Press Releases
Travelocity Business Aids Discovery Communications’ Implementation of Green Travel Program
Media Company Integrates Green Messaging in Online Booking ProcessSOUTHLAKE, Texas – (April 22, 2008) – GetThere(R), the world's leading online corporate travel procurement solution, today announced that Silver Spring, MD-based Discovery Communications is among the first corporations to deploy GetThere Green. The unique set of components in GetThere Green allows companies to integrate green travel policies into their business travel programs.
More than 3,000 companies worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 200 that use an online travel program, used GetThere in 2007 to cumulatively book more than $9 billion in travel. Discovery, a GetThere client since 1999, books more than 80 percent of its travel in the U.S. and U.K. via GetThere.
Introduced to GetThere corporate clients and agency resellers in late 2007, GetThere Green enables companies to integrate their carbon emission data and supplier green status, as well as deliver relevant messaging at the point of sale to educate travelers about the carbon footprint of their journey and impact choices they make in the booking process.
According to Yukari Sison, Discovery’s director of travel services, the company is taking a phased approach to the implementation of its green travel program. “We’re using the messaging capabilities to provide travelers with localized information on their destination, such as local rail transportation options, restaurants with organic menus, etc. Messaging also asks our travelers to pause to consider sharing a rental car with a colleague making the same trip, and perhaps getting a hybrid vehicle.” Discovery is rolling out these messages for its top dozen corporate destinations in North America and Europe.
Discovery is also identifying “green” hotel suppliers on its GetThere travel site. With the help of Discovery’s travel management company, Travelocity Business(R), hotel properties that meet Discovery’s criteria for green partner are highlighted in the booking engine. TBiz also supports Discovery’s green initiative by monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions by market and segment, analyzing data for carbon reduction and/or offset options.
Future phases of Discovery’s rollout will include identifying green air and car suppliers in the online booking process, using dynamic messaging in conjunction with clearly visible icons.
The rollout of GetThere Green dovetails with Discovery’s cross-company initiative, Planet Green, which represents the company’s commitment to document, preserve and celebrate the planet. The initiative includes the first-ever 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network, scheduled to appear in more than 50 million homes in June 2008. “GetThere’s innovative, flexible approach helps us truly walk the talk with our travel program,” says Claire Alexander, vice president of operations & interactive media for Planet Green. "Greening the travel site helps everyone at Discovery become more aware of how their travel choices effect the environment, and provide travelers with a new way of experiencing their destination."
“It’s an honor to play a role in the launch of Discovery’s green travel program,” said GetThere vice president of product marketing and customer experience Suzanne Neufang. “We’re confident that other companies will follow the path companies like Discovery are trailblazing.”
Available today to GetThere users on any GDS, GetThere Green has three key components:
- Integration of Carbon Data – Corporations can embed messaging related to their carbon calculator of choice into the booking process, building awareness among travelers of their travel-related emissions. Companies can consult with GetThere on the algorithms behind the various carbon calculators, and then select the calculator of their choice. By giving companies the option to choose, they can implement a technology that best fits their green policy and employee base.
- Supplier Designation – Air, auto, hotel and rail suppliers with company-blessed designations as a “Green Partner” can be highlighted within the shopping process.
- Dynamic Messaging – Recent technology provides messaging opportunities at key junctures in the shopping process. Companies can use messaging to share anticipated emissions between city pairs, or merely to point out which suppliers and/or properties in a given destination are sustainable.
GetThere Green earned commendation from the Institute of Travel Management and it’s first-ever Project ICARUS Environmental Awards in 2007, a program recognizing green achievements among business travel industry suppliers.
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 http://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.
