It's a decentralized inventory problem, said Nick Bredimus, the president of AMR Travel Services, a sister company to American Airlines and the managing partner of the Confirm partnership. Mr. Bredimus describes the system as being a program that tracks a huge and far-flung inventory of hotel rooms, rental vehicles, travel packages, etc. Through the reservation system, this inventory is made available to the traveler. This allows the companies involved to receive the maximum yield on their products. It also brings some sanity to the situation of reservations, said Mr. Bredimus. Travel agents and travelers with personal computers will be able to make reservations for cars and hotels as easily as they can for airline seats. 
Hotel reservation systems are much more complex than airline reservation systems, said Mr. Bredimus. There are so many more variables. Airlines are a generic product - a seat is a seat, he said. And it isn't a complex sell. The customer simply wants to know if it's available or not. Hotels have a whole host of amenities and packages.
It is also a very communication-intensive project, said Mr. Bredimus. Interfaces are a good deal of the project.

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