Successfully launched in the UK earlier this year, European roll-out planned for early 2010.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), a global leader specializing in business travel management, has announced plans to enhance its hotel offering in Europe in the first quarter of 2010 with CWT Room Select, an online hotel booking tool the company successfully launched in the United Kingdom earlier this year.

CWT Room Select provides access to more than 160,000 properties worldwide by searching GDS (global distribution system) and non-GDS property content, both of which are available through CWT Harp, the largest hotel database of any travel management company. Direct links to content aggregators are also available. CWT Room Select has unique features and functionalities no other hotel booking agency or solution provides, including:

• Online access to real-time allocation content
• Last room availability (LRA) contract management to ensure client-negotiated rates and terms are respected
• Dynamically calculated, client-specific city rate caps
• Geo-coded property content
• Real-time synchronization with offline reservations to facilitate booking changes

For optimum savings and greater compliance, preferred properties with client-negotiated rates are prominently featured, as are the lowest available rates, best promotional rates, and CWT-negotiated discounts. CWT Room Select works in harmony with CWT Portrait, the company's profile management solution, and is hosted on CWT Portal, the gateway to all CWT Web-based services.

Commenting on the benefits of CWT Room Select, Jennifer Charlton, CWT vice president, Global Supplier Management, EMEA & Asia Pacific, said: "CWT responded to its clients needs and created a best-in-class solution that is heads and shoulders above any other online hotel booking agency on the market today.

CWT Room Select offers clients the ultimate in terms of hotel content, smart technology and ease of use. With hotel spend totaling almost as much as air spend today, CWT will provide even greater value to clients without the inconvenience multiple intermediaries bring."

Ms. Charlton added: "Earlier this year, we conducted a benchmark for one of our global clients to determine if they would benefit more by booking with CWT or a well-known hotel booking specialist. The study compared room rates, availability, and flexibility with regard to cancellation policies for 10 business hotels around the world on three selected dates. CWT ranked better than they did in all three categories. CWT rates were 5 percent cheaper on average, and we led by a 17-point margin for availability, scoring 93 percent compared to their 76 percent. CWT also ranked first in terms of flexibility. In fact, their policies were more restrictive and sometimes quite costly."