e-Travel launches hotel, Web fare search tool

WALTHAM, Massachusetts -- e-Travel, the e-commerce unit of Amadeus, is launching its Aergo (US) 5.0, the latest release of its online travel booking tool for corporations and travel agencies. Marketed as having new and improved features to make booking business travel as easy as booking leisure travel, Aergo (US) 5.0 offers business travelers a new interface, a wide range of search options for finding hotels, and access to Web-only fares from both major and low-cost airlines.

"Aergo (US) 5.0 provides a new level of hotel functionality to the corporate travel industry," said Norm Rose, president of Travel Tech Consulting, Inc. and author of Corporate Travel: Technology Trends and Market Analysis. "To drive adoption, self-booking tools need to become easier to use and more intuitive, and e-Travel’s new release provides a rich platform to assist travelers with locating the precise hotels that meet their business objectives. Information can be sorted easily, giving travelers flexibility to manipulate content quickly and locate their preferred hotels, while enforcing corporate travel policy."

Aergo (US) 5.0’s innovative hotel functionality lets travelers easily transition from booking airline tickets to booking hotel rooms by automatically including the correct travel dates, city, state and country for each trip so they need only click the ‘search’ button to get started. Travelers will then be able to:

▪ See real-time availability and booking confirmations for more than 60,000 worldwide properties.

▪ Map hotels in relation to favorite venues using dynamic mapping capabilities, travelers can locate hotels by city center, airport, address, proximity to an office location or point of interest.

▪ View detailed property information, including rates and amenities, as well as detailed information on transportation and nearby attractions.

▪ Define personal search parameters to include favorite hotel chains, exclude certain properties, or limit searches to hotels with preferred amenities, room type or price.

▪ Easily repeat or modify a hotel search, original searches can be saved and modified, providing a quick and easy option for subsequent stays.

In addition to the features offered to travelers, corporate travel managers will benefit from enhanced filtering, and configurable search and display capabilities for maximum policy adherence. With the new administrative functionality included in Aergo (US) 5.0, travel managers can:

▪ Manage travel policy by enforcing policy compliance or requiring justification for policy deviations, such as not choosing the preferred, lowest or per diem rate.

▪ Support negotiated programs -- by designating preferred rate codes and rate types, driving bookings to select properties.

▪ Control access to hotel chains, by pre-selecting which hotels are displayed to travelers.

▪ Access or filter out special rates, including government, military or travel agency rates

▪ Custom-build a duplicate of each booking, also known as a "passive segment," to ensure traveler compliance with tracking and reporting systems.

▪ Know where travelers are by automatically retaining traveler itineraries for customer service and emergency contact purposes.

Aergo 5.0 also includes the addition of Web fares to provide travelers access to Web-only and low-cost carrier airfares not published in the GDS. Through an alliance with FareChase, announced earlier this year, travelers can search, view and compare the full range of Web and GDS fares from a single starting point. Using the FareChase Web automation software, travel managers can control traveler access to Web fares, as well as specify search filters to ensure user compliance with travel policy. The data captured from each transaction is then available for reporting purposes to accurately reflect achieved savings and to help travel managers analyze and refine future travel policies.

The company said e-Travel customers, such as Ericsson, Inc., have already realized the benefits of Aergo (US), and are expecting to further drive adoption and save on overall travel spend with Aergo (US) 5.0.

Lower processing costs

"Ericsson employees have been quick to adopt e-Travel’s products, which has helped us reduce our average ticket price by more than 20 percent and significantly lower our processing costs," said C. Meade Hubby, US travel manager for Ericsson. "We are excited about the additional features version 5.0 offers our travelers. It’s easy for them to use, and gives Ericsson a comprehensive pricing solution for managing the travel spend. With the new product in place, I am confident adoption will continue to increase, and costs will continue to fall."

e-Travel Aergo is a Web-based booking solution for the corporate travel market. It provides employees the ability to plan, book and purchase policy-compliant itineraries within company guidelines. e-Travel Aergo allows corporations to integrate all the elements of their travel programs, including travel policy, preferred suppliers, negotiated rates, in one easy-to-use self-service system for travel planning and purchasing. Customers using Aergo achieve some of the highest average utilization rates in the corporate online travel business, resulting in reduced travel costs. Available in both U.S. and Global versions.

e-Travel serves customers in 90 countries, including corporations such as Airbus, Daimler Chrysler, Ingersoll-Rand Company, Oracle Corporation and Philip Morris Companies, as well as travel suppliers such as Air France, Iberia and Qantas, and online agencies such as Opodo.

Parent company Amadeus Global Travel Distribution SA, headquartered in Madrid with major facilities in France and Germany, is a leading global distribution system (GDS) and technology provider serving the marketing, sales and distribution needs of the world’s travel and tourism industries.