Thrifty and SpeechWorks Bring Speech Recognition to 1-800-Thrifty

    TULSA, Okla., Feb. 20 Thrifty Car Rental, a subsidiary of
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. , with SpeechWorks
International, Inc. , a leader in the telephony-based speech
industry, today launched the industry's first use of interactive speech
recognition to assist customers in shopping car rental rates.
    Available on Thrifty's 1-800-THRIFTY(R) reservation number, the new system
interacts with callers in a natural-sounding voice and understands spoken
words.  It offers callers an easy and effective self-service alternative for
checking rates by phone, especially when the user's main interest is in
shopping prices before actually booking their reservation with one of our
Telephone Sales Representatives, according to Bob DuPont, Staff Vice President
of Reservations for Thrifty.
    "Consumers have grown accustomed to the freedom and speed of 'point-and-
click' technologies on the Internet," said DuPont.  "We wanted to apply those
same qualities to our telephone reservations process, and give customers who
are shopping for rates a fast and friendly self-service option, if that's
their preference."
    The technology is similar to that already being used to report flight
status at some of the nation's largest airlines, including United.
SpeechWorks technology also takes investors' orders at Ameritrade, Discover
Brokerage, E*Trade and other brokerages, in addition to providing exceptional
service for consumers calling into a wide variety of customer-centric
organizations.
    Utilizing natural language speech recognition, the new system prompts
callers with questions like, "On which date will you pick up the car?" and
recognizes spoken dates, times, car sizes, city names and airports.  Once the
customers' needs are identified, they are provided with the best available car
rental rate.
    "No entries are required via the telephone key pad," said DuPont.
"Everything is verbal.  It's like speaking with a real person at the other end
of the phone, very natural and user-friendly."
    After the reservation information is gathered and the rental rate is
quoted, the customer is asked, "Would you like to go ahead and book that
rate?"  If the answer is "Yes," the caller is transferred instantly to a
Thrifty sales agent.  At the same time the sales agent receives the
transferred call, a screen "pop" with all of the information that the customer
has given the interactive system, is made available to the sales agent.  The
agent simply confirms the booking and the customer is on their way.
    In addition, members of the company's Blue Chip Express Rental Program(R)
can further expedite their calls by verbally giving their Blue Chip account
number.  The interactive speech recognition system automatically recognizes
the number, accesses the information stored in the member's personal profile
and uses it to obtain their rate quote.

    Thrifty Answers the Call: Customers Enjoy New Service
    Response to the new system by Thrifty customers has been enthusiastic,
with 90% of 1,000 callers sampled saying it met or exceeded their expectations
in terms of ease of use.  An overwhelming majority of callers said they would
use the automated system again.  Sample customer comments included:

    -- "Very organized, with options kept simple."
    -- "Awesome, pretty neat.  No [other car rental company] has this system."
    -- "Fun system, impressed at how well it worked."
    -- "I appreciate the fact that Thrifty is changing to meet customers'
       needs."
    -- "Excellent, very easy and very smooth.  I had been on hold with
       competitors."

    Customers who prefer to shop rates the "old-fashioned way" will still have
the option up front of dealing directly with a telephone sales representative.
At any time during the automated process, the customer can say, "Agent," and
be transferred to a live telephone sales representative.
    Asked why Thrifty has made such a significant investment in this new
technology, DuPont said, "We wanted to offer our customers a full range of
call center services from which to choose.  These range from traditional 1-800
number call handling, to leading edge, interactive voice technology that is
extremely efficient and easy to use.  This is really a win for the customer
and a win for us, in that it provides a dramatic enhancement to the service we
offer our customers, while reducing our costs at the same time."
    "We are excited to have developed the service with Thrifty," said Steve
Chambers, vice president of marketing, SpeechWorks.  "Speech in the travel
industry provides a compelling value proposition:  Excellent customer service,
qualified customers for call-center agents, and reduced costs."  The Thrifty
interactive voice system runs on a platform from SpeechWorks' partner,
InterVoice-Brite.
    Thrifty participated in the SpeechWorks Here Guarantee and the Market
Accelerator Program, two programs provided by SpeechWorks to help its
customers achieve the highest levels of success with their speech services.
The Guarantee ensures the delivery of effective speech applications, while the
Market Accelerator Program provides customers with the necessary marketing
services and tools to encourage high usage and ultimately, high return on
investment.

    About Thrifty
    To make a reservation with Thrifty, customers may contact their
professional travel consultant, call 1-800-THRIFTY(R) in the U.S. or Canada,
or log on to the Thrifty web site at http://www.THRIFTY.com.
    Thrifty Car Rental, with its affiliate Thrifty Car Sales, is a subsidiary
of Thrifty, Inc.  Thrifty Car Rental is one of the world's largest
international car rental franchise networks, consisting of over
1,200 locations in 61 countries around the world.  Thrifty Car Sales is a
franchised retail used car sales network with plans to have 60 U.S. locations
by January 2001.  Thrifty, Inc. is a subsidiary of Dollar Thrifty Automotive
Group, Inc.

    About SpeechWorks
    Organizations worldwide rely on SpeechWorks to delight their callers and
provide them with a new level of service over the phone.  Complementing the
self-service model of e-business, SpeechWorks speech solutions, including the
revolutionary SpeechSite(TM) product, and Speechify(TM) text-to-speech engine,
let customers direct their calls, obtain information and complete transactions
automatically, simply by speaking naturally over any phone, anytime.
    SpeechWorks customers include some of the world's most sophisticated
customer service innovators such as America Online, Amtrak, Continental
Airlines, E*Trade, FedEx, Fidelity Investments Institutional Brokerage Group,
Thrifty Car Rental, United Airlines and Yahoo!.  The Company offers the
SpeechWorks Here Guarantee, the industry's only program that includes a money-
back guarantee.  SpeechWorks strategic partners include leading corporations
such as AT&T, Avaya, Dialogic, an Intel company, InterVoice-Brite and
Net2Phone.  Investors included Citigroup's e-Citi Unit, GE Equity, Intel
Corporation, The Intel64 Fund, MCI WorldCom Venture Fund and Reuters.
    SpeechWorks is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has offices
around the world.  To experience the power of SpeechWorks, call
1.888.SAY.DEMO.  For additional information, call 617.428.4444 or visit
http://www.speechworks.com.
    SpeechWorks, Speechify, SpeechWorks Here and SpeechSite are trademarks or
registered trademarks of SpeechWorks International, Inc. in the United States
and other countries.