<B> Tech Talk</B>
By Mary Ann McNulty, Technology Editor
<B>GDSs Track Tix, Fees</B>
Those annoying tasks of tracking unused electronic tickets and fees are getting a little easier with new solutions from Sabre, Amadeus and Worldspan. Sabre last month released a free feature that tracks and reports unused e-tickets in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Meanwhile, both Amadeus and Worldspan released new services that allow their agencies to add service fees to the daily business transactions they report to the Airlines Reporting Corp. Since ARC announced the automated agency service fee program, all four GDSs have released products that allow subscribers to take advantage of it. To make it easier to manage preferences, Worldspan also released an intuitive version of its client profile application that automatically transfers to a reservation billing, frequent flyer and seating information.
<a name="2"><B>Galileo Invests In Stamps.com</B>
Galileo International is one of eight investors participating in Stamps.com, an Internet postage service expected to launch this summer. Designed to compete with postage meters, the service will allow anyone with Internet access and a printer to print their own postage. Besides the obvious benefit of streamlining postage for its customers, Galileo is "exploring the possibility of leveraging Stamps.com's Internet technologies for secure, online delivery for travel-related documents," said Dave Near, Galileo's senior vice president of subscriber marketing.
<a name="3"><B>OAG Drives To Mobile Travelers</B>
OAG Worldwide is offering three new ways mobile professionals can access its airline schedule displays and hotel and car data. Developed with Lotus Development Corp., the Organized Traveler integrates OAG's flight schedules with the calendar in Lotus Organizer to allow travelers to better coordinate their business. Travelers select their flight, hotel and car options, then e-mail or fax them to their agencies for booking. The software then transfers the data to the traveler's calendar. On the road, travelers using Palm Pilots can access OAG's database of 600,000 flights and e-mail the agency using the wireless modem in the new Palm units. Companies also can access the information by using the IBM-owned computing platform Lotus Notes/Domino. OAG estimates users will save 30 percent of travel costs by selecting preferred vendors and through employee productivity.
<a name="4"><B>40 Companies Join E-Benchmarking</B>
TravelManagement.com's online travel benchmarking effort began last month with 40 companies participating in the pilot. During the six-month pilot, the travel departments will benchmark their expenses and practices in the Web database, developed in partnership with Creative Computer Resources of Columbus, Ohio. Subscriptions to the database for contributors, travel departments that add their data to the mix, is $495 a year; non-contributors, including suppliers, will pay $795 a year.
<a name="5"><B>ITN Hires Kerr As Sales VP</B>
Internet Travel Network hired Richard Kerr as its new vice president of sales, filling a vacancy left when Jeanette Slepian departed (BTN, Jan. 25). Kerr has 25 years of travel sales experience, most recently as vice president and general manager of Litton Enterprise Solutions Travel & Hospitality Group. He will oversee development of ITN's worldwide sales program, as well as day-to-day sales.