Agents make plans for 'facebook-ing' tools

TRAVEL consortiums in
South Africa are turning
to Facebook to launch
new booking capabilities for
customers.
Club Travel, Sure Travel,
and Uniglobe Travel are
among those developing
booking engines that will
feature on their Facebook
pages.
The booking engines will be
powered by GDS companies,
either using products
developed by GDSs and, in
some instances, altered to
meet an agency’s needs, or
through apps developed by
the consortiums themselves.
Some will offer both
booking and payment
mechanisms, while others
will only have booking
capability.
Club Travel plans to
launch a Facebook booking
engine in the next eight to
10 weeks. Initially, users
will only be able to book
and pay for ights, with a
GDS providing fare search
content, says md, Wally
Gaynor.
The booking engine will,
initially, only be available
on the main Club Travel
Facebook page but, once
tried and tested, all Club
Travel agencies will have
access to it on their
personal Facebook pages.
Wally says the booking
engine will be similar to
booking apps found on
mobile devices, which
require simple solutions with
a minimum amount of clickthroughs
to get to results.
“We’ve had a great
response from social media
platforms, where we feature
packages, specials and
destinations. While we don’t
foresee packages being
automated to any great
extent, we think Facebook
will become another avenue
for booking ights, hotels
and car rental,” Wally says.
Abigail Pires, Sure Travel’s
group solutions manager,
says Sure Travel will be
adding a booking engine to
Facebook within the next six
months, initially only offering
ight bookings, with car
rental and accommodation
to follow.
“However, we are not
convinced that a booking
engine on Facebook will be
the optimal platform. Social
media is all about driving
inspiration, content and
awareness – it’s not really
a booking platform. Mobile
apps are more where we
expect to see the bookings
grow,” she says.
Uniglobe Travel will launch
its Facebook booking engine
following the launch of its
mobile app this month. Ceo,
Mike Gray, says the booking
engine is about providing
a seamless service in a
trusted community-based
environment.
OTA, Travelstart, has
had a booking engine on
Facebook for the past two
years, selling ights and car
rental but it has not been as
successful as the company
hoped, says Nick Paul,
Travelstart’s social media
manager. “While Facebook
users often respond to
or add information to
newsfeeds, they do not
spend much time on
Facebook pages. These
booking engine apps are not
widely used because people
rarely visit the pages they
appear on,” he says.
“Booking engines are
usually placed in tabs at
the top of a Facebook page.
The majority of people tend
to view Facebook from their
mobile phones, which don’t
show these tabs,” he adds.
Nick says Travelstart
has found advertising and
posting links to specials
through Facebook far more
effective. “It’s an effective
tool to build awareness of
products and services, and
many users then return to
the company’s website to
book.”