HARS Systems, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary, VIP International Corporation, announced the launch of its proprietary hotel and car rental website.
On Thursday, October 21, 1999 the site went live under the URL CarsandHotels.com. It allows for the online interactive booking of VIP’s 3,200 plus hotel and car rental locations.
Internet users now have immediate access to real-time hotel rates, inventory, property descriptions and information about amenities, and will receive immediate confirmation of their booking requests.
VIP plans to integrate the real-time car rental product by the end of November and will provide the Internet user with the ability to book both car rental and hotels online. Until then, cars can be booked through the site via an e-mail link to the system.
Unlike many of the e-commerce travel sites, VIP is not connecting to an airline global distribution system (GDS). Instead, VIP is bypassing the GDS and connecting the site directly to its booking engine. This eliminates a middleman and reduces distribution expenses.