Amex Poll Finds Online Interest Among Buyers

In a recent American Expresss poll of corporate customers, 10 percent said they already are testing an automated booking system, 69 percent plan to implement one this year and 18 percent plan to implement one in the next year or two, Amex's Rich Siemborski said at an Association of Corporate Travel Executives regional forum in New York last month. Citing the explosive speed of technology adoption, he noted that the word extranet (the direct connection of corporate intranets to those of suppliers) "was coined 90 days ago, and already 60 percent of our customers are saying they want one."

Marriott's Mike Pusateri offered to help travel managers launch Travel homepages and noted that Marriott reaped $1.5 million in online revenues in 1996--a number he expects to leap to more than $6 million in 1997. And Avis' Thalia Cady said, "it is a myth that Internet users are looking for the lowest price" and cited an Avis survey in which travelers put price concerns seventh on the list of why they like to book online.