New ebookers website launches in Belgium

July 24, 2008 | Online Travel

ebookers has re-launched its Belgian website on a new global technology platform that offers its customers greater functionality and a better user experience.

ebookers is a brand of Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., which operates in 13 countries across Europe and Scandinavia, including the brand Mr. Jet in Denmark and Sweden.

The new Belgian website aims to make booking decisions for travelers easier through simpler navigation and more product choice. Like past platform migrations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the re-launch of ebookers’ new Belgian website is expected to triple the number of hotels accessible to customers. The Belgian site is the first on Orbitz Worldwide’s global platform where users can search for travel in a non-English language.

Orbitz Worldwide’s global technology platform was built in 2007 and offers customers greater ease in searching and booking on the company’s numerous online travel brands. Additionally, the new technology makes it easier for travelers to book any combination of flight & hotel choices when planning their own holiday. The multi-language, multi-currency backend information technology has the ability to power multiple websites that operate in different locations, increasing maintenance efficiencies, common inventory access and speed to market with new innovations. The platform will eventually power all 13 ebookers websites in Europe and also Orbitz Worldwide’s properties in North America, including Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com, Orbitz for Business and the company’s Private Label business.

Additionally, authentic hotel user reviews of thousands of properties and additional information about traveler destinations, including more hotel photos and maps, also have been added to the Belgian ebookers site.

“Core to our business plan, we continue to increase our operational efficiencies in Europe by integrating more of our ebookers country sites onto this technology platform,” said Steve Barnhart, president and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. “The platform continues to deliver key learnings that improve the overall technology with every ebookers country site migrated to our common architecture.”

Additional ebookers.be functionality now includes:

—Dynamic packaging features that enable customers to create their own holidays by mixing and matching any combination of flight, hotel and car. Customers will now be able to book a dynamic package for more destinations and will be able to benefit from guaranteed savings when they book flight+hotel together.

—Improved content which supports the Belgian website’s natural search ranking—so customers are more likely to see ebookers.be listed higher on free search engine results

—Easier filtering of travel search results, enabling customers to sort by hotel name and address, price or proximity to a landmark

—Improved features and promotional pages guiding customers to great offers and deals, helping them find the trip they want for less!

—“My Trips” and “My Accounts” sections that allow customers to view current and previous trips; securely save their payment information and delivery and travel preferences; and send itinerary alerts to up to four contacts, friends, family members or business associates.

—Transatlantic multi-city flight search enabling customers to book more complex flight itineraries, including up to four flights segments, which can arrive and depart from different airports. For example, ebookers customers can now book a flight that departs from Brussels and flies into New York and schedule a return flight departing from Boston back to Brussels on the same itinerary.

“We believe that Europe represents a significant area of growth for online travel companies like ebookers and our parent, Orbitz Worldwide,” said Alan Josephs, managing director, ebookers. “Our migration progress is a win for our business as we become more efficient and a win for our customers, who gain a better user experience when booking travel on the ebookers brand.”