Amadeus launches ground-breaking Hotel Store solution to expand hotel choices and deliver upfront payment of commissions to travel agencies

· Amadeus and launch partner Transhotel roll out Hotel Store solution across the Philippines, allowing travel agents to access the hotel consolidator’s content for 50,000+ properties via the Amadeus Selling Platform

· Travel agencies receive upfront payments for commissions, thus improving profitability

Makati, Philippines, 20 January 2010 – Amadeus, the leading global technology partner to the travel and tourism industry, today announced the Philippine launch of Amadeus Hotel Store, an industry-first solution that offers travel agencies access to hotel consolidator content and delivers upfront payments for both the hotel and the travel agent.

Transhotel, a global hotel consolidator with 15 years experience and more than 50,000 hotels in its portfolio, is Amadeus’ launch partner for this solution. Travel agencies across Asia Pacific will be able to book Transhotel properties via Hotel Store on the Amadeus Selling Platform as easily as any other content available on the Amadeus GDS. Hotel Store will deliver upfront payment of commissions to the travel agency for Transhotel’s bookings. This is a significant new development as clawing back commission has traditionally been a very time-consuming, burdensome process.

Albert Villadolid, general manager of Amadeus Philippines, said, “Amadeus Hotel Store presents new and exciting possibilities for our travel agency customers. They will now have access to hotels within the one- to three-star rating, directly from the Amadeus Selling Platform, giving the traveler more choices; while the credit card payment facility will greatly ease hotel booking transactions, and provide a means for commission collection. Through the Amadeus Hotel Store, travel agencies in the Philippines will finally reach a new level of advancement and sophistication in handling hotel bookings.”

Kartikeya Tripathi, Regional Director, Hotel Distribution, Travel Services Business Group, Amadeus Asia Pacific, comments, “Amadeus Hotel Store is a unique enhancement to our range of hotel IT solutions and is the result of close consultation with our Travel Management Company and Travel Agency partners on their distribution needs. Transhotel has a well-balanced portfolio of independent properties and hotels in all price ranges complementing the existing Amadeus hotel content for the Asia Pacific region. This will offer more hotel options for customers of travel agencies – be they leisure or business travellers. At the same time, the ability to receive upfront payments of hotel commissions provides an attractive incentive for agents to cross-sell and market hotel bookings.”

The Amadeus Hotel Store is displayed as a new tab on the Selling Platform and will be available for travel agencies at no additional cost. It shares the Passenger Name Record (PNR) and is fully integrated onto Amadeus’ GDS, providing a uniform flow of information to the travel agency’s mid- and back-office functionalities in the Amadeus Selling Platform. The solution also enables the traveler to view his or her complete itinerary on www.checkmytrip.com.

Amadeo Franquet, Chief Commercial Officer of Grupo Transhotel, commented, “The joint effort of two major players in the travel industry such as Amadeus and Transhotel will result in increased revenue for travel agents and improved service for their customers. We are thrilled with the launch of the Amadeus Hotel Store, making our unparalleled hotel offer available to an even greater number of travel agents.”

The Amadeus Hotel Store will be available to travel agencies running on version 3.1 of the Amadeus Selling Platform. More information about Amadeus Hotel Store can be found at www.amadeus.com/travelagencies/hotelstore and www.transhotel.com