VictoriaCars, pioneers in the launch of the OTA-XML technology for its car hire services in Alicante Airport, Murcia...

With this new system, the pursued objective by VictoriaCars is to speed up their car hire Alicante Airport, Murcia services when a reservation is made through an agency.

This technology enables the computer servers at Victoria Rent a Car and at the agency’s to communicate with out the need of any human interaction and always in real-time, eliminating any waiting times that would be caused if the reservations where made under human management.

What is the OTA-XML standard?

XML is a language used to distribute information and OTA is the standard of communication for booking tourism accommodation, allowing businesses to perform bookings through electronic transaction for hotels, airlines, car hire, loyalty marketing, etc. with other tourism businesses, automatically and unattended.

OTA is the standard for sharing information between reservation systems, and the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) association is the one who defines these standards.

It is a non-profit and self-financing organisation that includes large air lines, hotels, car hire companies, leisure providers, travel agents, GDS, technology providers and others that work to create and put into service e-business specifications for the entire tourism industry.

These specifications form a common language aimed at encouraging e-business system development to create new services that can better attend the demand and expectations of travellers and the travel industry.

How does this benefit the customer?

At present you can solicit, for example, services for a car hire Murcia from VictoriaCars website or also from the website of any of the agencies that collaborate with them.

If the reservation were to be made through VictoriaCars website, the communication between the website and the server would be done in real-time, so that immediately after making the reservation, the customer receives an e-mail confirmation.

However, if the booking was made through the website of one of the agencies, this would have been remitted to VictoriaCars manually for its validation, and the confirmation process on VictoriaCars part was also done manually. Due to this, the time it took to receive an answer confirming the reservation to the customer sometimes surpassed 12 hours, with the consequent discomfort that this put upon the customer.

With the implantation of the new OTA-XML technology the problem disappears completely. Thanks to this technology the computer servers at VictoriaCars and those of the agents are able to interact directly, without any human intervention.

Thus, when a customer solicits a booking through an agencies website for, for example, car hire Alicante Airport services, the computer servers will contact each other through XML in order to confirm the reservation in real-time.

For more information please visit http://www.victoriacars.com

22nd Oktoberfest in Calpe has begun

From 1st till 12th of October Calpe is celebrating its 22nd Oktoberfest organized by the Carnival Club Calpe. The also called "Fiesta Alemana de la Cerveza" in Calpe is the most famous festival of that kind, celebrated in Spain.

VictoriaCars - Car Hire Alicante Airport is pleased to announce once again the traditional celebration of the Oktoberfest in the Province of Alicante, more precisely in Calpe. This year, the tent will space over 15,000 square meters and will be located centrally and easy to access behind Calpe's Tennis Club with the possibility to park for free.

VictoriaCars itself has its head office in Calpe and recommends to all clients and holidaymakers not to miss this great multi-cultural event on the Costa Blanca. The Oktoberfest in Calpe will take place from the 1st to the 12th of October and will be open every day from 18:00pm without admission fees. All clients and Calpe visitors are invited to taste the German delicacies like the tasty sausages Nuremberg, Frankfurt or Krakauer, the typical salads, the knuckles of pork and, of course, the original "Paulaner" beer from Munich.

But besides being only a gourmet evening, the Oktoberfest visitors will also enjoy folklore with performances of the "Original Steinsberger Musikanten" which will give a concert every day and put the guests into good humour.

This festival has its origin in Munich with the celebration the engagement of Prince Ludwig, later known as Ludwig I, with the Princess Theresa of Saxony-Hildburghausen. On 12 of October 1810, all citizens of Munich were invited to the wedding which took place on a meadow in the city. Since then, the conclusion was repeated year after year on the Theresienwiese when circumstances have allowed it. Munich's Oktoberfest is visited every year by year by more than 6 millions of visitors and is considered as one of the biggest folk festivals on the world.

Calpe's Oktoberfest tradition started in 1988, this is why the German beer festival has been established as unmissable event of this kind on the Spanish territory. And while it is obvious that the magnitude of Calpe's Oktoberfest is quite far from the one in Munich, the Oktoberfest in Calpe is at least accompanied with all Bavarian elements to spend a few really special days.

XXII Oktoberfest Calpe Program

Thursday 1 October
Opening. The tap of the Paulaner barrel. The Coronation of the Queen of Oktoberfest 2009. Music with Andy and the Steinsberger. Jamboree with Franzi of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Friday 2 October
Beer Mug Lifting Competition. Showtime with the Steinsberger and Franzi. Oktoberfest-Party with Steffi.

Saturday 3 October
Oktoberfest-Party with the Steinsberger and Franzi. Oldie Night music from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Sunday 4 October
Music with Andy and the Steinsberger. Oldie Night with music from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Beer Mug Lifting Competition.

Monday 5 October
Happy Hour and Showtime with the Steinsberger and Andy.

Tuesday 6 October
Happy Hour and Showtime with the Steinsberger and Andy.

Wednesday 7 October
Happy Hour and Showtime with the Steinsberger and Andy. Beer Mug Lifting Competition.

Thursday 8 October
Happy Hour and Showtime with the Steinsberger and Andy.
Tombola and Showtime "Oldies but Goodies".

Friday 9 October
Happy Hour and Showtime with the Steinsberger. Final Beer Mug Lifting Competition. Oktoberfest-Party with Steffi.

Saturday 10 October
Music with the Original Steinsberger. Oldie Night with music from the 70s, 80s and 90s and tombola.

Sunday 11 October
Biker Day

Monday 12 October
Tourist Day

Victoria Rent a Car from Calpe participates every year in this event and offers car hire services in Murcia Airport as well as car hire Alicante airport for those who are looking for visiting Calpe's XXII. Oktoberfest as comfortable as possible.
Last but not least, please remember: VictoriaCars gives the advice to not drink and drive! So everyone can enjoy the Oktoberfest 2009 to the fullest.

Car Hire Murcia - shortage on rental cars continues.

Now it has became common knowledge. The car rental companies in Spain run out of cars due to the high demand in the current peak season.

After having experienced a similar situation during last Easter, VictoriaCars already foresaw the difficulties for the summer rentals. Given the situation, VictoriaCars - Car hire Murcia informed its customers of the possible shortage during the summer peak season and encouraged to make reservations in advance.

However, many customers have been waited until the last minute and finally could not get a car. Because inevitably, VictoriaCars had been run out of available vehicles, like many other Spanish car rental companies, too.

The question now is, are we dealing here with one particular case or should European holidaymakers be prepared for further shortages during peak periods.

According to some forecasts, the current scarcity will last until into the fall. Not only that, it is anticipated that this situation will extend to all existing holiday periods during the year (Christmas, Easter, bridging days, long weekends and so on) and even to the summer 2010 campaign.

Moreover, the scarcity is not the only problem: the current situation has caused a substantial increase of car rental prices by the companies in this sector. A car hire Murcia presently can cost up to 30% more than for the same period last year. It is a question of the "law of supply and demand."

Obviously, the cause of this situation can be seen in the economic recession Spain is experiencing. On the one hand, companies in general are suffering from the lack of financing, that also prevents that companies within the car rental sector in particular can expand their fleets. Moreover, even when financing is provided, the difficult times companies in the automotive sector are going through make them highly unlikely to sale their new cars to car rental companies. The common custom that a car hire enterprises could acquire a vehicle for a agreed period of time, and after wards could be sure that the rental car would be repurchased by the dealer is almost abolished. The car dealers are not willing to collaborate to these conditions as these repurchases saturate the second-hand car market and make it more difficult to sale new cars.

To put it in a nutshell, VictoriaCars - Car Hire Murcia, points the difficulty of its branch out to its customers and expects them to take measures and precautions, so they can enjoy the next Spain holidays with a car hire Murcia Airport , Alicante or Madrid.

VictoriaCars twitters in English, Spanish and German

Today has been the first day for all three sites of VictoriaCars in Twitter. The car hire company from Spain has started with it's English site already in April and it is very happy about the followers who join us on http://twitter.com/VictoriaCars.
The microblogging could stand the test, that's why we can have adapted the current look and feel with the possibilities twitter offers es and have launched two sites more:

• On http://twitter.com/rentacarbarato Spanish speaking folks are welcome to join their favorite rent a car from Spain and can post what currently bother them...¡¡Todos esteis invitados a participar!!


• German speaking fans and followers of VictoriaCars are invited to meet us on http://twitter.com/mietautospanien. Zwitschern Sie gleich mit auf unserer deutschen Twitter-Site!!

For all, who does not a twitter account yet, don't worry about long registration and the handling of your personal information. Twitter allows you to register in less than 5min and leaves it to you to put your real name or just a nickname for your personal site. Give it a try and see you there soon!