PayMate partners with Akbar Travels to offer car bookings via SMS

PayMate partners with Akbar Travels to offer car bookings via SMS

May 25, Mumbai: Customers booking cars at airport counters or through local agents can now take it easy. PayMate, India’s leading wireless transactions company has partnered with Akbar Car Rentals, India’s largest private car rental agency, to initiate car bookings via a simple SMS. To begin with the service will be available in 6 cities and soon be extended to 10 cities in the next couple of weeks.

Any customer who wishes to book a vehicle just needs to SMS CAR to 667711. A customer service executive will call back to complete all booking details and payment formalities. All confirmation and cancellation details will be communicated via an automated SMS engine. This service is available 24×7 which means even last minute bookings are possible. Customers can call for a pick-up from the airport or anywhere in the city. The service is currently being launched in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trivandrum, Pune and Ahmedabad. In the coming weeks Delhi, Kolkata and Vizag will also be added to this list.

Ajay Adiseshann, MD & Founder of PayMate says “The core idea is to make the process of car bookings simpler. Instead of queuing up at the airport counter or calling local agents, all the customer now needs to do is send an SMS. The service will come in handy especially for frequent business travelers who often have last minute travel plans and find it difficult to co-ordinate a car booking. Naturally Akbar Travel’s national footprint and monopolistic strengths at the airports make them the ideal partners to offer this service.”

K.V. Abdul Nazar, Chairman & MD of Akbar Travels says “Given the dynamics of the car booking business, we realize that car bookings often are a last minute requirement and telephone numbers of car agencies rarely come in handy. Booking at the airport counter also takes up time precious time for a business traveler so in cases sending an SMS is a lot simpler. Our 24×7 helpdesk does the rest and the customer’s car will be waiting wherever and whenever needed. For Akbar Travels this is yet another step to offer its customers utmost convenience.”

PayMate has already launched its Fly Buy Sms service which has seen a very positive response for flight ticketing via SMS. Now with car bookings and hotel booking (to be launched shortly) the company aims to strengthen its hold in the travel industry.

About PayMate

PayMate India Pvt Ltd Is India’s leading a wireless transactions platform provider based in Mumbai. PayMate India has been spun off by Coruscant Tec, a mobile content developer and aggregator, to offer comprehensive mobile commerce solutions. PayMate was founded in May 2006 by Ajay Adiseshann, Founder and MD, Coruscant Tec and Co-founder, Probir Roy.

In a short span of time PayMate India has already created an m-payment eco-system which already comprises of over 3000 merchants across categories and interfaces. These include online portals, voice portals, utilities, airlines, restaurants and retailers. PayMate has also recently partnered with Infonox, USA, to launch its mobile payment applications for the US market.

PayMate India is funded by Silicon Valley based Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures who have helped build some of the world’s leading brands and companies like Amazon, Google, Sun Microsystems and Netscape etc. For more information log on to www.paymate.co.in

About Akbar Group

The Akbar Group of Companies consists of:

Akbar Travels of India Pvt. Ltd, which has been in the travel industry for the past 29 years, has 37 IATA branches spread all over the country with over 30 satellite offices nationwide, serving millions of satisfied customers every year.

Benzy Holidays, is the Akbar Group’s venture into the Holiday business. Benzy Holidays specializes in providing Business as well as Holiday Travel Services, and has created a niche for itself in the Tourism Industry.

Akbar Car Rental, also part of the Akbar Group, has the widest network and the strongest infrastructure capability, making it the best car rental service in the business. Akbar Car Rental provides transportation to any given destination across, the country, as well as from most major airports. With a fleet of more than 500 well maintained cars Akbar Car Rental has cars for every budget and requirement. For more information log on to www.akbartravelsonline.com