Europcar Launches A Smart Customization System For Car Rental

Released on: September 29, 2009, 7:52 am
Author: Europcar
Industry: Automotive

Europcar and Accor have launched a customized car rental reservation service to facilitate their customers' travel and lodging plans. When an Accor customer confirms a hotel reservation on www.accorhotels.com, a pre-selection of three vehicles available for
rental from Europcar is proposed. The selection is based on the customer's destination, hotel and length of stay.

Accor is the first hotel group to use the new, more dynamic and efficient online reservation system developed by Europcar. Accor customers reserving a Europcar vehicle through this system qualify for exclusive discounts of up to 20% on the cost of their car rental. Members of the Accor AClub loyalty program can earn points and benefit from special conditions on their vehicle rental.

"We are delighted to take our longstanding partnership with Accor on to the next level," stated Rafael Girona, Chief Operating Officer of Europcar Groupe. "Thanks to this new service, we can provide a high-quality, intelligent and dynamic offering to meet customers' specific needs."

According to Pascal Mergez, Accor's Director of Transportation Partnerships, "This new service constitutes a milestone in the partnership between Accor and Europcar. We rely on our respective strengths to offer our customers high value-added products and services that are easy to reserve."

Accor E-Commerce Director Romain Roulleau added: "We need to constantly adapt to the needs of increasingly unpredictable customers. Cross-selling, and especially the addition of partners to the reservation channel, will help to make the accorhotels.com portal a genuine distribution platform for the sale of complementary services. Our partnerships, such as the one with Europcar, represent a means of securing the customer loyalty while generating traffic and additional revenue."

In addition to Accor, Europcar has also forged strategic partnerships with easyJet, Europe's leading low-cost airline, and with TUI, the world's number one tour operator. Europcar has also established a strategic commercial alliance with Enterprise, the leading vehicle rental company in North America; together, they form the world's largest car rental network. In addition to these flagship partnerships, Europcar has more than 80 international agreements with prominent travel industry players.

About Europcar:
Europcar is the European leader in passenger car and light utility vehicle rentals. The company serves business and leisure customers throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Excluding franchise operations, in 2008 Europcar signed more than 10 million rental contracts, with 8,000 employees and a fleet exceeding 225,000 vehicles. In September 2008, Europcar and U.S. market leader Enterprise Rent-A-Car joined forces in a strategic commercial alliance to form the world's largest car rental network, with more than 1.2 million vehicles and 13,000 locations around the world. Europcar is owned by the French investment company Eurazeo.

In addition to being the European market leader, Europcar is leading in its environmental approach to car rental. It opened its first "environmental agency" in Paris in 1999, and in 2008 it was the first company in Europe to have its "Environmental Charter" - which formalizes its commitments in favour of sustainable development - certified by Bureau Veritas. In 2008, Europcar was also the first company ever to win the World Travel Award for "the World's Leading Green Transport Solution Company."

Media contacts for more information:
Lorie Lichtlen
Burson-Marsteller
6 rue Escudier
Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex
Paris
92772
+33 1 41 86 76 60
www.europcar.com