Travel Agent - September 24, 2007 - (Page 14)

Vital Signs News You Can Use effectively manage all aspects of their payment needs.” Despite being competitors, Sabre and Amadeus said they banded together because they saw synergy. “Both companies saw the tremendous opportunity to provide an industry standard where none exists today,” Greg Webb, chief marketing officer for Sabre Holdings, said. Webb said the two companies’ agency clients represent “a tremendous amount of cost and complexity due to different handling of money flows and associated data elements in each point of sale, back-office application and with each trade partner. “In addition to the complexity this creates for travel industry suppliers and travel agencies, there is also very little automation for the payment processing,” he continued. “Because Moneydirect offers a solution to address this complexity and inefficiency, we have received very positive reaction to this new solution.” That support includes the American Society of Travel Agents (www. astanet.com), which last Monday released a statement applauding the collaborative effort. —Jennifer Merritt Sabre and Amadeus Unveil Moneydirect Released last week, Moneydirect (www. moneydirect.com) is a joint venture from Sabre Holdings (www.sabre-holdings. com) and Amadeus (www.amadeus.com), providing automated payment processing, clearing and reconciliation for the travel trade with an aim of improving commission payments, automation and interoperability from travel suppliers (not including airlines). Examples of the system’s services include processing of deposits and pre-paid bookings, bulk settlement for group bookings and global commissions processing. In a joint statement, the companies said Moneydirect will “integrate the existing financial instruments already used by the travel industry into a best-in-class, multichannel, GDS-independent and neutral platform, which will allow users to Private Transfers We offer thousands of private and semi-private transfers in 110 countries. We'll get your clients to or from their hotel, airport or port-of-call. www.BookTravelBound.com FIT 800-808-9541 · FIT@BookTravelBound.com Groups 800-808-9547 · Groups@BookTravelBound.com 14 TravelAgent September 24, 2007 Interested? Request #005. http://www.moneydirect.com http://www.moneydirect.com http://www.sabre-holdings.com http://www.amadeus.com http://www.sabre-holdings.com http://www.astanet.com http://www.astanet.com http://www.BookTravelBound.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - September 24, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Agenda: Fam Trips, Calendar of Events, Deal of the Week Cover Story - Down the Stretch: Ramping Up 2007 Sales Central & South America: Anthony’s Key Resort, Roatan, Honduras Florida: Hotel Packages for Cruise-Bound Travelers Cruises: A Tale of Two Lines Agent Exchange Classified Marketplace Luxury Travel Expo Update Advertisers’ Information People & Places

Travel Agent - September 24, 2007

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