Amadeus To Activate Bookings For The Deccan Odyssey

ET&T Staff - Mumbai

Karun Budhraja

Bookings for Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation's (MTDC) luxury train Deccan Odyssey will also take place through the Global Distribution Systems (GDS), as Amadeus, has received exclusive availability for activating reservations and bookings for the state's new luxury venture. The new reservation facility will be offered through Amadeus IHRES which is an advanced distribution product integrated into the Amadeus system. The new service translates into greater convenience for the travel agent, who will now get detailed and timely information pertaining to Deccan Odyssey on the Amadeus system, to make reliable and confirmed reservations.

Apart from Deccan Odyssey, the Amadeus GDS also enables reservation on other luxury trains including "Palace on Wheels" and the "Royal Orient". Deccan Odyssey is a new luxury imperial train that has been introduced by MTDC, which was inaugurated on January 16 in Mumbai by the Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. The weeklong tour on the train includes several exotic destinations covering the vast expanse of Maharashtra primarily Mumbai, Ganpatipule, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Pune, Aurangabad, Ajanta and Ellora.

Elaborating on the new service, Karun Budhraja, deputy general manager, marketing communications, Amadeus India subcontinent said "Offering Deccan Odyssey on the Amadeus GDS is yet another example of our commitment in being the first to bring the latest technology and value added services for our travel agent partners. We are confident that this new facility will enable travel agents to offer compelling packages for the end travellers and thereby garner greater revenues."

Ashish Kumar Singh, managing director, MTDC said, "The Deccan Odyssey is one of the most premium train journeys in the world. Our tie-up with Amadeus will enable bookings for tour operators and travel agents across the world in a seamless fashion. It is an ideal combination of technology and tourism for easier access."

The Amadeus system enables all hotels that are a part of an International Hotel chain or who have an agreement with a hotel reservation company to be automatically represented on the Amadeus GDS. These hotels can then be accessed and booked from any of the Amadeus terminals worldwide. For those properties that do not fall under this category and cannot automatically be represented, the solution is IHRES (Indian Hotel Reservation Systems). IHRES is an efficient and service-based product that has been developed for the Indian market by Amadeus India. Envisaged to promote single hotel properties or smaller hotels across the country, IHRES allows travel agents to access and reserve hotel chains and single hotel properties in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. IHRES has 350 hotel properties registered under its flagship and all these can be accessed and sold anywhere in the world through the Amadeus system by travel agents. This includes 26 ITDC properties and apart from Deccan Odyssey, it also includes India's foremost luxury train - Palace-on-Wheels as well as the Royal Orient that can only be booked through the Amadeus GDS.