Expedia.com Expedia Corporate Travel Selected by Akamai As High-Technology Companies Continue to Sign On
BELLEVUE, Wash. – Sept. 23, 2003 – Expedia® Corporate Travel, a full-service travel management company operated by Expedia, Inc., today announced that it has been selected to serve as agency of record by Akamai Technologies, Inc., provider of the world’s largest distributed computing platform. Demonstrating its continued success in addressing the needs of high-technology companies, Expedia® Corporate Travel also recently signed IntelliMark/Technisource, Inc., an information services and staffing provider, and Terabeam Corporation, a leading provider of wireless fiber (broadband wireless) solutions that extend and optimize carrier and enterprise networks.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM) provides services that enable the world’s leading enterprises and government agencies to extend and control their e-business infrastructure. After a comprehensive search for a new corporate travel solution enabling employees to make their own reservations from a Web site, the company chose Expedia® Corporate Travel because of its unique approach to delivering best-in-class technology along with a strong, full-service commitment at tremendous cost-savings.
“We selected Expedia® Corporate Travel because it incorporated all of the important service features we deemed critical for user adoption with a significant bottom-line impact for our company,” said Terry Sullo, manager, Travel & Meeting Services at Akamai. “For example, with Expedia®’s hotel offerings, I’ve been able to provide a wider range of options for our travelers at a value that I expect will reduce our overall hotel spend.”
Because of Expedia® Corporate Travel’s sales and account management infrastructure, an efficient implementation occurred in less than a month. Expedia®’s brand familiarity and its inclusion of user-friendly features appealing to business travelers ensured the successful and immediate adoption. In fact, Akamai has achieved 100 percent adoption among its travelers within a month of the launch, and has transitioned its travel program entirely to Expedia® Corporate Travel.
In addition to using the Web-based reservation system to make and change all applicable reservations, Akamai selected services from Expedia® Corporate Travel’s menu of offerings, such as international rate desk pricing and select executive services.
Additionally, Akamai has taken advantage of the robust reporting enabled by Expedia® Corporate Travel’s advanced technology.
“Now, I am able to extract data faster because the information is available in near real-time, and the Web-based reports are simple to obtain and analyze,” Sullo said. “The improved, automated process has given me more time to focus on other corporate travel and meeting needs for Akamai, such as negotiating supplier contracts.”
Sullo, a former Chairperson of the National Business Traveler Association’s (NBTA) Technology Committee, has been named to the Expedia Corporate Advisory Board (ECAB), which assists in guiding the development of the company’s corporate travel management products and services.
“Corporate travel managers understand that with Expedia® Corporate Travel, they can provide even more value to their employees while spending more time on other aspects of their program,” said Matt Hulett, vice president of corporate travel at Expedia, Inc. “With new clients such as Akamai, IntelliMark/Technisource and Terabeam, we are continuing to gain traction in the high-technology sector and have illustrated our expertise with providing solutions for these companies.”
IntelliMark/Technisource, a national provider of information technology services and staffing, began using Expedia® Corporate Travel earlier this year. “The service’s online booking tool is significantly more user-friendly than our previous solution, and since we signed up, we’ve achieved 80 percent online adoption,” said Sherrie Smith, director of corporate services at IntelliMark/Technisource.
Jennifer Ellis, vice president of human resources and administration for Terabeam, said, “We recently moved to Expedia® Corporate Travel because we wanted our employees to be able to easily and affordably book their travel online while still getting good agent support. This, combined with the solid service we have received during the implementation phase, has made Expedia® a good choice for our company.”
For more information on Expedia® Corporate Travel, please visit http://corporate.expedia.com or call 1-866-328-0110.
About Expedia® Corporate Travel
Expedia® Corporate Travel is a full-service travel management company operated by Expedia, Inc., the world’s leading online travel service and the fourth largest travel agency in the U.S. Expedia® Corporate Travel brings together the best of technology and corporate support in a single-source solution that drives down costs. Business travelers have access to specialized tools, while companies can take advantage of rich management and reporting features. Expedia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI). CST: 2029030-40
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