SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jan. 11, 2005–Showing a
continued shift by many corporations to a new breed of corporate
travel agency, Travelocity Business(SM) today announces it is
providing all travel management services and traveler support for
Aetna’s employee travel. With more than 5,000 travelers and
approximately $40 million spent annually in travel, Aetna’s is one of
the largest travel programs to date to exclusively use a full-service,
online travel agency. This move offers an example of how a
leading-edge company can transform its travel to maintain high levels
of service, while driving down costs.
“Aetna is excited to be partnering with a leader in the travel
services market,” said Coreen Marcroft, director of Aetna Travel
Services. “Travelocity Business’ experience in corporate travel and
commitment to creating a better travel experience makes it an ideal
partner to help us transform our corporate travel program. Aetna
selected Travelocity Business based on its commitment to best-in-class
customer service and its focus on delivering full service and
significant savings.”
In addition to providing its powerful online technology,
Travelocity Business is offering Aetna a complete range of standard
and VIP services to help manage travel and support travelers around
the clock. It is also providing a wide array of exclusive Travelocity
Business deals that complement Aetna’s own negotiated discounts for
flights, car rentals and hotels.
“In business, there are a few leaders that show the rest of the
world how to be more productive at a lower cost,” said Scott Hyden,
general manager of Travelocity Business. “We are thrilled to be
working with an innovator like Aetna that shares our philosophy of
focusing on how we can break convention to deliver greater value to
customers. We believe this relationship offers significant evidence
that many corporations are moving to a new way of managing travel –
one that leverages technology to lower costs, while offering the best
possible travel experience.”
As one of the nation’s leading providers of health care, dental,
pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna
puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately
13.6 million medical members, 11.6 million dental members, 8.3 million
pharmacy members and 13.3 million group insurance members to help them
make better informed decisions about their health care and protect
their finances against health-related risks. Aetna provides easy
access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of
more than 646,000 health care professionals, including over 385,000
primary care and specialist doctors and 3,908 hospitals. For more
information, please visit www.aetna.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 (see site for guarantee details.)
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 84 percent (see
site for savings details.)
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 Statement
Statements in this release which are not purely historical facts,
including statements about the expected increased use of full service
online travel agencies by corporations 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 of this press
release. 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 competition from established and emerging
travel distribution channels and structural changes within the travel
industry, such as competition from alternative travel distributors
such as online vertical search engines. 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.
CONTACT: VOLLMER
Mary Kate Smither, 972-488-4790
marykate@vollmerpr.com
or
Lisa Pollack, 972-488-4790
lisa@vollmerpr.com
SOURCE: Travelocity Business