GetThere Connect Delivers Additional Air, Hotel and Rail Content Options for Managed Travel Programs

SOUTHLAKE, Texas, May 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- GetThere (http://www.getthere.com), the world's leading travel and collaboration management solution, has launched GetThere Connect, providing corporate travelers the ability to shop and book additional hotel, rail and airline content within their corporate travel programs. 

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Applying policy and providing visibility into a larger percentage of their companies' travel purchases is a key objective of many corporate travel managers. The solution will connect corporations to leading regional suppliers around the globe, offering travelers more choices. This enables GetThere to supplement the broad based of travel content available through the Sabre travel marketplace and other GDSs to which GetThere connects, allowing travel buyers to easily shop and book travel from an even greater selection of travel suppliers worldwide.

"GetThere Connect allows our customers to access broader content and competitive rates on a regional basis" explains Paul Wiley, chief product and strategy officer at GetThere.  "Over time, travel managers will see reduced cost and less program leakage because it enables an even larger percentage of purchases to be made within the program, meaning greater policy compliance, increased usage of negotiated rates, and better visibility into total program spend."

Hotel Connect
Hotel Connect offers immediate access to tens of thousands of additional hotel properties and special rates from a variety of hotel content providers. GetThere and HRS recently announced an agreement to make HRS hotel content available to GetThere customers. Additional hotel content providers that are integrated with Hotel Connect include Premier Inn, Booking.com & Venere. GetThere plans to expand this content throughout the year as more sources are added.

Hotel Connect supports corporate discounts and different payment options, including guaranteed (payment made at the property), pre-paid and direct bill.  Across the industry, corporate travel programs generally have between 40-60 percent of hotel reservations made outside the program, representing a significant cost saving opportunity if these bookings can be brought into the corporate booking tool. 

Rail Connect
Through Rail Connect, GetThere will integrate with SilverRail to offer a greater selection of rail offerings and enhanced capabilities to shop for and book a variety of classes and fares on Amtrak, ViaRail and Deutsche Bahn. In addition, the shopping path will support all rail discount cards.  Travelers will be able to access their corporate negotiated rates and will have the ability to cancel bookings online. This adds to the variety of rail carriers GetThere currently offers, including Eurostar, SNCF and SNCB.

Air Connect
Air Connect provides access to more than 80 regional low-cost carriers leading to greater flexibility and choice when booking air travel. This also enables application of corporate travel policy for a greater percentage of air purchases, using the GetThere Policy Engine. Ancillaries such as priority boarding & checked baggage are also supported.

About GetThere
GetThere is the world's leading online business travel and collaboration solution, surpassing $9 billion in annual bookings. GetThere's proven technology and unparalleled global service infrastructure helps corporations collectively save millions in air, hotel, car, and rail costs.  GetThere provides a user-friendly online booking experience for travelers and travel arrangers at thousands of companies in more than 95 countries, including a majority of multi-national Fortune 200 firms that deploy online booking.  GetThere works with all major global distribution systems (GDS).  Companies using GetThere and the Sabre GDS together can optimize efficiency and cost savings even more effectively across the entire travel procurement process.  More information is available at http://www.getthere.com.

Contact:
Heidi Castle
214-681-8169
[email protected]

SOURCE GetThere