Business travellers can now book Hertz and Sixt on Amadeus e-Travel Management via direct links

Madrid, Spain, 16 October, 2006: Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, today announced that it has developed "Amadeus e-Direct Connect for Cars" that gives corporate travellers the option to book Hertz and Sixt via a direct link from Amadeus e-Travel Management with the desired car rental company. Using Amadeus technology, car rental direct links are fully integrated with travel management companies’ computer systems.

"Through direct connectivity with our inventory of rates, Hertz seeks to satisfy the needs of the corporate customer wanting to book directly with us, whilst ensuring Travel Management Companies retain full visibility on bookings made by their customers through the direct link," states Bill Jones, Division Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Hertz Europe.

Corporations signing up to "Amadeus e-Direct Connect for cars" will benefit from the following features:

• Retained access to the full range of content and pricing
• Integrated shopping basket experience including direct car reservations along with flight, hotel and rail services
• Seamless connectivity to the inventory and rates of the content provider of their choice
• Access to airport and non-airport car office locations
• Direct invoicing via unique billing reference number

Travel Management Companies will be able to offer all these features to their corporate customers and will be able to view and service the bookings made by their customers via the direct link.

"For Sixt it is very important to offer our customers the maximum number of booking channels so that they may use the most convenient option at the time of booking. Of course, all booking channels have direct access to our systems and allow real time bookings including the availability check. Especially for our corporate customers it is important to have an easy and cost-efficient way to book there rentals cars with Sixt," states Hans-Norbert Topp, Management Board, Sixt AG.

Apart from driving down travel costs and making the booking process simpler and more convenient for business travellers, Amadeus e-Travel Management also offers corporations:

• Flexibility to access content from the distribution system of the corporation’s choosing.
• Direct links to more than 70 low cost carriers web sites, seamlessly integrating the search, selection and booking
• Direct access to local rail content, including SNCF, Eurostar, Thalys, Deutsche Bahn and Swedish Rail.
• Travellers can make side-by-side comparisons between web, scheduled air fares and rail travel options and book based on whether price, flexibility or schedule are key.
• Thanks to an integrated reporting tool, all booking data is available to travel managers for analysis, reporting of travel spend and travel policy compliance and employee tracking.

"The direct link solution to Amadeus e-Travel Management will enable us to offer another booking channel option to our business travellers; they can now make the choice to book through the direct link, or by alternative methods. The booking is seamlessly integrated with the TMC’s back office, and they have all the benefits that go with having a direct link to the car rental company," explains Jérôme Destors, Commercial Director, Amadeus e-Travel.

About Sixt
One of the first rent-a-car companies to founded in Germany in 1912 by Martin Sixt. Today Sixt is successfully expanding all over Europe and worldwide. Sixt is currently represented in over 75 countries and 3500 service outlets globally. Further information is available at www.e-sixt.com.

About Hertz
Hertz, the world’s largest general use car rental brand, operates from approximately 7,600 locations and is represented in the United States and more than 150 foreign countries. Further information is available at www.hertz.com.

About Amadeus
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consultancy.

Solutions for Corporations
In e-commerce, Amadeus is the global leader in online travel technology and corporate travel management solutions. It services travel agencies in 90 countries, and powers the websites of over 1,000 corporations and more than 70 airlines and hotels. Amadeus e-Travel Management is an online travel booking solution to help corporations manage their travel policy more efficiently. Both Amadeus and its partners enable corporations to integrate all the elements of their global travel programmes, into one easy-to-use and easy-to-administrate solution. Customers include Altria, Cemex, Daimler Chrysler, Ericsson, Nestlé, Total, Thales, Huntsman and Siemens.

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