Midcounties Co-operative Travel agrees Travelport deal

Midcounties Co-operative Travel agrees Travelport deal

Business travel agreement part of plan to extend group’s capabilities in sector Continue reading

The Midcounties Co-operative Travel has signed a deal to enable business travel bookings via Travelport.

The agreement is part of a plan to extend the group’s travel capabilities into the sector and help make the Co-op Travel Management business travel division a unique player in corporate travel.

The first multi-year technology agreement with the travel commerce platform will see Co-op Travel Management, supported by independent personal travel, connect to Travelport technology including point of sale solutions Tracvelprt Smartpoint and Hotelzon.

Travelport will provide Co-op Travel Management with real-time access to content from 400 airlines, 400,000 hotels and 35,000 car rental locations.

Co-operative Travel and its standalone corporate travel division will use the Hotelzon platform for all its hotel bookings, reservation management, and travel policy implementations.

This will provide corporations and their staff with special negotiated rates and other offerings from independent hotels to broader capabilities such as reporting and data integration with back-office systems.

Travelport will also soon further benefit Co-op Travel Management by creating Iata New Distribution Capability (NDC) connections with airlines as they become available.

Alistair Rowland, group general manager – specialist retail at The Midcounties Co-operative, said: “Travelport’s industry-leading technology and content will help to differentiate us in the growing corporate travel market by meeting the demands of our customers and providing the best possible service.”

Mike Crotty, head of Co-op Travel Management, added: “Using technology is a key aspect of Co-op Travel Management and our partnership with Travelport is the next step in making our service even more sophisticated with this market-leading software.”

The technology supplier’s UK and Ireland regional managing director Paul Broughton said: “Travelport is delighted to support Midcounties Co-operative Travel as its technology partner to help it differentiate the corporate travel division and achieve its goals for growth.

“We are proud to power their business, help enable them to sell more tailored itineraries and stay connected to their travellers at every stage of the journey.”