Travel Distribution Europe Special: Interview with Cameron Jones, ExpediaIt was in mid-2007 when Expedia had introduced its connectivity product called Expedia QuickConnect (EQC), which allows hotels to connect directly to Expedia from their PMS or CRS, bypassing traditional incremental distribution costs.

Published: 23 Apr 2008

Travel Distribution Europe Special: Interview with Cameron Jones, Expedia

It was in mid-2007 when Expedia had introduced its connectivity product called Expedia QuickConnect (EQC), which allows hotels to connect directly to Expedia from their PMS or CRS, bypassing traditional incremental distribution costs.

Currently, over 17,000 properties are connected to Expedia through either EQC or ExpediaConnect for larger chain properties. Expedia expects this number to continue to increase dramatically over the next year.

According to Cameron Jones, Regional Director for Northern Europe, Expedia, since its launch in June last year, the online travel company has established a direct connection through EQC with hotels in 25 countries operating on 38 different reservations systems.

"More than 80% of these hotels are located throughout Europe and a number of Asia Pacific and North American hoteliers have also achieved positive results since establishing direct connectivity. We have also completed deployments for hotel chains and independent properties in China, Australia, Morocco, Romania and Tunisia, demonstrating the truly global scalability of EQC," Jones told EyeforTravel.com's Ritesh Gupta.

"That said, EQC – and our whole suite of connectivity tools – continues to be a focus for Expedia. Our hotel partners have indicated that our connectivity solutions increase efficiencies and save them resources in managing the large volumes of business that Expedia delivers. More importantly though, direct connectivity allows for increased revenue opportunities through more efficient rate management. The demand for EQC has been so high that we have created more scalable sales solutions to deploy the technology more quickly to more hotels," added Jones, who is scheduled to speak during Distribution Technology Track, a part of Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2008's Online Travel Strategies Conference. The conference will take place in London on May 20 and 21.

Expedia invested in developing an Application Programming Interface (API) specification that is simple for CRS or PMS vendors to develop to and easy for hoteliers to implement.

"This translates to the interface being scalable across systems with minimal overhead investment, enabling direct connectivity options to be accessible for small-medium chains and independent properties, in addition to large chains. Today we have 38 vendors that are connected, including IGM, Lodgegate and Hotellinx, and we continue to connect new Property Management Systems (PMS) and Central Reservations Systems (CRS) solutions regularly. Amadeus (Hogatex) and Micros Opera PMS are expected to launch Expedia QuickConnect interfaces imminently," shared Jones.

With reference to dynamic packaging, on improvements in system requirements or technology due to which there is a striking change in the manner in which travel is distributed, Jones said, EQC has provided so many more hotels the ability to distribute inventory through dynamic packaging without the need to invest more time in managing separate rates and inventory.

"This means incremental business for our hotel partners at no incremental cost. Dynamic package bookings are typically made further in advance, consist of longer hotel stays, and are more likely to be made by travellers from international markets, all of which translates to the typical package hotel guest spending more on other hotel services. Dynamic packaging is now more easily accessible through EQC so hoteliers can benefit from increasing their share of this profitable customer segment," he said.

EyeforTravel.com will feature an interview with Jones next month, during Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2008's Online Travel Strategies Conference. For more information about the conference click here:

http://events.eyefortravel.com/tds/online-sales-and-marketing-conference... or send an email to Tim Gunstone: tim@eyefortravel.com