WizCom International today announced a nearly 30% increase in transaction volume for the third quarter of 2004 compared to 2003.The increase is directly related to hotel clients’ widespread adoption of WizCom’s enhanced ‘next generation seamless’ connectivity to all global distribution systems (GDSs), the introduction of its central reservation system (CRS) buffering solution, Hotel Cache, and its secure and reliable switch service.

“We are delighted that our continuous investment in WizCom’s Switch technology is resulting in significantly more reservation requests and bookings for our customers, while at the same time shielding their CRS from the negative effects of increased shopping requests,”Êstated George Roukas, vice president of product development, strategy and operations for WizCom and TRUST International, Cendant Travel Distribution Services Division. Ê“We will continue to make the necessary investments to maintain our market-leading position and drive even more bookings to our clients.”

With the WizCom Switch, a company is able to connect its CRS to all major GDSs without the issues and costs associated with direct interfaces to each GDS separately. This provides both hotel and car rental companies with maximum market penetration and global distribution, supplying seamless connectivity to thousands of travel agents worldwide. At the same time, WizCom’s ‘next generation seamless’ technology assists travel agents by allowing them to book the same inventory and rates that are seen by a company’s own in-house reservations staff.Ê

According to Roukas, “Travel agents and end-consumers are increasingly processing availability requests through WizCom in order to seamlessly gain access to the information available through all GDSs. The quick and accurate access to rates from companies direct from their CRS provides ease-of-use to their customers, and has been a major factor in increased bookings coming from the WizCom Switch.”
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