The OpenTravel Alliance (OTA), the travel industry’s leading distribution specification development organization, remains a must- join travel industry association eight years after its formation, and is changing its membership structure to meet the ongoing demand.

“It’s obvious the philosophy of open standards is still relevant to travel companies across the world,” said John Turato, vice president of technology for the Avis Budget Group and chairman of the OpenTravel Alliance. “The structure and guidance provided by OTA gives industry-leading companies the opportunity to create messaging solutions for the electronic distribution challenges that travel companies in every vertical face every day. By joining the OTA and becoming active, member companies generate credibility for themselves with their investors, their trading partners and their customers.”

New members include travel companies Open Hospitality and New Zealand Automobile Association, along with consulting companies Accenture and TravelDT, technology providers IBS and Thermeon, and distributors Allotz.com and Hotel.de.

And in response to growing demand, OTA has added a new membership type specifically for single consultants. Mark Haley from The Prism Partnership, a Boston-based consulting firm, was the first member in this new category.

"I am excited by the opportunity to join and contribute to the continued success of the OpenTravel Alliance,” said Mark G. Haley, CHTP. "OTA’s consultant member classification opens new avenues of participation for all consultants committed to the industry and I am pleased to benefit from it. The OTA has established the mechanisms for integrating the disparate systems used throughout the travel industry and I look forward to supporting the extension and adoption of those mechanisms to the benefit of my clients and the industry."

Upcoming OpenTravel Events
OpenTravel will host its annual Advisory Forum in Montreal, Quebec on April 17-18, 2007. The event promises to be the most productive two days of the year for planning, developing, and implementing e-commerce for travel industry distribution professionals from every vertical – air, car, cruise, hotel, rail, leisure and destinations.

The agenda will cover e-commerce and distribution topics ranging from real-life examples of mobile device distribution to using OpenTravel messages in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) environment to the always-popular OpenTravel workgroup presentations and interactive round-tables.

For more information about attending, visit . For information about available sponsorships, contact Valyn Perini at [email protected].

About the OpenTravel Alliance
The OpenTravel Alliance is passionate about solving the problems inherent with connecting multiple systems within the complex travel distribution arena.

The OTA's mission is to engineer specifications that make data transmission flow smoothly throughout travel, tourism and hospitality. The OTA creates, expands and drives adoption of open universal data specifications, including but not limited to the use of XML, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel industry.

With a diversified membership representing influential names in all sectors of the travel industry, OTA is comprised of representatives from airlines, car rental firms, hotels, cruise lines, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade associations. Thousands of OTA message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of messages between trading partners every day.

For more information, visit .

Valyn Perini
Executive Director
+1 978 266 0032