Thomas Cook Renews Multi-Year Contract for Galileo’s Innovative Solution Suite, Realizing Additional Growth Opportunities
November 9, 2005 – Galileo International, Inc., a leading global distribution system (GDS) and subsidiary of Cendant Corp. (NYSE: CD), today announced that Thomas Cook Travel has inked a deal for Galileo International to remain the exclusive GDS for the travel retailer in Canada. With this significant multi-year contract renewal, Thomas Cook will leverage additional synergies to expand the relationship with Galileo, as well as the strong affiliate partnership opportunities of Galileo’s sister companies including Gullivers Travel Associates.
“We are committed to providing the products and services to the travel industry that enable our valued partners to succeed. Galileo is proud to be the solution provider for leading travel agencies in North America such as Thomas Cook, which has always been an extremely respected partner in Canada. It gives us great pride that we have been chosen to remain their only GDS of record,” said Jim Cahill, vice president, sales and general manager of Galileo Canada. “Through the contract negotiation period we identified multiple growth opportunities between our companies, which we are anxious to delve into further in the weeks and months ahead.”
This agreement allows Thomas Cook to leverage Galileo’s extensive collection of merchant content and user-friendly productivity tools within its solution suite to increase the retailer’s revenue, productivity and efficiency for agents. Thomas Cook is also benefiting from exclusive air content, with Galileo being the only GDS to provide full content for Air Canada without any added fees or opt in requirements.
“We have worked with Galileo for over 20 years and have found their robust yet nimble solutions to be in line with our overall goal of providing the best content and tools to simplify the booking process for our agents so they can focus on customer service,” said Warren Tom, president and CEO, Thomas Cook Travel. “Galileo’s shopping tools such as the Best Available Rate program, tour and cruise solutions and customized training, as well as our relationship with the Canadian Account Management Team, add to the continued success of Thomas Cook and are compelling reasons to continue with Galileo as our GDS provider.”
About Thomas Cook Travel
Thomas Cook Canada is part of the global Thomas Cook AG group, a vertically integrated organization serving over 20 million customers from more than 3,000 locations worldwide. Its international operations include sites in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Egypt and India. In addition, Thomas Cook AG is a well established leader in foreign exchange services, owning the world's largest network of more than 1,000 locations.
Thomas Cook Canada is Canada's leading retail leisure travel business with 193 company-owned and franchised travel agencies across the country operating under both Thomas Cook Travel and Marlin Travel banners. Offering a comprehensive suite of services including packaged tours, cruises, airline tickets, insurance and foreign currency exchange, Thomas Cook provides leisure and business travellers with a trip everybody else will envy. Their trusted expert travel agents – over 1,100 in total – are always able to deliver a fun vacation experience ensuring true value by using technology such as Galileo, FareMatrix and Thomas Cook's proprietary trip information resource, KnowledgeBase™. For more information, visit www.thomascook.ca.
About Galileo International
Galileo International is a global technology leader. Its core business is providing electronic global distribution services for the travel industry through its computerized reservation systems, leading-edge products and innovative, Internet-based solutions. Galileo is a value-added distributor of travel inventory dedicated to supporting its travel supplier, agency and corporate customers and, through them, expanding traveler choice. A subsidiary of Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD) and part of Cendant's Travel Distribution Services Division, Galileo is headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, and has offices worldwide. Visit www.galileo.com.
About Cendant Travel Distribution Services
Cendant Corporation’s (NYSE: CD) Travel Distribution Services Division, is one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse collections of travel brands and distribution businesses. The division, employing nearly 9,000 people in approximately 140 countries, includes: a leading (GDS) global distribution system (Galileo), serving more than 50,000 travel agencies and over 60,000 hotels; hotel distribution and services businesses (Neat Group®, THOR®, TRUST and WizCom®); leading online travel agencies (Asia-hotel.com, CheapTickets®, ebookers.com®, HotelClub.com, Lodging.com, Orbitz®, RatesToGo.com, and The Away Network); an airline market intelligence company (Shepherd Systems); an international travel technology and software company (Travelwire); a leading international provider of long-haul air travel and travel product consolidator (Travel 2®/Travel 4®); online global corporate travel management solutions (Orbitz for Business® and Travelport®); and a leading wholesaler and global online provider of hotels, destination services, travel packages and group tours (Gullivers Travel Associates, OctopusTravel.com® and Travel Bound, Inc.).