Orbitz For Business Gains TractionFifty companies ranging in size from about $500,000 to $5 million in U.S. booked air volume now have implemented Orbitz For Business
(BTN, July 29), and another 100 companies have enrolled, said Dave Cerino, Orbitz general manager of corporate travel. "We're also speaking actively to numerous Fortune 500 companies." After offering a new travel arranger function, Orbitz last week told BTN the company's second phase of development for the corporate offering, now underway, by year-end will allow for the use of Universal Air Travel Plan payment options. Another feature on the way is support for reason codes, meaning travelers not choosing the lowest fares can be required by buyers to check client-defined boxes indicating why. Finally, the site recently turned on seat maps. Though Orbitz continues to close the feature gap between its offering and more established corporate self-booking tools, Cerino said, "There will probably be things we'll never do," such as biasing displays by price. "But we've leaped the competition in terms of our ability to offer a low-cost solution, and we're way ahead in customer care." As for something on the drawing board that almost no booking sites now have, he said, "We're still looking at automated reissues."
Expedia Sets Corp. Launch, Resolves DisputeExpedia last week said it will launch Expedia Corporate Travel midway through next month. The agency also said a dispute that removed Northwest Airlines' fares from Expedia was resolved. Meanwhile, Expedia will acquire "substantially all of the assets" of Newtrade Technologies Inc., provider of software and services that enable connectivity between hotel res systems and electronic distribution channels. The Newtrade technology in early 2003 will leave behind what now are primarily fax- and phone-based processes, Expedia said.
Amadeus' E-Travel Charting Global StrategyAmadeus' E-Travel subsidiary next year will create a single platform to handle global online booking accounts, combining services currently available from the software formerly known as E-Traveler and Corporate Traveller. "We've been making them a more similar experience," said Matt Hausmann, E-Travel vice president of marketing and business development. "As we've been developing, we've added functions with the combined offering. We're laying out the timeline for the single platform." Meanwhile, E-Travel will not use Pegasus Solutions as its source for hotel inventory in December when it releases version 5.0 of the U.S.-based Aergo product, formerly E-Traveler. "That decision was made by E-Travel, not Amadeus," Hausmann said. "Because of a lot of work Amadeus had done on the hotel part of the GDS, they were able to cover pretty much what Pegasus had done. So, it made more sense for us strategically to go with Amadeus. It wasn't a reflection of anything Pegasus was or wasn't doing."
Galileo's Highwire Sees Euro ExpansionCelebrating the signing of new corporate client Wells Fargo, Highwire CEO Marka Jenkins this month said the corporate self-booking subsidiary of Galileo International is expanding to Europe. It will launch with one agency and one corporate client "in late fourth quarter or early first quarter in the U.K. We're working actively on our globalization plan."
Amex, Galileo To Deliver For Trondent American Express and Galileo separately are employing technology from Trondent Development Corp. for delivering itinerary information to travelers' electronic calendar applications or Web-enabled wireless devices. Galileo will integrate Trondent's Infuzer functionality
(BTN, Sept. 23) into its ViewTrip.com itinerary service; Amex will offer the service through its own portals. Amex already uses Trondent's AirWEB Web-based traveler itinerary solution.