Direct Booking Links Near, But Full PNR Is An Issue
<B> Direct Booking Links Near, But Full PNR Is An Issue</B>
By Lynn Woods
Although car rental industry executives say that demand is growing in the corporate sector for direct booking links that would bypass the computer reservation systems, the technology is in its infancy, and a number of challenges need to be addressed before acceptable solutions can be achieved.
Key among challenges is devising ways to connect the car rental link with the airline and hotel booking--the other parts of the passenger name record. At Hertz, the problem is complicated by the fact that the firm has "different ways of communicating with airlines and hotels" that vary by GDS, said Wayne Meserve, division vice president of worldwide marketing planning.
Meserve said Hertz is talking to several software vendors, including Concord, Mass.-based E-Travel, whose ETLink product will begin beta testing at three corporations in December. It will provide a direct link to Hertz that bypasses the CRS. The company also is "working feverishly to produce a direct link" with its corporate accounts, said Peter Budd, director of Hertz's electronic distribution strategy.
In the past, such links could be built using modem dial-ups. But as that unwieldy process has been replaced with links to the Internet, demand has soared, said Budd. Companies are considering three options: access through the Internet, private company intranets or extranets, where the software "lives" outside the company.
Separating the car rental piece from the rest of the travel itinerary wouldn't necessarily result in confusion and inefficiencies for travel managers, Meserve said. Many car rental transactions--those for a one-day rental for a business day trip, for example--aren't tied to an airline ticket or hotel room.
In contrast, Avis--formerly a leader on the technology side--was lackluster in its response to queries about direct booking. A year ago, Avis was the first car rental company to announce an interface between corporate clients and its WizCom reservations system. The pilot was scheduled to take place last January with a handful of larger corporate accounts, but an Avis spokesman wouldn't confirm whether the test took place as planned, or whether the product has been rolled out. "It's not a high priority," he said. "It hasn't advanced very far."
Some companies already are booking car rentals separately, and bypassing CRS fees through the low-tech method of phoning and faxing. John Wenzelman, director of industry relations at BTI Americas Inc. in Skokie, Ill., said one client faxes its car rental reservations to its suppliers' headquarters at the end of each day in order to benefit from guaranteed last-minute availability. For such companies, forging electronic links with suppliers' inventory would be a huge time saver.
In general, though, car rental lags behind air and hotel in terms of the advantages of direct booking links, said Bob Langsfeld, a travel management consultant in Incline Village, Nev. "Car rental is a relatively small item. There aren't a great amount of extras to it," he said. Besides bypassing the CRS fees and possibly travel agency commissions and management fees, the only other area in which a company might save on car rental processes is by bypassing the credit card payment method, Langsfeld said.
Still, that's a lot of fees. Dave Hamilton, director of travel services at Fidelity Investments in Boston, said the prospect of saving on distribution costs was definitely an incentive to explore direct booking with his company's two preferred car rental vendors, National and Hertz, as was the promise of better car availability. Although Fidelity uses E-Travel's booking software, it hasn't signed up for ETLink; Hamilton said Fidelity's onsite server presents some hurdles to instant linkage with other systems.
Joseph DeMart, manager of corporate travel services at Eastman Kodak Inc. in Rochester, N.Y., also is interested in the possible savings on distribution costs from a direct link with National, his car rental supplier. The corporation currently is discussing the possibility of buying inventory direct from National and software provider Internet Travel Network. Direct settlement with the car rental company also is of interest. "If you're buying the product direct, why not settle up direct on a monthly basis?" he asked.
Some travel buyers noted that another issue to be considered is what inventory will be available in a direct system versus the CRSs. Scott Smith, vice president of sales and marketing for Sabre Business Travel Solutions, said the CRSs offer varying levels of connectivity to car rental suppliers, each priced differently. "You may or may not see all of the inventory at any given time," depending on the level of participation that the car rental company has signed up for. Scott said five car rental companies--Ace, Alamo, Avis, Budget and Sears--are participating at the "direct connect availability" level, Sabre's highest.
Not surprisingly, Smith was critical of the direct booking concept, citing limited exposure of vendors by reflecting only those car rental firms willing to pay to participate in ETLink, minimal cost savings and lack of efficiency due to fragmentation of the travel record as some of the problems.
Indeed, no one denied that the fledgling technology has a long way to go before corporations line up for new direct-link products. Langsfeld noted that only ETLink and a handful of "minor" products currently are available. "Direct-connect tools are not abundant," he said.
Another unanswered question posed by the technology is who is going to keep the data, Langsfeld said. "If the air and hotel are on the PNR but the car rental is a direct link, and you cancel the trip, you need a system and database tools to keep track of the data."
ETLink, which uses a technology called "object-oriented programming" to allow corporations to book directly and consolidate the data, will have only three participating vendors--Continental Airlines, Hertz and the Pegasus Thisco UltraDirect system--when it is launched in January. However, two or three other major car rental companies are expected to sign on by April, said E-Travel vice president of business development Rick Lifsitz.
One of the definite benefits of ETLink is richer and more accurate data than is available in the CRS, Lifsitz noted. "When a transaction is completed, the user will get the cost broken down by line item and a confirmation number," he said.
And while only daily and weekly rates are available in the CRSs, ETLink also will be able to prorate a 30-hour rental, for example. Furthermore, car rental companies could use the product for one-to-one marketing, awarding upgrades to valued customers, or use video capabilities to enable them to view photos of different cars in their fleets. "It'll be a much richer experience for the traveler," said Lifsitz.
ETLink will be sold on a per-seat basis, at a cost of $2 to $5 per user per month, according to Lifsitz, a cost that compares favorably with CRS fees.
Budget, like its competitors, is working with its corporate accounts to create direct booking methods, and in the meantime is banking on its Website as an attractive method for corporations to access its inventory directly in real time. The Website (drivebudget.com), which was revamped last September, allows Budget "to sell the full scope of product, including one-way rentals"--a functionality lacking from current online booking products, said director of channel marketing Mike Blakey.
Users also can enroll for Perfect Drive, Budget's express-rental product, and input their corporate rate on the site. Bookings instantly are confirmed and an e-mail message is sent to the user to reconfirm the reservation. The real-time nature of the site ensures that users won't receive an "error" message later on informing them that their car isn't available.
Blakey said upcoming enhancements will include international booking capabilities, the ability to reserve trucks and online enrollment in Budget's loyalty program.
National also is looking to improve its Website. In the first quarter of 1999, it will launch direct booking on the site, using an Internet booking engine that is being developed in conjunction with its new IT system, Odyssey.