Expedia extends corporate-travel service to China with call center

Expedia's corporate-travel division is making its first foray into China.

Expedia Corporate Travel said Tuesday it has begun offering a call-center service for companies in China through a partnership with eLong of Beijing. The service allows business travelers to talk with agents who speak both English and Mandarin.

"Internet use in China is on the rise, but the demand right now is for a high-quality phone service," said Pam Keenan Fritz, vice president of Asia-Pacific and global partnerships at Expedia Corporate Travel, which is based in Bellevue. "In China, most business travelers start planning a trip two to three days out. They want to be able to speak to someone, know that their trip is confirmed and then head out to the airport."

Expedia Corporate Travel said the deal with eLong — China's second-biggest online travel agency — represents its entry into the Asia-Pacific market. The division already has operations outside the United States in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Expedia Corporate Travel said the partnership with eLong provides business travelers with access to more than 4,700 hotels in more than 330 cities across China, as well as flights to more than 70 major cities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The new service is "aimed primarily at our current customer base, which are companies headquartered in North America and Europe" doing business in China, Fritz said. "But as we grow the business, we'll be open to customers of large businesses based in China."

Parent company Expedia entered China's online travel market by investing in eLong in 2004 and is its largest shareholder with a 52 percent ownership position.

Top competitors American Express and Carlson Wagonlit already serve China's corporate-travel market, estimated at about $26 billion. At the end of 2006, China was the fourth-largest business-travel market, behind the United States, Japan and Germany, said Tracy Paurowski, spokeswoman at American Express Business Travel, which began operating in China in 1999 through a partnership with Hong Kong-based Farrington Travel.

Laurie Berg, a spokeswoman at Minneapolis-based Carlson Wagonlit, said most business travelers in China use agents to book trips over the phone, though online bookings slowly have begun to increase.

Amy Martinez: 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com