Travelocity’s Supplier-Friendly Approach Pays off for Travelocity and Its Customers
SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 16, 2004– Travelocity announced today that it was notified by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) that it has been certified as an online third party intermediary for IHG’s more than 3,500 hotels worldwide, including InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.
“IHG hotels include some of the world’s most recognized and respected brands, so we’re pleased to deepen our relationship with IHG,” said Ross Mantione, vice president partner marketing for Travelocity. “The benefits of this relationship, including getting the best rates publicly available for our customers, will be particularly helpful as we grow Travelocity Business and roll out our hotel program to sites in Europe and Asia Pacific during the next several months.”
Travelocity can now offer the best room rates publicly available at IHG’s hotels, plus it will have access to bundled rates for its TotalTrip dynamic packaging product and distressed rates for its Last Minute Deals product. Travelocity, which has always held that working closely with suppliers and looking out for mutual customers is essential to its business, was certified in recognition by IHG that Travelocity meets its distribution standards. IHG has stated that its hotels will only work with intermediaries that meet its standards for consumer practices and hotel relations.
“We’ve long had a collaborative approach to working with hotels: we keep our mutual customers in mind throughout the process, we provide industry-leading two-way seamless connectivity that ensures fewer customer service problems, we provide automated hotel payments and we give hoteliers choices when it comes to inventory and rate management,” said Josh Feuerstein, vice president, hotels for Travelocity. “Two years ago, we took a major risk, believing that a different business model, where we work together with suppliers to benefit consumers was the model of the future. Clearly, hoteliers are recognizing that our business model is superior, as our supplier-friendly philosophy continues to pay off for Travelocity and our customers. It made it easy for us to meet IHG’s standards.”
About Travelocity
Travelocity’s industry-leading technology and straight-talking, honest information help travelers take more rewarding and affordable trips. With 44 million registered users and booking nearly $4 billion of travel in 2003, Travelocity(R) negotiates thousands of low-priced deals with the world’s most reputable travel providers — top airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, and other destination attractions and services. Additionally, Travelocity offers deeply-discounted rates for weekend getaways and dynamic packages through its Last Minute Deals and TotalTrip(SM) shopping engines, and provides customer service support over the phone 24 hours a day. Based in Southlake, Texas, Travelocity powers international travel Web sites in eight languages, and has been recognized for its consumer advocacy and global leadership in online travel. More information about Travelocity is available at www.travelocity.com. Travelocity is owned by Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG), a world leader in travel commerce. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at www.sabre-holdings.com.
About Travelocity Business
Travelocity Business is a full-service corporate travel agency that helps companies easily manage travel and reduce costs, while providing more choices to travelers. Travelocity Business combines the savings and convenience of online with the full service of dedicated agents available 24/7 who typically answer the phone in 20 seconds, and within 60 seconds guaranteed. Companies can cut travel costs through flight deals, Web fares, hotel discounts and service fee savings — representing an average savings of more than $100 per trip, including airfare savings averaging 26 percent per ticket and service fee savings of up to 82 percent. Travelocity Business combines the expertise, service and travel choices of Travelocity with corporate experience gained from serving more than half of the Fortune 200. For more information, companies can visit www.travelocitybusiness.com.
Cautionary Notice
Statements in this report and in the exhibits hereto which are not purely historical facts, including statements about the expected benefits of this development, Travelocity’s merchant hotel business model, or other statements about anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future, may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Sabre Holdings Corporation on the date this report was submitted. Sabre Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks or uncertainties related to increased competition from merchant model hotel offerings by Travelocity’s competitors. Sabre Holdings Corporation may not succeed in addressing these and other risks. Further information regarding factors that could affect our financial and other results can be found in the risk factors section of Sabre Holdings Corporation’s most recent filing on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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SOURCE: Travelocity
