ByRail, the online booking tool from Eurostar chooses KDS as its First Business Travel Online Reservation Partner
Hot Tags: eurostar | rail
London, UK, Paris, France – December 4, 2002 – Byrail, the online booking tool developed by Eurostar for business travellers, and KDS, a leading provider of global business travel management solutions, announce that Byrail has chosen KDS as its first business travel online reservation partner. By selecting KDS, Byrail has now put in place the first direct link to its travel information sources and databases for booking both Eurostar trains and National UK Rail trains.
ByRail and KDS Sign a Strategic Sales, Marketing and Technology Agreement to provide enhanced Online Booking Solutions for Corporations
The major benefits for customers of this collaboration is KDS’s ability to display and book both train and flight schedules, availabilities and fares on the same screen in its online reservation systems.
Thus, this strategic partnership guarantees the following unique capacities:
With KDS, it is a potential volume of 100,000 business travellers throughout Europe who will be able to book their Eurostar and UK train tickets online directly.
This partnership also includes a marketing and sales agreement whereby Byrail and KDS will develop and generate new common business opportunities towards large companies.
“European corporations are increasingly relying on online reservation systems to manage their business travel, that’s why we, at Byrail, have chosen to team up with KDS, an industry-recognized leader, to provide our customers with this online added value,” said Charles Fenton , General Manager ByRail.
“Our new partnership with Byrail highlights KDS’s capacity to operate an international solution and confirms our willingness to bring our customers greater freedom of choice among travel suppliers with the best-of-breed technologies and solutions. With this new agreement, KDS remains a length ahead in the market of direct links to travel product suppliers,” explains Jean-François Vergnangeal, VP Marketing and Strategic Alliances KDS.
Market leader on London-Paris and London-Brussels routes, with 63% of the London-Paris market and around 45% of the London-Brussels route, Eurostar carries over seven million passengers a year.
KDS provides global online business travel management solutions. KDS Corporate, KDS’s solution dedicated to large international enterprises, automates business travel processes and enables travellers to plan and book trips online in order to ensure cost reductions. KDS Portal, KDS’s solution dedicated to business travel services providers, is built to facilitate time-to-market delivery of managed business travel solutions for SME market.
The first version of the direct link between Eurostar/ByRail and KDS will be available with the next major version of KDS Corporate delivered to market Q1 2003.
About Eurostar and Byrail
Eurostar is the high speed passenger train service linking the centre of London with the centre of Paris in three hours and the centre of Brussels in two hours and 40 minutes.
Byrail is an online booking tool developed by Eurostar for business travel users to allow booking of any UK rail journey, as well as Eurostar travel.
About KDS
KDS is a leading provider of global business travel management solutions. The company's award-winning applications and services enable organizations to reduce costs and increase productivity by automating business travel processes. Leading companies and business travel service providers use KDS's innovative software to efficiently plan and book travel via the Internet. KDS Solutions are based upon time-tested technology and provide direct access to global GDSs and travel suppliers. KDS customers include Accenture, Alstom, Altadis, BP, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Egencia, Galileo, Gialloviaggi.it, Henkel, Novartis, Shell. Founded in 1994, KDS maintains offices in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Additional information about KDS can be found on the Web at www.kds.com.
The major benefits for customers of this collaboration is KDS’s ability to display and book both train and flight schedules, availabilities and fares on the same screen in its online reservation systems.
Thus, this strategic partnership guarantees the following unique capacities:
- They can book train tickets online as easily as flights, hotel rooms and cars.
- Corporations manage their travel bookings online more efficiently.
- Business travellers have a real choice between train and plane.
With KDS, it is a potential volume of 100,000 business travellers throughout Europe who will be able to book their Eurostar and UK train tickets online directly.
This partnership also includes a marketing and sales agreement whereby Byrail and KDS will develop and generate new common business opportunities towards large companies.
“European corporations are increasingly relying on online reservation systems to manage their business travel, that’s why we, at Byrail, have chosen to team up with KDS, an industry-recognized leader, to provide our customers with this online added value,” said Charles Fenton , General Manager ByRail.
“Our new partnership with Byrail highlights KDS’s capacity to operate an international solution and confirms our willingness to bring our customers greater freedom of choice among travel suppliers with the best-of-breed technologies and solutions. With this new agreement, KDS remains a length ahead in the market of direct links to travel product suppliers,” explains Jean-François Vergnangeal, VP Marketing and Strategic Alliances KDS.
Market leader on London-Paris and London-Brussels routes, with 63% of the London-Paris market and around 45% of the London-Brussels route, Eurostar carries over seven million passengers a year.
KDS provides global online business travel management solutions. KDS Corporate, KDS’s solution dedicated to large international enterprises, automates business travel processes and enables travellers to plan and book trips online in order to ensure cost reductions. KDS Portal, KDS’s solution dedicated to business travel services providers, is built to facilitate time-to-market delivery of managed business travel solutions for SME market.
The first version of the direct link between Eurostar/ByRail and KDS will be available with the next major version of KDS Corporate delivered to market Q1 2003.
About Eurostar and Byrail
Eurostar is the high speed passenger train service linking the centre of London with the centre of Paris in three hours and the centre of Brussels in two hours and 40 minutes.
Byrail is an online booking tool developed by Eurostar for business travel users to allow booking of any UK rail journey, as well as Eurostar travel.
About KDS
KDS is a leading provider of global business travel management solutions. The company's award-winning applications and services enable organizations to reduce costs and increase productivity by automating business travel processes. Leading companies and business travel service providers use KDS's innovative software to efficiently plan and book travel via the Internet. KDS Solutions are based upon time-tested technology and provide direct access to global GDSs and travel suppliers. KDS customers include Accenture, Alstom, Altadis, BP, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Egencia, Galileo, Gialloviaggi.it, Henkel, Novartis, Shell. Founded in 1994, KDS maintains offices in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Additional information about KDS can be found on the Web at www.kds.com.