<B> Inside Track</B>
<b>United Takes Blue Sky Approach</b>
United Airlines is looking for a new information technology behemoth to host its reservation processing now that Galileo International has indicated it wants out of that business. In a project expected to take at least a year, United is soliciting ideas from consultants and leading airline IT outsourcers, including Amadeus, IBM, Sabre and Worldspan. Unlike some of its competitors, Galileo hosts only one airline, United, and has made no effort in recent years to attract any more IT business.
<a name="2"><B>Online Booking Moves To Cell Phones</B>
Combining their technological talents, IBM, Nokia and Sabre this summer will begin pilot testing a service that allows travelers to check and change travel reservations over wireless phones. For now, the service will work only on Nokia's new 7110 phone, which is deployed only in Europe, though it is expected to arrive in the United States later this year. When the programming is completed, Sabre will be able to send a message to cell phone users whenever their flights are delayed or canceled, and travelers will be able to book or change flights when their plans change.
<a name="3"><B>National Plans Manhattan Airport Rate</B>
National Car Rental is considering providing an airport-to-Manhattan service, offering travelers a six- to eight-hour rental at about "half the daily rate," said Manhattan city manager Richard Regan. The company plans to offer a cost-competitive alternative to limousines and black cars, in which renters could drive themselves and make intermediary stops before returning the car to a midtown National office or possible drop-off site at a firm's local headquarters. National's new transportation product will debut only in New York by June.
<a name="4"><B>E-Tix Tracking Rolls Out At Amex</B>
American Express this month moved to a full rollout of its proprietary e-ticket tracking system, Ticket TRAX, which it said identified and refunded more than $2.5 million to 47 agency clients during its testing period. The pilot revealed that nearly 2 percent of all e-tickets have at least one refundable segment, so a company with a $20 million travel budget and half its tickets being electronic could conceivably save $200,000 a year. At St. Louis-based Monsanto, Ticket TRAX last year found 70 unused e-tickets and saved the company $75,000, said travel manager Rose Holmes. In 1999, those savings are expected to rise to $120,000.
<a name="5"><B>Maritz Enhances Point-of-Sale </B>
Maritz Travel Co. this spring will add a hotel manager module to its ProView point-of-sale system, allowing users to instantly see hotel availability, compare negotiated and rack rates, and provide faster and more extensive hotel searches. The system also will add a Web-based profile maintenance module to allow travelers and travel arrangers to update their profiles; a client manager feature to add new clients to the database; and a doc manager module for the printing, faxing and e-mailing of multiple documents.
<a name="6"><B>Best Western Creates U.K.'s Largest Hotel Group</B>
Interchange Hotels of Great Britain Ltd. and the Consort Hotel Group merged earlier this month to create the largest U.K. hotel company, with about 400 properties. The new company will be based in Clifton Moor, York, and renamed Best Western Great Britain. David Hayes, Consort's current chief executive, will lead the new management team. The global hotel association's efforts to be more consistent will reach a milestone next year when its satellite-based Lynx res system is installed at all 4,000 of its properties. Among other things, Lynx will be used to provide last room availability.
<a name="7"><B>Commission Cuts Reach Mexico</B>
Despite its ongoing lawsuit over the issue, the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies last week agreed to accept a proposed reduction in airline commissions from 10 to 7 percent after the carriers argued that their only alternative would be to increase fares between 25 and 30 percent. The agencies said such an increase would cut overall travel sales by 15 to 20 percent and hurt the industry as a whole.
<a name="8"><B>A New Vision At Rosenbluth </B>
The conversion of Rosenbluth International's customer software to the new browser-based @Rosenbluth product line is moving along. The company now is beta testing the booking module and a new version of Vision Direct is not far behind. The new Vision@Rosenbluth travel management reporting module is scheduled to begin a limited rollout among more than 50 users of Vision Direct by June, said spokesperson Jenifer Meyer.