Irish car-hire technology firm CarTrawler has won its second innovation accolade this year, scooping the prestigious ‘Budgie Award’ for Innovation in a ceremony that ran alongside the World Low-Cost Airlines Congress in the UK.
A Budgie Award is recognition of the low-cost airline industry’s achievements and contributions to the forward development of the industry. Earlier this year, CarTrawler got the Travel Technology Show’s Innovation Award in London.
CarTrawler is a booking engine and middleware solution created by industry veterans Greg and Niall Turley in 2004 as an effective way to sell car hire by crossing it with airline reservations.
In three years, CarTrawler has signed a total airline passenger audience of over 120 million annually. It naturally pairs flight itineraries with car rental, giving partners real-time access to pricing, availability and bookings from over 450 car-hire suppliers at 17,000 locations.
CarTrawler is due to launch a new desktop product aimed at travel agents, and over the course of the year has announced agreements with airlines in Italy, Spain, Norway and North America.
““The top low-cost airlines in Europe agree that having more than one car rental supplier in their offering is key to maximising their sales of this vital ancillary product,” said Turley.
“We at CarTrawler have partnered with all the top car-hire companies in the world to make this perfect fit of online retailer and supplier happen.
“The shift from a single- to a multi-supplier offering has already driven dramatic improvements for our partner airlines, and we continue to build on that within Europe and further afield in North America and Australasia.”
By Sorcha Corcoran
