Travolution@NBTA in Chicago - Part 3: Expedia consolidates

Expedia Corporate Travel’s head of Europe, Jean-Pierre Remy, gave Travolution an exclusive interview about the company’s future plans in Europe.

Having completed the geographic phase of its European strategy with the plan to open operations in Germany this autumn, Remy says ECT will now focus on converging the company’s airline content and reporting platforms to make them consistent throughout Europe and North America.

The idea is that such uniformity will appeal to large volume, multi-national corporations, which are interested in fully-integrated booking, reporting and expense management capabilities, and want and a broad range of content and the ability to see the same content around the globe.

ECT has already completed the convergence of its hotel platform, which includes content from Hotels.com. Remy says ECT is in the process of creating a new airline platform, which will build upon the existing breadth of content currently available in the US and Europe, including those of low cost carriers and rail companies.

The new platform should be complete in a few months.

Once the new unified airline and reporting platforms are in place, Remy says ECT will be in a position to pursue expansion into other markets and has an eye on the Nordics.

Tricia Holly Davis, freelance journalist in Chicago