GetThere has announced the addition of several employees to help support its growing European business.New team members are on the ground in Italy, France, and the United Kingdom, serving existing clients and actively engaging corporations considering best-in-class travel solutions.

GetThere facilitated the booking of $9.4 billion (USD) in online travel in 2007, and more than 3,000 companies in 40 countries worldwide use GetThere today.  Bookings via corporate agency resellers in the UK jumped 30 percent last year, evidence of GetThere’s strong presence in the UK online travel marketplace.

 

Annette Forbes-Marsden, with 21 years in travel (including seven with GetThere), oversees GetThere’s sales and marketing efforts across Europe from London.  Annette recently hired Guy Snelgar to specifically focus on UK sales.  Mr. Snelgar brings a wealth of relevant experience, recently serving as online business development manager for Portman Travel, and from sales and service positions with Galileo UK.

 

Another significant addition is Dario Bongiovanni, GetThere’s business development manager for Italy.  Mr. Bongiovanni, a Sabre veteran, is now focused on growing the nascent Italian online travel arena from his base in Milan.  GetThere will also add a dedicated sales position for France later this quarter.

 

GetThere’s industry-leading service team, which supports a host of multi-national corporates and UK-based clients, also benefits from an infusion of talent in 2008.  Marc Lozier, who served as GetThere’s customer success manager (CSM) for several prominent companies in the southeastern U.S., moved to London and now oversees account services and customer success in Europe.  Mr. Lozier’s team of CSMs plays a unique role, working directly with travel managers and their corporate agencies to facilitate adoption growth, implement best practices, and manage programme expansions into countries across Europe, APAC and the Americas.

 

Isabelle Fleschen drives GetThere’s continuing growth with large global travel agencies from her base in Paris.  Ms. Fleschen is in her second year as global partner account manager for EMEA.  Two new partner success managers, Steve Gostling in the UK and Sandro Pezzino in Italy, work closely with agency resellers to coordinate seamless corporate rollouts and educate key personnel on GetThere features and enhancements.

 

Product marketing managers Antoine Katz (France) and Thorsten Zimmerman (Germany) lead GetThere’s product development in EMEA.  Building off the successful European rollout of GetThere’s new user interface in 2007, these men focus on helping corporates maximise use of recently introduced features such as GetThere Green and dynamic messaging.  Mr. Katz and Mr. Zimmerman also work on enhancements that promise to aid corporates seeking to add automation to their rail and meetings programmes in 2008.

“With this group of top-notch personnel serving as our foundation, we’re confident that 2008 will be a landmark year for GetThere in Europe,” said Forbes-Marsden.  “Corporates and our agency reselling agencies share our belief that online corporate programs are truly gaining momentum across Europe this year.  Our unique combination of unmatched resources and an unparalleled global client base puts us in good position to serve corporates across EMEA as they grasp the cost and efficiency benefits online travel can offer.”
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