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Holiday Extras seeks car hire tie-ups with indie agents

Holiday Extras is aiming to work with more independent travel agents to sell car hire, fresh from landing a distribution deal with Thomson’s retail network.

The company already supplies car hire to Thomas Cook agents following its £2 million acquisition of the travel giant’s add-ons business, Essential Travel, in December 2013.

The latest distribution deal involves the provision of car hire to Thomson agents until 2017. Holiday Extras has partnered with trade-only car hire broker Flexible Autos to offer Tui agents car hire in 17,000 locations across 88 countries.

Head of partnerships James Lewis said: “I don’t think anyone thought we were a serious player in the car hire market before, but in the space of a year, we have won the Thomas Cook and Tui car hire accounts.

“We have got the ability to offer different providers and are ready to roll this out to other retailers.

“We want to grow our car hire business and would look to work with consortia, starting with the relationships we already have in place.”Holiday Extras already offers car parking, hotels, airport lounges and rail tickets through consortia such as Advantage, Global Travel Group and The Travel Network Group.

Lewis said he would welcome enquiries from agents interested in using Holiday Extras to provide car hire to customers.

Partnerships marketing manager Crista Buznea added that the company now had a dedicated car hire team in place.

Flexible Autos group managing director Sue Dixon added: “I am particularly excited as this comes shortly after the launch of our fully inclusive Premium Package for discerning clients.”

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