11 November 2008

Car Trawler to embrace trade

White label car rental distribution technology company Car Trawler is to launch a travel agent specific product early next year.

The service, as yet unnamed, will sit on the desktop next to an agentÃ¢â¬â¢s GDS, providing an easier point of access for agents who would previously have had to go online to get the technology.

Car Trawler, whose CEO Gregory Turley has scooped numerous awards for his innovative technology, powers the car rental search on more than 100 international airline websites.

ItÃ¢â¬â¢s USP is its ability to use the information that a customer has inputted to buy a flight to offer matched car hire without asking the customer to input the information again.

A business class passenger will automatically be offered a larger car for the dates he has requested for a flight, for example, whilst a family will be offered a car more suited to luggage and children.

The technology also means that airlines retain the customer on their own site rather than losing them to a car rental companyÃ¢â¬â¢s site.

Speaking at World Travel Market, Turley said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœUp to now we have not focused on travel agents and itÃ¢â¬â¢s a huge market so this is addressing that issue. ItÃ¢â¬â¢s a big deal for agents to be able to access more easily the car rental product of 450 car rental companies,Ã¢â¬~

The company will also offer a North American-specific engine for agents booking in that marketplace, which offers stripped-back car rental quotations onto which added costs are added later.

Car Trawler will host a seminar at WTM called making The Most of Ancillary Revenue Ã¢â¬' Boosting the bottom line on Wednesday at 15.30 in North gallery Room 8.

by Dinah Hatch