Pegasus Solutions, Inc. today announced it has signed an agreement with Chicago-based Orbitz, the travel Web site founded by American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United Airlines.
Pegasus will be the online hotel reservation system for Orbitz, www.orbitz.com, providing travelers with the ability to make hotel bookings at more than 38,000 hotels in more than 200 countries. Orbitz also has signed an agreement with Pegasus Commission Processing, which provides fully automated solutions for managing Orbitz` hotel commission revenues. Pegasus Solutions is a leading provider of hotel industry transaction processing solutions and electronic commerce services.
Scheduled to launch in June 2001, Orbitz claims it will be the first site to offer consumers an advanced-technology search engine and a truly unbiased and comprehensive listing of airfares and schedules. On Orbitz, consumers will be able to purchase tickets on more than 450 airlines, plus find deals on car rentals, lodging, cruises, and vacation packages. Orbitz is the first site with one-stop shopping for low-priced, Web-only fares on nearly 30 airlines.
According to Steve Hafner, vice president of Business Development for Orbitz, selecting the best technology providers in each specialized travel niche is critical to Orbitz`s success. ``We plan to provide consumers the ultimate online venue for easily accessing great travel opportunities and hotels are an integral part in providing Orbitz users with a comprehensive offering. By utilizing Pegasus` services, we will achieve aggregated supplier connectivity, control of hotel content to differentiate our service offering, and ensure from day one that we are effectively collecting and managing our hotel commission revenue.``
Pegasus` services will enable Orbitz customers to view detailed property information, rates and photos, and secure instant real-time reservations 24 hours a day at hotels worldwide. More than 40% of the hotels in Pegasus` Online Distribution Database are located outside the United States.
``We are pleased that Orbitz decided to use Pegasus as its hotel content and reservations supplier instead of a GDS-based solution,`` said John F. Davis III, president and chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. ``We are committed to providing economical distribution for travel suppliers, while affording optimum content control. These factors are especially important for start-ups, such as Orbitz, to more effectively maintain costs while differentiating themselves from the pack.``
Today, Pegasus processes in excess of $42 million in hotel commissions per month from more than 100 hotel companies in 159 countries. Twenty-three of the top 25 hotel brands worldwide participate in the Pegasus Commission Processing service, the hotel industry`s leading travel agent commission processing service(1).
Through its customers` affiliates, thousands of Web sites are Powered by Pegasus(TM). A sampling of online travel agency sites Pegasus ``powers`` includes TravelWeb.com, TravelHero.com, Hotwire.com, Asiatravelmart.com and Continental.com. According to industry analyst Forrester Research, online hotel sales are expected to grow to $5.7 billion in 2004.
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