Amadeus sets the pace for MENA travel agencies with innovative new hotel content

Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, today announced it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Travel Boutique Online, a leading online B2B travel platform that aggregates travel content and makes it available for selling to over 14,000 travel agents across India and the Middle East.

Under the terms of this LOI, travel agencies in the Middle East using the Amadeus global distribution system will have unparalleled access to over 100,000 world-wide hotel properties sourced from the region’s most popular aggregators and wholesalers.

The Amadeus Content Store Middle East solution powered by Travel Boutique Online is the region’s first tool of its kind to provide such a diverse wealth of content. It incorporates a single screen access to search, compare and book hotel content from the most popular wholesalers and aggregators in the region.

Fully integrated with the Amadeus Selling Platform, the world’s most-used retailing application for travel professionals, this new solution offers seamless information flow to mid-back office and accounting systems meaning fewer overheads on the travel agency. With content from multiple aggregators available for the first time, the agents have access to the widest variety of inventory and pricing options in a matter of seconds. This leads to increased hotel bookings which translate into increased sales for the agency. Amadeus Content Store Middle East is completely flexible and customizable with branded vouchers, itineraries and payment methods that suit the requirements of an individual business.

To be able to pre-pay for the hotel / package is an extremely important requirement for many travelers and agencies in the region; with Amadeus Content Store Middle East this will now be possible. Travel agents will also have access to a wider range of hotel content which will include an extensive variety of India’s small and medium properties, further increasing the traveler’s choice. The Amadeus Content Store Middle East is currently being piloted at select travel agencies and a regional roll out is planned from June 2011 onwards.

Gaurav Bhatnagar, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Travel Boutique Online, said, “We are pleased to expand our presence in the Middle East, a very important growth area for us, with a market leading partner, Amadeus. We are sure that travel agents will welcome a solution as powerful as Amadeus Content Store Middle East, based on innovative and advanced technology that saves lots of time for the travel agent which would otherwise be spent on opening, searching and comparing the different offers.”

Antoine Medawar, Vice President, Middle East & North Africa, Amadeus, said, “This is one of the various initiatives in place to extend even further our hotel content based on the needs of our travel agency customers.  The Amadeus Content Store Middle East solution is further proof of our commitment to the region. We aim at continuing to introduce new technology developments to increase efficiency for the travel agency community. We take pride in being the technology provider that offers the most solid and comprehensive range of content, innovative solutions and best-in-kind local customer support.”

Amadeus is the technology provider of choice for the travel industry and it is  currently present through 17 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations (ACOs) servicing 21 countries in the MENA region.