Europcar Rewarded At The World Travel Awards

Released on: November 16, 2009, 10:46 am
Author: Europcar
Industry: Automotive

Europcar has been named the World's Leading Car Rental Company, at the 2008 World Travel Awards ceremony in London, following its title of Europe's Leading Car Rental Company in Portugal on October 17.

The World Travel Awards are the 'Oscars' of the travel industry, with 187,000 industry professionals voting for the best company in each category across seven regions of the world.

These two global awards not only reflect Europcar's professionalism but also its commitment to customer satisfaction: a double victory for the group, which further strengthens its position as Europe's number one car rental company.

As the European Leader in short-term light- and utility vehicle rental, Europcar is strongly customer-orientated and strives to listen carefully to its customers' demands. For the last two years the company has taken a global look at its customers' mobility habits with a pan-European survey: the Europcar Mobility Observatory. This has enabled Europcar to better understand and predict drivers' habits across Europe, in order to deploy car rental deals and offers which meet customers' needs.

Europcar has also worked to make progress in innovation and formed partnerships with other leading travel industry players, to offer customers an ever wider and more accessible range of services, as well as renewing agreements with some of the leading names in the European tourism industry. These agreements include easyJet and Swiss, and the launch of a new service of reservations tailored to the customer's needs with ACCOR.

Additional developments include the development of a new B2B website 'click4wheels', known in France as 'Click@ndDrive', which facilitates vehicle reservations through the websites of Europcar's travel agency and tour operator partners. The car rental company has also recently launched a new mobile phone service, which allows users to make or change a reservation, and find the nearest car rental location from compatible mobile phones.

Jehan de Thé, Global Marketing Director of Europcar International, who accepted the trophy in London, commented: "We are truly proud to have won these two awards. They represent our commitment to providing the highest quality of service - a value shared by our entire network, as demonstrated by the awards won by Europcar in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central America."

About Europcar:
Europcar is the European leader in passenger car and light utility vehicle rentals. The company serves business and leisure customers throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Excluding franchise operations, in 2008 Europcar signed more than 10 million rental contracts, with 8,000 employees and a fleet exceeding 225,000 vehicles. In September 2008, Europcar and U.S. market leader Enterprise Rent-A-Car joined forces in a strategic commercial alliance to form the world's largest car rental network, with more than 1.2 million vehicles and 13,000 locations around the world. Europcar is owned by the French investment company Eurazeo.

In addition to being the European market leader, Europcar is leading in its environmental approach to car rental. It opened its first 'environmental agency' in Paris in 1999, and in 2008 it was the first company in Europe to have its 'Environmental Charter' - which formalizes its commitments in favor of sustainable development - certified by Bureau Veritas. In 2008, Europcar was also the first company ever to win the World Travel Award for 'the World's Leading Green Transport Solution Company.'

About the World Travel Awards:
The World Travel Awards were launched in 1993 to promote the travel industry. The awards are given on the basis of votes cast online by travel agents from 187 000 agencies in 160 countries worldwide.

Europcar press contacts:
Jean-Christophe Marteaux
Europcar International
Corporate Communications
5-6 Pl. des freres Montgolfier
Guyancourt
F-78280
France
01 30 44 92 83
www.europcar.com