One of the world’s premier car rental companies, Europcar, has teamed up with leading global distribution system (GDS) provider, Travelport, to introduce paperless car hire bookings on the Galileo system.Galileo’s e-Voucher programme, which is available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, was developed to make car hire bookings and confirmation easier for travel agents and more user-friendly for the end traveller. In essence, it makes the electronic, ticketless confirmation of car hire booking similar to issuing airline e-tickets and removes the need for customers to produce any proof of deposit or payment when picking up their rental vehicle. Travel agents also save time on tasks such as handwriting car rental vouchers and faxing payment details to car rental stations.

The e-Voucher system offers three possible types of payment for car rental:

á      “Full Credit” when the entire cost of rental, including special equipment, upgrades and extra days is paid;

á      “Group/Day” when the cost of rental for a certain number of days is made;

á      “Specific Value” when there is a voucher for a fixed amount towards the cost of rental.

 

Proving particularly popular with business travellers, Galileo estimates that up to 90% of Galileo-connected business travel agencies are already using the e-Voucher system. This recent agreement with Europcar means that the ‘big four’ global car hire firms - Avis, Hertz, Sixt and Europcar all now participate in the programme, accounting for nearly 70% of all car hire bookings made on the Galileo GDS.

 

Travelport GDS’s senior director for hospitality and car rental, Jane Lewis, commented: “There is growing demand for ticketless travel from travellers and our e-Voucher programme for car hire booking really builds on the widely-recognised success of airline e-tickets. Travel agents also prefer the e-ticketing approach as it enables them to save valuable time on administrative tasks and to be more focussed on serving their customers.”

 

AnnMari Dalon, International Reservation GDS and Data Director, Europcar Group, commented: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with Travelport to make e-Vouchers available on our bookings - Travelport GDS offers a very important and extensive distribution channel for our business and the e-Voucher system is particularly user-friendly for both travel agents and travellers alike.”
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