Thrifty Car Rental Relaunches Thrifty.Com Web Site With Enhanced Features
12 June 2000
Thrifty Car Rental Relaunches Thrifty.Com Web Site With Enhanced Features
TULSA, Okla. - Thrifty Car Rental launched an all-new version of its
Thrifty.com web site today with enhanced features for customers and travel
agents that make the site significantly easier to navigate.
Along with a new, more user-friendly design, Thrifty.com has streamlined
its functionality through a new graphics interface created by XOR Inc.,
Thrifty Car Rental's new Internet agency of record. XOR's other clients
include RE/MAX and Churchill Downs; online retailers OurHouse.com,
Sneakers.com and Vitamins.com; and Apartments.com, the fastest growing online
apartment guide in the country.
Specifically, the redesigned site features include:
-- Graphics that download faster and that are arranged in a more user-
friendly fashion;
-- The opportunity for consumers and travel agents to sign up to receive
e-mail notifications on upcoming specials or discounts;
-- An improved location "search" function that provides multiple pathways
for users to find the best Thrifty location, either by city, state,
zip code or airport designation, or by proximity to a given
destination;
-- Location-specific pages that will be added on an almost daily basis
providing more in-depth information on local discounts or specials,
specialty vehicles, Thrifty airport parking and other details;
-- A vastly-expanded "Frequently Asked Questions" section to aid
travelers; and
-- An easier-to-use "Contact Us" page, that better facilitates
communication between users and the appropriate contact person at
Thrifty.
"Thrifty is extremely pleased with the exciting new graphic design and
increased functionality we are able to deliver to web shoppers with
Thrifty.com," said Brian Carpenter, Vice President of Sales, Marketing and
Advertising at Thrifty Car Rental. "On an almost daily basis, the bar has
been raised on customer's web expectations, not just by Thrifty's competitors
in the car rental arena, but also by the great service experiences web users
have had with other Internet retailers. To that end, XOR has made fundamental
changes in Thrifty.com that I believe will positively impact the user's
experience, and there will be even more changes in the future.
"At this time, over 16% of Thrifty's reservations are Internet-derived,"
said Carpenter, "coming from Travelocity, Expedia and other online sources in
addition to Thrifty.com. Because this is such a significant and growing
source of reservations for us, we are compelled to find new ways to make it
easy for our customers to do business with us."
XOR (pronounced EX-or) is a full-service provider that assembles and
manages customized solutions for eBusinesses. XOR's eCM(TM) (eCommerce
Management) offering combines strategy, business process expertise, design and
operations services with a proprietary business management tool,
VisionPort(TM), which enables real-time eBusiness management.
XOR was founded in 1991, has headquarters in Boulder, Colo., and operates
in four regions with more than 400 employees serving clients throughout North
America. The company offers a full suite of services that go beyond what
traditional Internet integrators and ASPs offer. XOR's nine-year history of
internetworking and Internet expertise allow the company to assist clients with
today's technologies and position them to take advantage of the emerging wave of
eMarkets, broadband deployment and wireless portals.
Thrifty Car Rental, with its affiliate Thrifty Car Sales, is a subsidiary
of Thrifty, Inc. Thrifty Car Rental is one of the world's largest
international car rental franchise networks, consisting of over
1,200 locations in 66 countries around the world. Thrifty Car Sales is a
franchised retail used car sales network with plans to have 60 U.S. locations
in the U.S. by January 2001. Thrifty, Inc. is a subsidiary of Dollar Thrifty
Automotive Group, Inc. .
