ebookers.com Signs Pan-European Car Hire Deal
With Alamo
ebookers Moves to Centralise Product and Supplier Agreements
LONDON, Feb. 15 ebookers.com,
Europe's No.1 online travel company, today announced that it
has signed an agreement with Alamo Rent A Car, one of the world's leading car
hire companies. The agreement means that ebookers.com will be able to offer
competitive discount negotiated rates on Alamo's services for the US and
Canada. Through its 109 locations in North America, Alamo serves more than
15 million travelers a year. Alamo is part of the
ANC Rental Corporation , which in 1999 reported revenues of
approximately $3.5 billion.
The agreement with Alamo is a pan-European one, giving evidence of
ebookers.com's ability to use its reach and scale of sales to negotiate
multinational deals with top-class product suppliers. All of ebookers.com's
operating companies in 11 European countries will collaborate with Alamo and
gain support on a local basis.
Dinesh Dhamija, CEO ebookers.com, comments:
"I see this deal with Alamo as significant for two reasons. It demonstrates
ebookers.com's commitment to product diversification and product cross-selling
with the long-term aim of increasing overall margins. It is also an excellent
example of how ebookers.com's unique scope and sales volumes in the European
online travel market, is enabling it to centrally negotiate competitive
pan-European deals with top-class suppliers.
The attraction for suppliers is obvious; instead of negotiating on a
country-by-country basis, with individual online travel companies, by coming
to ebookers.com they can negotiate for 11 countries at once.
For ebookers.com, pan-European contracts meant that we are able to use the
sheer size of our booking figures to maximize our buying power and secure
competitive deals for our customers and ourselves."
Nick Harwood, Regional Vice President; Alamo Rent A Car, comments:
"Using our strengths with our extensive and unique North America products
and services along with our ability to handle ebookers account needs on a pan
European basis, puts us in a strong position to jointly grow the business."
About ebookers.com
ebookers.com is a leading online European travel agency offering complete
one-stop, online shopping with a host of travel products and services,
including negotiated discount airfares with 120 airlines, and discounts with
over 14,000 hotels worldwide. ebookers.com is the technology and travel
spin-off from Flightbookers plc, the London-based travel agency which in 1996
became the first travel company to establish an interactive website in the UK.
The ebookers.com group also established the first interactive travel websites
in France and Finland. The company was established as a separate Internet
company in June 1999. ebookers.com operates in the following eleven
countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The company completed its initial
public offering in November 1999 listing on the NASDAQ and the Neuer Markt in
Frankfurt, Germany.
About Alamo Rent A Car
With its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Alamo Rent A Car
currently serves more than 15 million travelers a year through 109 locations
in the United States and Canada, and operates more than 400 international
locations in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Alamo is a division of
ANC Rental Corporation.
Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed
in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties
include, without limitation, the company's ability to identify, acquire and
integrate its potential subsidiaries across Europe, its ability to
significantly increase its online revenues and sales volumes, to maintain and
develop relationships with travel suppliers and strategic partners and to
attract and retain customers, potential adverse changes in its gross mark up
or in commission rates, unforeseen events affecting the travel industry, and
the company's dependence on its ability to establish its brand. These and
other risk factors are described in detail in the company's Prospectus dated
11 November 1999, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, USA and the German Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, filed with
the Neuer Market, of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany.