Salt Lake City - Orbitz will charge corporate users between $15 and $20 per transaction for bookings that require telephone support and $5 for those that do not as part of its Travel Builder product unveiled yesterday at the National Business Travel Association convention here.
Orbitz will charge a setup fee to load negotiated rates and become the designated travel agency as part of Travel Builder, which will be available in late August. Available now is Trip Tracker, which offers corporate buyers free booking reports, tracked by travelers' e-mail addresses, on transactions that cost $5.
For users of Travel Builder, Orbitz said transaction fees would average $10, assuming 50 percent call center usage. According to Orbitz general manager of corporate travel David Cerino, a former Amadeus manager, Travel Builder will not bias displays per se, but will indicate "preferred" status on those vendors that should be so described. He added that policy enforcement tools are not out of the question.