GetThere Expands Sales
and Service Teams in Europe
LONDON, United Kingdom – (25 February, 2008) – GetThere®,
the world's leading online corporate travel procurement solution, today
announced the addition of several employees to help support its growing
European business. New team members are on the ground in Italy, France,
and the United Kingdom, serving existing clients and actively engaging
corporations considering best-in-class travel solutions.
GetThere facilitated the booking of $9.4 billion (USD) in online travel
in 2007, and more than 3,000 companies in 40 countries worldwide use
GetThere today. Bookings via corporate agency resellers in the UK jumped
30 percent last year, evidence of GetThere’s strong presence in
the UK online travel marketplace.
Annette Forbes-Marsden, with 21 years in travel (including seven with
GetThere), oversees GetThere’s sales and marketing efforts across
Europe from London. Annette recently hired Guy Snelgar to specifically
focus on UK sales. Mr. Snelgar brings a wealth of relevant experience,
recently serving as online business development manager for Portman Travel,
and from sales and service positions with Galileo UK.
Another significant addition is Dario Bongiovanni, GetThere’s
business development manager for Italy. Mr. Bongiovanni, a Sabre veteran,
is now focused on growing the nascent Italian online travel arena from
his base in Milan. GetThere will also add a dedicated sales position
for France later this quarter.
GetThere’s industry-leading service team, which supports a host
of multi-national corporates and UK-based clients, also benefits from
an infusion of talent in 2008. Marc Lozier, who served as GetThere’s
customer success manager (CSM) for several prominent companies in the
southeastern U.S., moved to London and now oversees account services
and customer success in Europe. Mr. Lozier’s team of CSMs plays
a unique role, working directly with travel managers and their corporate
agencies to facilitate adoption growth, implement best practices, and
manage programme expansions into countries across Europe, APAC and the
Americas.
Isabelle Fleschen drives GetThere’s continuing growth with large
global travel agencies from her base in Paris. Ms. Fleschen is in her
second year as global partner account manager for EMEA. Two new partner
success managers, Steve Gostling in the UK and Sandro Pezzino in Italy,
work closely with agency resellers to coordinate seamless corporate rollouts
and educate key personnel on GetThere features and enhancements.
Product marketing managers Antoine Katz (France) and Thorsten Zimmerman
(Germany) lead GetThere’s product development in EMEA. Building
off the successful European rollout of GetThere’s new user interface
in 2007, these men focus on helping corporates maximise use of recently
introduced features such as GetThere Green and dynamic messaging. Mr.
Katz and Mr. Zimmerman also work on enhancements that promise to aid
corporates seeking to add automation to their rail and meetings programmes
in 2008.
“With this group of top-notch personnel serving as our foundation,
we’re confident that 2008 will be a landmark year for GetThere
in Europe,” said Forbes-Marsden. “Corporates and our agency
reselling agencies share our belief that online corporate programs are
truly gaining momentum across Europe this year. Our unique combination
of unmatched resources and an unparalleled global client base puts us
in good position to serve corporates across EMEA as they grasp the cost
and efficiency benefits online travel can offer.”
About GetThere
GetThere is the world’s leading global online corporate travel
procurement solution, surpassing $9 billion in gross travel bookings
in 2007. Through its unique technology sharing arrangement with Travelocity(R),
GetThere is an established innovator in the travel arena. GetThere enables
global corporations and government agencies to provide a convenient way
for employees to book travel and plan meetings online while significantly
reducing costs. GetThere estimates that corporations using the GetThere
system collectively saved more than $600 million in airfare in 2007.
GetThere's advanced technology works with all major global distribution
systems (GDS) and all travel management companies. More than 3,000 corporations,
including a majority of Fortune 200 companies that have online booking
sites, use GetThere. More information is available at www.getthere.com.
Sabre Holdings connects people with the world’s greatest travel
possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution
and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about
Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com.
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