Amadeus, a leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, has added 5,000 more hotel properties to its distribution system since October last year, providing travel agents from the Gulf region with access to 75,000 properties across the globe, according to a press release. Amadeus continues to place particular emphasis on growing the number of independent properties available for travel agencies to book in its system. The company has increased the number of small, independent and budget accommodation connected to its system by 38 percent since last October. These hotels connect cost-efficiently to Amadeus' worldwide distribution network though the Amadeus Multichannel Distribution tool. Despite having the necessary infrastructure, we found out that most of the travel agents in Egypt still carry out the hotel and travel reservations for their customers through fax, e-mail or handwritten documents, which consumes roughly 40 minutes on each transaction. By implementing electronic booking solutions from Amadeus the process of confirmation and printing the reservation takes less than 3 minutes. This helps travel agents save time and boost their productivity enormously, commented Moody Maguid, Marketing and Sales manager of Amadeus Egypt. "On the other hand, we recently introduced the Amadeus CODE wherein travel agencies have the flexibility to book international hotels operating in Egypt through a contract price between companies and hotels anywhere in the world. This offers customers greater access and options in choosing their preferred destination, added Maguid. "With the approaching summer holidays, many families and individual travellers visiting new destinations request for a complete travel package from their travel agents that includes accommodation and stay at decent local hotels. By increasing the network of hotels, Amadeus offers travel agents ample business choice and the confidence to be a competitive preference for their customers , added Moody
