Amadeus, a Spain-based IT provider for the travel industry, has integrated Chinese startup Heycars’ service into its distribution platform to provide its travel agency clients with more options for mobility, according to the conglomerate’s press release sent to KrASIA on Wednesday.
Kai Zou, CEO and co-founder of Heycars, which was set up in Guangzhou in 2015, said, “Heycars facilitates the booking of chauffeur-driven cars by the hour, ideal for foreigners who are unable to rent and drive in a country such as China.” Heycars offers online rental for a variety of chauffeured vehicles, ranging from economy five-seaters to luxury sedans, and even a 53-seater coach for larger groups. It has a presence in 240 airports in 214 cities across 93 countries, according to the press release.
Peter Altmann, head of mobility and insurance at Amadeus, said that Heycars’ service has been integrated onto the Amadeus Transfers Platform, which brings together airline, hotel, alternative lodging, rail and ground transport, as well as in-destination content in one place. He added that this cooperation allows travel agencies using Amadeus’ product to search and book professional car services at competitive rates through Heycars.
Amadeus says on its website that it operates in more than 190 markets and is one of the top ten software companies in the world, citing a Forbes 2018 global ranking.
Amadeus’ travel agency air bookings increased by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year to 162.6 million globally, but was down 12.6% in the Asia Pacific region. The number of passengers boarded using its tech rose 4.6% worldwide to 436.1 million, including an increase by 4.4% in Asia and the Pacific, according to Australian media outlet Travel Weekly.
The company made a profit of EUR 334.7 million (USD 375 million) in the first three months of this year, up 9.5% year-on-year.
The little-known Heycars emerged from the Amadeus Next program, which is aimed to help startups scale into big companies by building their technologies, offering expert advice, boosting customer reach, and offering referrals for funding.
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