Protea Hotels, Africa’s largest hotel group, has adopted enhanced booking technology provided by Atlanta, Ga.-based Travelport, a distribution services and e-commerce provider for the global travel industry, according to a press release at MENAfm.com.

The improved shopping and booking technology will allow travel agents to give more accurate quotes to customers prior to booking, eliminating manual calculations and reducing potential customer service issues, the press release said.

These improvements are key for travel agency customers, said Paul Adams, Travelport hospitality director.

The technology will ensure greater availability of rates, specifically for multiple day stays, said Bryan Mulliner, Protea director of strategic development and revenue.

Protea has more than 125 properties in South Africa and nine other African countries, including Zambia, Nigeria, Namibia, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya. Each hotel is different in character and the collection ranges from urban to country retreats.

The hotel group reverted to being a wholly South African-owned company in 2009 after a consortium comprising Protea Hotels management, its black economic empowerment shareholders and Investec Private Equity bought back the 74 percent of stock owned by Australian-based Stella Hospitality Group.

Travelport has a presence in 170-plus countries, employs 3,500 workers and in 2012 had a net revenue of more than $2 billion, the press release said. Travelport is comprised of the Galileo and Worldspan brands, Airline IT Solutions and a joint-venture ownership of eNett.

Travelport is privately owned.