GTM Consortium Adds Software, New Agency Partners

<I>London</I> - The Global Travel Management consortium's installation of quality-control software and its recruitment of new members are just two of the moves the consortium has made recently that have positioned it to compete aggressively for global corporate accounts.

In recent weeks, GTM has installed Travel Technologies Group's Corre software in the United Kingdom and Holland. This robotic tool will allow agencies to control the quality of reservations for policy, preferences and corporate rates.

After operating on U.S. reservations systems for several years, TTG had to develop an interface to allow Corre to run on the Galileo computer reservations system. Next will be Amadeus, according to Danny Hood, president of corporate travel and technology for WorldTravel Partners, the Atlanta-based parent of TTG and the U.S. shareholder in GTM.

The London-based consortium, which has 26 shareholders in 26 countries, also has signed up a slew of new agency members: the Sun Group in India, GTM Italy, Sydney Business Travel in Australia, Gilpin Travel in New Zealand, GTM Switzerland, Farrington Travel Ltd. in Hong Kong and UOB Travel Planners in Singapore.

In Canada, WTP brought in Global Travel Solutions to better serve the North American market. GTM has letters of intent from agencies in Mexico and in other Latin American countries to better serve those markets, Hood said.

In addition, GTM has been establishing service bureaus throughout Europe to consistently handle corporate business, Hood said. To consolidate data, GTM is using the Prism Group's Travel Manager's Workstation's agency server.

The alliance is just beginning to market its services and respond to corporate requests for proposals, Hood said. Although the entity lost the recent bid of the Mormon Church, GTM was on the bidder's list. "It was a real coup to have someone kick our tires like that," Hood said of the extensive review process.

Hood said the alliance has been winning a significant amount of business in the United States and Britain, and it recently won its first global account, although the company name can't be disclosed until after implementation.

WTP forged its link with GTM in July 1995, when GTM was a network of 13 independent European agencies, all affiliated with Rosenbluth International and USTravel Systems. But to reach its goal of becoming a global player, GTM had to bring on partners in North America, Asia and elsewhere.

"There is a lot of interest worldwide," Hood said. "We wanted to put together a product before we hung out our shingle, but in 1997, we're ready to launch.