First Car Rental Selects Amadeus GDS

Online, February 22, 2011 (Newswire.com) - First Car Rental is now available to Travel Agents on Amadeus, a Global Distribution System. All other First Car Rental countries will soon be added to Amadeus as well, which will expose Travel Agents worldwide that are on Amadeus to First Car Rental.

Travel Agents will still have access to First Car Rental's Weblink, which is a First Car Rental online booking tool customised to agents' needs - providing direct availability and electronic documentation - the decision of which booking channel to utilise resides with the retail agent.

Melissa Storey, Executive Head: Strategy, Development & Marketing First Car Rental says, "We have signed a one year exclusivity deal with Amadeus. We are very excited at the prospect of dealing with some travel agents that we haven't been able to reach with our "commissionable direct online" approach, as well as the airline and hotel cross-selling opportunities that this partnership will present in future."

Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry. Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, car rental, ferries, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and individual travellers).

The Amadeus car booking tool uses cutting-edge technology to power its various multi-channel B2B and B2C booking interfaces used by traditional travel agents, online travel agents and airlines. Those customers using any one of the various multi language Amadeus applications will now be able to book First Car Rental.

Destinations of the World, with 21 offices in 16 countries and working with over 150,000 Travel Agents, recently reached an agreement with Amadeus to access Amadeus Cars content for its Travel Agent booking system.

Apart from First Car Rental, Amadeus has recently added a further 5 car rental providers to its available content, bringing this to a total of 30 car rental suppliers with over 36,000 locations worldwide.

"We are very pleased to be the first travel distribution system to bring on board a key car rental provider such as First Car Rental because it expands the range of products that are available to both our corporate and leisure travel agents," commented Peter Long, General Manager, Amadeus Southern Africa.