Amadeus forges Radius partnership

Global business travel group Radius has forged a global pact with Amadeus.

The partnership between the travel management group, which has more than 90 shareholder agencies in 80 countries, and the GDS will lead to a commomn technology platform being developed.

This will enable Radius, which represents more than 4,600 agency locations, to “consistently network, standardise processes, and share and develop business opportunities amongst its members”, according to the company.

The new platform will give Radius the flexibility to work as a global travel agency and provide a local focus for local requirements. Radius claims shareholder travel agencies will benefit  from a fully integrated end-to-end solution enabling them to offer corporate customers local services together with the cost-efficiencies of a global platform with unique content.

The common global platform together with the Amadeus e-Travel corporate online solutions suite will enable Radius to bring its global travel agency network closer ina  bid to expand corporate business.

The Amadeus point-of-sale platform will fully integrate Radius’ own applications such as Radius Wheel, Hotel Programme and mid-office processes.

Radius president and chief executive Tony Hughes said:  “The travel industry is changing. Over the past few years we have seen consolidation amongst traditional travel management companies and increased competition from online travel agencies.

“In addition to this, companies are becoming more sophisticated with their travel buying. Smart travel buyers are looking for travel suppliers that, as a minimum, are able to provide consistent data, the latest technology, travel policy management tools, strong buying power, as well as the best services across countries.

“These needs drove our decision to move towards a global common platform that unifies processes and customer service across our network. Our agreement with Amadeus is an essential element to achieve that. With Amadeus we are setting the pace to fully realise our potential in a changing travel market that demands closer integration of technology in our network of agencies”.

Amadeus multinational customer group vice-president Gillian Gibson added:  “A global common technology platform was the one ingredient Radius was missing to really compete in the multinational corporate travel arena.”

Report by Phil Davies 

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