Leading car rental and travel services provider Travel Extras has announced that it now receives over 62% of its reservations across its website, powered by leading tour operator systems supplier TravelOptions
.

 

During the first four months of 2002 some 62.3% of the operator`s bookings came through its combined trade/consumer website, compared to 50.1% during the same period last year.

Powered by TravelOptions - one of the UK`s fastest-growing tour operator systems providers - the site (www.travelextras.com
) offers real-time bookings on car rental in over 5000 destinations worldwide, together with a host of other products including accommodation, insurance and car parking.

Reservations are passed seamlessly into Travel Extras` back-office system, also provided by TravelOptions, resulting in a dramatic improvement in booking and administration times.

TravelOptions` low-cost web bookings solution delivers full e-commerce functionality from just £15,000.  The breakthrough product offers tour operators a complete web bookings package for a single payment and a negotiable fee per booking rather than a hefty annual licence. Its cost-effectiveness means tour operators with tighter margins than their larger rivals can compete on a level playing field.

Commented TravelOptions` marketing director Tim Argent: “The success of Travel Extras` website confirms TravelOptions` position as the most-affordable and productive route to the web for travel providers. Not only can the solution handle a large volume of bookings, it also means providers can offer an unrivalled range of products to the trade and consumers alike.”

The fully-customisable solution allows operators to turn a website into a fully bookable travel store with real time transfer of reservations into their TravelOptions back-office system. Its flexibility makes possible both direct and commissionable agency bookings, which means tour operators selling through the trade can future-proof themselves if the industry migrates from viewdata to the web.

Other companies web-enabled by TravelOptions include Shortbreaks, SkiWorld, Cottages to Castles, Teletickets and the Independent Holiday Company.

Related stories on ITN:

(08/03/2002) Dedicated Holidays Adopts TravelOptions System.

(06/09/2002)  
TravelOptions Launches Web Bookings For £15,000

——-