Enterprise ditches Orbitz

Enterprise Holdings has ended its relationship with online travel portal Orbitz in the latest in a string of disputes between large travel providers and their online distribution partners.

Enterprise Holdings has ended its relationship with online travel portal Orbitz in the latest in a string of disputes between large travel providers and their online distribution partners.

The company owns and operates nearly 1 million rental vehicles across its brands. Effective April 1, all the listings from Enterprise’s three brands — Alamo Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Enterprise Rent-A-Car — will be pulled from Orbitz and sister site CheapTickets.

Enterprise announced the decision on Wednesday, citing the online travel agent’s “unacceptably high commission rates” for the Enterprise brand and a decision by Orbitz to drop National and Alamo from its listings.

“Their position greatly limits consumer choice and makes renting a car less affordable,” said Pam Nicholson, Enterprise Holdings president and CEO.

Orbitz said it has replaced Enterprise Holdings with other car rental suppliers.

“Moving forward, we will continue to give to give customers choice among a robust selection of car rental options — including Hertz, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Thrifty, Advantage and other leading suppliers — that will fully meet travelers’ needs,” they said in a statement.

Enterprise, Alamo and National vehicles may still be booked through the company websites, other online travel sites and through travel agents, Enterprise’s statement said.

The car rental giant isn’t the only major company to sever ties with Orbitz.

American Airlines has been pushing to cut out intermediaries and channel business through its own distribution system. The carrier stopped offering its tickets on Orbitz late last year and has also stopped listing on Expedia and Hotwire.

Consumer analysts watching the airline distribution tug-of-war worry that taking away options for price comparison makes shopping for low air fares more difficult.

And this Enterprise development might make finding a deal on a car just a little bit harder too.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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