The Global Traveler Program is now LIVE! Major marketing additions have been made to Car Rental Express.com. The Revolution reservation system has improvements too. Read all about it …

Global Traveler Program

This exciting new Distribution Network program is now LIVE! Several beta agencies are up and running, and another dozen agencies are in the set up process. We look forward to significant traffic from European airline carriers, hotels, travel groups and other sources. Find out more about this premium program. More …

Car Rental Express.com

There are some great new features at the Car Rental Express.com website. The Homepage has been completely redesigned and updated, to reflect the site’s dedication to Independent Car Rental Agencies.Based on real reviews by real renters, Renter Ratings continue to be featured prominently. Agencies with the highest ratings in popular locations now automatically appear on the Homepage. Headers and Footers have been redesigned for the overall site.

An “In The News” page has been added, linked from trusted news sources on the main page, like Trip Advisor. A “CRX Connections Newsletter” page has been added. Benefits of renter participation include car rental advice and special deals. In the Rental Center, credit card deposits are now clearly associated with car pickup at the counter, to promote more bookings.

In the Comparison Guide, nearby locations (within 50 miles) have been added to the primary page for a location, so that visitors can shop around for the best rates at their destination. Ongoing search engine optimization continues, to bring more organic traffic to the Comparison Guide or Places pages.

Revolution Manager

• Passwords are no longer e-mailed following change in Manager, for better security.
• Administrative improvements make Kayak set up and new Business Partner additions more efficient.
• Kayak e-mail notifications have been improved; Agency logo uploading too.
• It is now possible to reorder Rental Length restrictions lists as desired.
• Age range displays have been corrected.

RMS Connectors

Improvements have been made to RentCentric, Bluebird and TSD/Weblink connectors. Agencies using those systems will find better data transfer and conductivity to Kayak.

Announcing Revolution Release 1.12.1

Global Traveler additions and Car Rental Express.com improvements are just part of this release. Read all about it, and Manager improvements as well.

Car Rental Express

Our flagship site is now reaching out to more renters through social media. An invitation to the CRX Connections newsletter is available to renters. The Facebook “Like” button has a few hundred hits already, and you can visit our Facebook page for car rental tips and updates. Follow us at twitter.com/CarRentalXpress.

Best of all, there is a Vegas Sweepstakes contest featured at our Facebook site. Entry is free, and the prize includes airfare, hotel, car rental, and cash, for a luxury weekend in Las Vegas.

The Car Rental Express.com rate search results page has a clean new look, for easier use by renters and better conversions. Likewise, the city and airport pages have a new call to action and feature best rates. You can see these in the world directory or car rental comparison section.

Revolution Manager

The Revolution Rental Center has a great new option, the Extra Products “Group Type”. Every extra can be assigned to one of the following now: “Equipment”, “Coverage” or “Misc”. By default all existing and new extras are placed into “Misc” category. If the “Equipment” or “Coverage” option is chosen, a new dropdown will appear with options from the OTA standards list. Extra products are available to Global Traveler program participants also. Additional Manager improvements are listed below.

Global Traveler (GT) Program Launch

The GT Connector is completed, tested and ready to go live. It includes the Extra Products option described in Revolution Manager. Four agencies will participate in the program startup, and another 10 are standing by, waiting to go live soon after that. Don’t miss this great opportunity to get prepaid rentals from Europeans and postpaid rentals from North Americans. The program caters to airline travelers, so your car rental agency will get great vacation and business rentals.

The car rental comparison and rate search updates designed for Car Rental Express.com have also been applied to the Global Traveler Program, to help turn visitors into renters. Agency profiles, reviews and comments are also available.

Global Traveler Prepaid and Postpaid reports have been created for administrative users, who can easily see total billing results for each agency. These snapshots help with accurate invoicing. There is convenient no-show reporting built-in to postpaid reservation reports. Agency administration is easy for the GT program.

Traffic Exchange (TE) Program Additions

There is a Connector update for TE partners. The new version uses familiar variables and values, for ease-of-use by Partners, our sources of TE traffic. The previous version of the connector is still in use also - Partners do not need to make changes. The correct vehicle type is now retained on transfer from partner pages.

Car rental comparison and rate search updates have also been applied to the Traffic Exchange Program. Agency profiles, reviews and comments are also available.

Current TE program partners include the following: BookingBuddy.com, LowFares.com, LeapConcepts.com, OneTime.com, BookingWiz.com, TravelZoo.com, HelloMetro.com, and Sojern.com.

Aria / Billing System Additions and Changes

• Created Aria billing plans for Global Traveler Prepaid and Postpaid services
• Inquiries charges were increased from $3.50 to $5.50 effective June 1st

More Manager Improvements

• Image browsers and text editors are fixed throughout manager pages
• Requirement for a unique phone number for locations is removed
• Kayak Click Purchase corrected
• Rate Options for “How long is the month?” are now saved and displayed
• Notification Options for “Auto Reservation Reminder” is now saved and displayed
• RentCentric locations are now imported correctly

RentCentric Support: Improvements have been made in this connector support, to show age and vehicle preferences. Web services have been updated.

The Revolution™ Reservation System now powers a rebuilt Car Rental Express.com (CRX) website, for launch June 8, 2010. ExpressITech is delighted to announce major enhancements in the Revolution R 1.10 release today, May 26, 2010. Most importantly, Revolution is re-integrated with an entirely rebuilt CRX website. This gives us the capability to grow and expand the CRX site content with confidence over time. Some of the best features of the new site are listed next.

More great Revolution and Manager interface features are outlined below.
Among them are two brand new products: Revolution Website in-a-Box and Revolution Mobile Website.

Car Rental Express.com (CRX)

Modern graphics and a clean navigational design, aimed at increasing conversion of visitors into car renters.

Continuous city update capability, so that Rate Comparison, World Directory, and Discount pages are always up-to-date with the cities where we have agencies.

A mini Rental Center on every page, to ensure visitors can always see their
current reservation information and engage in the rental process.

Addition of our very own Blog! Submit your agency, city or travel articles to Robyn@CarRentalExpress.com, to be considered for inclusion.

Renter Rated agency rating system introduction to replace the consumer reliability index (CRI). Renters can now add their rationale to ratings and comments appear at the CRX site.

The new Renter Rated badge is not branded with the CRX logo and will make a powerful addition to any private agency website. Contact Support@CarRentalExpress.com, to get your own Renter Rated badge today.

Updated Tips and Travel Resource sections. Easy to read.

Specialty Vehicles section that allows renters to search for specific vehicles, like Sport and Luxury cars, Hybrids, Vans and Motorcycles

Welcome to SIXT! - This well respected agency operates in 80+ countries outside North America and makes a welcome addition to the CRX world-wide presence.

Revolution Website in-a-Box

If you need an affordable online presence, we have the right product for you. The Revolution Reservation System has been packaged to allow it to function as a Website in-a-Box. Read more about the product benefits listed here:

• No Web Programming is Needed
• The Reservation System shows Your Company Branding
• Rich Colour Sets are Available for Selection
• Online Demo Site, for your Evaluation
• Get On-line in 24-hours, after CRX setup
• Centralized Data in Revolution Manager

Introducing the Revolution Mobile Website

The same Revolution™ Reservation System that you already have, the one that powers your private website, now offers the perfect mobile presence.

The Revolution Rental Center has been crunched down to fit on the small screen.

Any smart mobile device can walk through the steps of the rental process, from rate search and vehicle options, right through to a confirmed reservation.

The Revolution mobile screens are tailored to show only essential car-rental data. Renters can quickly walk through a set of clean screens, to book their reservation.
Read more about this groundbreaking new product.

Significant Manager Improvements - the Revolution User Interface

• Icon Titles: Added descriptive titles to most icons for better system usability.
• Group Images: Uploading enhancements for Group Images.
• Faster page loading performance, via new data caching strategies.
• Visitor Rental-Step Tracking: New report for tracking visitor’s progress through the reservation system: The ability to view the number of visitors at each rental step.
• Industry Categories: Addition of Industry Categories for vehicle types (standard vehicles, motorcycles,
  motorhomes, etc).

• Blackout Names: Ability to name Blackouts, for easy identification and management.
• More Access: New easy access links to your CRX Profile and your private label website.
• New Rate Feature: Ability to copy seasonal rates from a specific rate code.
• Multi-Tab Browser Support: You can now have 2 or more tabs of
  Manager open, without any problems.

Revolution™ Reservation System Enhancements

• eVox Images Updates: Images now include all 2010 and 2011 models. Update your agency vehicle images to improve rental conversions. Larger and cleaner images for vehicle display at CRX and your private website using the Revolution reservation system.
• Reservation eMail: Updates to reservation emails, for better display of all information, including locations, as well as cleaner display of links back to your agency.
• More Vehicle Details: Display of the cost for Insurances and Extra Options on the Vehicle Details page.

Revolution Upgrades

• Feature Improvements: Resolution of many, many minor feature related issues.

Revolution Release R1.9 is live, as of November 17. Here are some of the developments of interest to agencies:

Pay Per Click Network -

Revolution Manager now shows both Kayak and Compare Car Rentals.com as Pay Per Click or PPC Networks, although the Compare program is not yet active. The upgrade includes a new look and feel with nicer graphs, additional statistics and an account overview page. New signups to our PPC Networks receive 3% free clicks on their first purchase, to check the appearance of their vehicles on-line.

Car Rental Express.com (CRX) Redesign is in Progress

The CRX site is receiving a major upgrade, with a stylish new look and improved navigation. The same great reservation capabilities will be in place and our team is working hard on this upgrade. A site relaunch will take place relatively early in 2010.

Vehicle Image Popup Redesign

This new design allows for cross browser support so that Popups can appear on such browsers as Chrome and Safari. The new popup is also more intuitive and user friendly.

Systems Admin / Procedural

Our server platform has been enhanced with a more efficient backup solution. Additional automated monitoring has been added, making the system best in class.

Some Great Additional Revolution Features

• Improved calendars for pickup and dropoff dates
• One day rates display
• Updates to billing reports
• Revolution code upgrades
• Several client updates

Nucar Connection

There is now a Nucar connection which brings a lot of international representation to CRX and will increase the number of reservations received from overseas.

It is with great pride that Express Internet Technologies is launched.

The site is the culmination of many years of disparate knowledge being accessed from different industry professionals and combined to inaugurate an advanced level of rental industry information and solutions. The rental knowledge base for ExpressITech is from the car rental industry.

Renting is defined as providing a service or an article for a definite or indefinite time period in exchange for payment. The rental industry prospers in most economic situations, allowing expansion in good times and replacing capital outlays in slower periods. To optimize rentals, the Internet needs to be used in its entirety to market and secure reservations. Prospective renters are best served with complete information, and a user-friendly interactive reservation system. ExpressITech’s applications actualize these goals, and we’re continually working to improve our systems to bring you more online business.

At ExpressITech it is our mantra to serve both the rental company and the renter. Our years of experience jointly in bricks & mortar and online rentals provide you with an exceptional outlook on the rental industry.

Let us supply your company with Internet products that will result in a better top line.