TTG And Worldspan Release Booking Software Upgrades

<B> TTG And Worldspan Release Booking Software Upgrades</B>

By Mary Ann McNulty

Reflecting the growing importance of global and analytical capabilities, Worldspan and Travel Technologies Group this month are releasing new versions of their corporate self-booking tools.

In separate announcements, the companies detailed the latest enhancements to TTG's ResAssist and Worldspan Trip Manager. TripManager is a customized, private-label version of ResAssist.

ResAssist 2.1 allows travel administrators to view usage patterns and statistics of subsidiaries and divisions using a new Web-accessible reporting product. To accommodate this request from a growing number of conglomerates that have consolidated their travel, TTG had to restructure its databases to be able to capture data and report it any way a client wants, said Jon Farrier, president of TTG, the technology unit of WorldTravel Partners, in Dallas.

For international travelers, the new version stores multiple passports, international telephone formats and currency of choice--problems travel buyers identified in the past. International issues have become more pronounced, Farrier said, as several companies begin pilot testing the product in Europe and TTG intensifies its sales efforts there and in Asia.

"All these changes are compliant with our view to globalize this genre of product," Farrier said. The company also is working on versions of the software that could access System One Amadeus and Galileo, and is talking to Abacus in Asia, he added.

Expanding the software's ability to handle corporate negotiated air contracts, the latest version processes split tickets, multiple discount levels and flat fares according to contract specifications. The software allows users to book policy-compliant flights, hotels and cars in Apollo, Sabre or Worldspan. The new version of TripManager also focuses on global travel reservations, allowing travelers to book any destination worldwide.

Worldspan also has integrated its SecuRate Air negotiated fare system into TripManager to help speed up the set-up and pricing of individually negotiated corporate fares. Both products now offer travel administrators an easier way of making mass changes to traveler profiles.