hotel transactions we do in air in a centrally billed and booked environment."
The network in recent years has reported intentions of expanding beyond its airline network. Last year, it announced a partnership allowing users to purchase travel on Amtrak through all points of sale
(BTNonline, March 31, 2009).Adding hotels and other non-airline vendors provides issuers the chance to grow volume, Kaiser said. With hotel acceptance, for example, corporate travelers can use UATP on trips even when no air travel is involved, he said.
UATP's issuer network, which includes AirPlus International and several major airlines, remains an airlines-only club, however. "Nothing is going to change about the ownership group, at least not in the short-term," Kaiser said. "If it ever makes sense for both players, we'll see which way the market pushes us."