Amadeus Rolls Out Partnerships With Global Bus Networks

Unless you’re selling a motorcoach tour, booking a bus ride to the airport or between cities can be a thankless task, given the sheer number of suppliers in this space and the dearth of convenient booking channels. 

Now, Amadeus is partnering with Distribution and Betterez, two companies that offer inventory and support in this sector, to make this transportation option more accessible to travel agents.

Distribution has inventory from more than 300 airport bus transfer and intercity bus operators, in 2,500 destinations around the world. Through the partnership, Amadeus will offer a “single gateway” to travel sellers, offering content, search, booking, payment, ticketing and settlement capabilities. 

Distribution's content will first be made available to agencies in Europe and then rolled out to other regions soon. It will be complemented by the arrangement with Betterez, a sales operations and back-office platform that allows bus operators to promote their product in direct and indirect channels.

“Traveling by bus is an attractive choice for many, but could be for many more,” said Antoine de Kerviler, head of rail and ground travel at Amadeus. The idea is to enable agents to put all transportation, from bus to rail and flights, on the same itinerary. “This is door-to-door travel at its best,” he said.

“Travel sellers are paying more attention to bus travel,” Distribusion CEO Julian Hauck said, and “they’ve been longing to add this kind of content in a simple, standardized and effective way.”