Amadeus and BookingBuilder partner to deliver relevant Web content to the travel agency desktop
Amadeus travel agents in the North America will get the best of the Web with preferred access to the BookingBuilder™ Desktop solution
MIAMI, FL, July 20, 2007 -- As a result of a new agreement announced today between Amadeus and BookingBuilder Technologies, Amadeus travel agencies in North America will have even more relevant Web content at their fingertips. Beginning in August, Amadeus agencies in the U.S. and Canada will have preferred pricing for the advanced BookingBuilder™ Desktop, providing shopping and booking capabilities for travel products from travel supplier Web sites.
"Amadeus has always been committed to delivering the critical travel content that our agency customers must have, especially as the needs of their clients continues to evolve," said Bob Lowry, Senior Vice President of Products and Support for Amadeus North America. “The supplier Web content provided by BookingBuilder will be an ideal complement to the broad and diverse array of travel content which has always been available to our customers through the Amadeus system.”
"We are pleased to be working with Amadeus to bring their agencies instant, integrated access to content from a growing number of supplier Web sites," said Seth Perelman, Chief Executive Officer of BookingBuilder Technologies. "BookingBuilder offers a secure interface to the sites of low-cost airlines around the world as well as other relevant non-GDS content."
Amadeus travel agencies can sign up and download the BookingBuilder Desktop software in less than three minutes and learn to use it in one brief online training session. Via the Amadeus system, agents will be able to automatically “launch” an online booking session with several of today’s most popular travel supplier websites available via the BookingBuilder Desktop. Agents are prompted to check applicable travel supplier rates and availability right from their Amadeus booking platforms. Subsequent information is displayed from the travel suppliers’ Web site, which is pre-populated with data from the customer’s profile.
Once the agent completes the online booking process, BookingBuilder Desktop captures all of the transaction information and builds a fully-documented passive Passenger Name Record (PNR) in
Amadeus, facilitating improved customer service and greater efficiency through use of established invoicing and back office accounting processes.
Under the new agreement, the BookingBuilder Desktop will be available to Amadeus U.S. and Canadian agencies for a small transaction fee, with no monthly fees or usage commitments. Existing customers will have the option to stay with their current pricing or switch to the new model. Further, to introduce the new agreement, Amadeus and BookingBuilder will extend additional special pricing to Amadeus agencies for a 6-month period (August 2007 – February 2008).
For more information, Amadeus agencies should contact their Amadeus Account Representative or 1-888-AMADEUS, salesinquiries@amadeus.com.
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About Amadeus
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast-changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travelers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.
Amadeus has central sites in Madrid(corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing center) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 75 countries covering more than 215 markets. The company has nearly 6,700 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. Amadeus’ revenue for the year ended 31 December was €2,418.7m. More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com.
About BookingBuilder Technologies
LaunchMagic.com, Inc., dba BookingBuilder Technologies, offers a unique level of expertise and experience in developing applications that interact with global distribution systems (GDS) and other distribution channels. Our value comes from our ability to identify needs and create seamless, user- friendly solutions. Since the late 1980s our people have been developing industry-leading applications. Our current focus is on creating applications that assist travel professionals at the point-of-sale. BookingBuilder Desktop makes it very easy to book the content not found in GDSs, and BookingBuilder Genie is a revolutionary point-of-sale quality assurance tool.
