Booking on Amadeus is 10% faster according to study

Frankfurt - In the spirit of true IT partnership with the global travel agency community, Amadeus has invested in the commissioning of independent studies across the globe to analyse the cost drivers that govern travel agency's day-to-day operational business processes. This is a first in the industry.

With the spotlight on Germany, a study carried out at the beginning of this year by Dr. Fried & Partner found that:

Making car bookings using Amadeus is on average 63% quicker than using the internet and on average over 70% quicker than using the telephone.
Making hotel bookings using Amadeus is on average nearly 30% faster than making the booking via the internet and is on average over 60% faster than using the telephone.
Booking air on Amadeus is 7-10% quicker than performing the same booking on our competitors' systems.

When looking at productivity optimisation, making an air booking using Amadeus' selling platform, Vista, saves an agency up to 20% of his time, over the whole booking process. The resulting increase in net revenue per booking is 9%- 20% depending on the agency, business or leisure, with the potential for optimisation being slightly higher for a business agency.

"Amadeus is helping German travel agencies to move up the value chain by facilitating the reallocation of 20% of time spent on tactical booking centric activities to traveller-centric consultancy activities," commented Holger Taubmann, General Manager, Amadeus Germany.

More time spent on traveller-centric consultancy could include:

More time to strategically plan how to proactively market more relevant content to travelers
More time to understand the requirements of the travelers to provide the most customized approach
More consultancy so that travelers are more agency loyal and are less likely to switch
More training and monitoring to ensure that all travel consultants at the agency are servicing customers in a way that will stimulate loyalty
More time to devise a customer service programme that will allow for differentiation from the competition

Dr. Heller from Dr. Fried & Partner added, "While the Amadeus IT offer for agencies is broad, one-on-one interviews during this study reveal that agencies are only capitalising on a small part of this offer. With competition increasing and commissions falling, the need to achieve cost and time savings in booking processes will be heightened."

Reflecting Amadeus' unique global footprint, similar studies have been commissioned in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Czech and Slovak Republics, UK and the US with plans to extend the study to Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Scandinavia.

Key findings from these diverse reports, together with key customer requirements are fuelling our product development efforts to ensure that the Amadeus selling platform remains the first port of call of the travel consultant of the future.

For a more detailed information on the findings from this study go to: Show me the Value

Notes to the editors:
Amadeus is a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry.

Amadeus provides a Customer Management System portfolio to the airline industry: Altéa Sell (distribution), Altéa Plan (inventory management system) and Altéa Fly (departure control system). British Airways, Qantas and Finnair are the first customers to implement this full suite of Customer Management Systems.

e-Travel, Amadeus' e-commerce business unit, is the global leader in online travel technology and corporate travel management solutions.

More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com

Contact details:

Corporate & Marketing Communication
Amadeus
Tel : +34 91 582 0160
Fax : +34 91 582 0188
E-mail : externalcommunication@amadeus.net