White label wonder
WHITE-label solutions are
increasingly being adopted
in the travel industry, offering
agents a way to move into the online
space while also circumventing the high
development costs of starting a system
from scratch.
“If a white-label product is ready off
the shelf, can do all it says it can and
companies can attach their own brands
to it, why would they go through the
pain and expense of reinventing the
wheel?” asks Aadil Esack, gm product
and marketing for XL Travel Head Office.
The concept of white labelling has
matured, with today’s more progressive
partners realising that simply having a
booking engine doesn’t mean traffic will
convert, says Rian Bornman, FlightSite
co-founder and md.
“Through FlightSite Partnerships,
we white label for retail, mobile and
banking blue-chip organisations. These
partnerships have been critical to our
average compound annual growth rate
of 38% since inception more than ten
years ago.”
Beachcomber Tours launched its
white-label tool for retail travel partners
last month, empowering customers
to find, get quotes and book their
Beachcomber holidays 24/7. It is
a hosted solution and agents have
access to Beachcomber’s live flight and
accommodation availability and rates.
“We did not go the route of an API
so there is no coding required from
the agents’ side, only the investment
to customise it with their branding
and contact details,” confirms Joanne
Visagie, Beachcomber Tours sales and
marketing director.
“We’ve invested substantially in
this and we’re not charging the travel
industry for this tool. The only costs
are a once-off installation fee and
then a monthly fee paid directly to the
development company.”
Those who are playing in the online
field or who have good volumes of
traffic on their own websites have
jumped at this opportunity because
they recognise the value of it, says
Joanne.
Travelport is also enjoying success
with its Trip Assist white-label mobile
app, which, it says, is widely used within
South Africa. Trip Assist, which brings
the agency brand to the app store and
a rich set of features directly into the
end-traveller’s hands, recently reached a
milestone of signing up over 50 agency
customers across five continents, says
a Travelport spokesperson.
Beachcomber platform gains traction
SINCE the launch of Beachcomber
Tours’ new white-label solution
in May (TNW June 5), around 20
members of the travel trade have
already signed up – both travel
agencies and consortiums – and
more are in the pipeline.
“From using our unique branding,
colours and iconography, the whole
process was smooth. The final
website looks like our brand and
doesn’t feel like a template that was
put together hastily. It’s easy to use
and understand,” says Calvin Gentz,
Pentravel’s creative and design
manager.
“We love the fact that
clients will still be contacted
by a Pentravel expert to
complete the booking and
ensure they have chosen
the correct property to suit
their needs,” says Vicky
Steinhardt, Pentravel marketing
product manager.
The agency-branded tool
– designed with the help of
Beachcomber’s development
partner of eight years –
empowers customers to find, get
quotes and book their Beachcomber
holidays via the travel agency site,
thereby providing agents with an
additional revenue stream.
Beachcomber’s Joanne Visagie
says the team has seen an
increase in its online quotes and
bookings since the system went live.
Commission is also paid promptly to
agencies.
This is only the first version of
the product, she adds. “Future
versions with even more functionality
are already in the planning and
specification stage. They will be
rolled out to all existing white-label
instances when launched.”
Online amendments in the pipeline for WLH portal
WORLD Leisure
Holidays is working
on developing further
functionalities to
its B2B booking
portal, which will
allow agents to
make online booking
amendments.
Elaine Durr,
operations director
of World Leisure
Holidays, says the
company wants the
system to allow
agents to service
the client in the
moment from start
to finish. “We expect
development for the
new functionality to
commence in early 2020.”
The system is built so that all
documentation is automatically
white labelled. “This means
consultants can forward the
quotation/invoice with their own
branding straight to clients, all
supported by WLH’s Asata and Iata
logos to give further credibility to
the transaction,” says head of sales
for the operator,
Brenda Mitchell.
“Currently we have
more than 2 000
agents using this
option. It is a huge
time-saving tool as
it enables agents to
service and conclude
the deal in one
step as opposed to
lengthy phone calls
back and forth to the
tour operator,” says
Brenda.
The booking tool
has a web services
link directly into
Travelport, providing
real-time flight
availability when
quoting or booking.
Allotment is also loaded for all
properties enabling World Leisure
to provide clients with instant
confirmations.
“Should travel be within 30
days of reservation, however, all
bookings will be on a request basis
as allotment would have been
released,” adds Brenda.
Biometrics give competitive advantage
THE World Travel & Tourism
Council (WTTC) continues to
urge aviation industry leaders to
support the Iata One ID initiative
and assign resources to the global
pursuit of common standards and
interoperability.
Speaking at the recent Iata
AGM in Seoul, South Korea, WTTC
president and ceo, Gloria Guevara,
said biometric technology was the
future of travel because it meant
increased security, efficiencies and
a better traveller journey.
“Those companies that adopt
biometrics early will have a
competitive advantage.”
According to Iata, the number of
air travellers will double by 2037.
“We will not see an increase of
100% in existing infrastructure,
so it’s important to get this right.
Those companies that support and
adopt biometrics early will have
a competitive advantage in the
market.”
WTTC is working with Iata to
introduce biometric technology
into the non-aviation element of
the traveller journey to provide a
seamless experience.
“It was recently reported that
71% of airlines and 77% of
airports are currently investing in
either researching or implementing
biometric programmes.”
Did you know?
Club Travel launched its new website in May allowing clients to choose their own holiday
repayment plan. The ‘Pay Your Way’ service allows customers to adjust their terms and
instalment contributions and offers flexible ways to pay, including bank and credit card
debits. “We’re really excited about enabling travel for more South Africans,” says FlightSite’s
Rian Bornman. Club Travel’s leisure brand operates under the custodianship of FlightSite.
“The interest-free instalments are a South African first in the travel industry.
Plum Accommodation offers 24/7 support for SA agents
LOCAL aggregator Plum
Accommodation will release a
revamped booking platform in
the next few months, focused
on enhanced user functionality.
The revamp will offer
a simplified, speedier
booking process and mobile
responsiveness, says
solutionist, Brian van Tonder.
Version 1 of the website
initially took about two years
to complete. “Since its launch
in 2014, it has evolved into a
powerful tool that aggregates
the hotel content of top global
accommodation providers
as well as our own direct
content.”
This gives agents access
to dynamic inventory at more
than 500 000 hotels,
35 000 transfer destinations
and 55 000 tours – all
bookable individually or as
customised packages.
Local support remains one
of the biggest challenges for
agents when using online
booking systems, particularly
in the event that something
goes wrong, Brian says.
“Any travel consultant will
acknowledge that most
travellers don’t realise the
extent of work that goes into a
flawless booking, so we have
a dedicated support team in
Johannesburg available 24/7.”
This is how Plum
Accommodation has proved
itself a valuable partner to the
local trade, he believes.
Helping the trade
“We put measures in
place such as booking
reconfirmations that drastically
reduce check-in problems.”
Agents can spend hours on
international calls and then
speak to service consultants
who don’t understand the
South African business culture,
he says. Responding to the
fierce competitiveness of the
local marketplace, the Plum
team finds solutions when
things don’t go according to
plan that will bring travellers
back to travel agency clients,
he adds.
In 2012 Plum saw the need
to be in control of its own
technology instead of being
dependent on what other tech
providers had on offer, says
Brian.
“We employed our own team
of developers and started
working on a system that
married technology with the
need for human interaction
and relationships as well as
the service levels required to
ensure a seamless booking
process.”
Besides booking hotels,
transfers and tours, agents are
able to build their own multidestination land arrangement
packages in a single booking.
They can pin-point hotels
using a range of filters, such
as finding a four-star hotel
within a 5km radius of the
RAI Convention Centre in
Amsterdam.
“Consultants also use our
system to generate and send
content-rich quotes to clients
that incorporate the agent’s
own mark-up and branding.”
As easy as EasiClick
THOMPSONS Holidays is
investing in adding new
features to its EasiClick
B2B system and says its
developers are currently
adding a new search
functionality that will
allow agents to select a
preferred airline and flight
time when booking online.
EasiClick is a booking
engine that allows travel
agents to book and pay for
a range of South African
deals and products online.
The platform offers
the travel trade benefits
such as convenience and
24-hour availability, which
is ideal for agents working
from home and after
hours.
It features visual bestdeal banners and visual
exposure of the supplier’s
property to help close the
sale.
The system is fully
transactional, enabling
agents to quote, book and
pay. Properties offer realtime availability (supported
by allocation, free-sale or
API integration).
A dedicated team behind
the scenes is available as
is additional support via
online chat and Skype.
“We don’t offer whitelabel tools as such, but
we do have a tool that
enables agents to extract
package content and
images from our website
and use this within their
own advertising,” confirms
marketing manager,
Amadeus collaborates across industry to drive NDC progress
MORE than anything, Iata’s
New Distribution Capability
(NDC) race reminds
industry stakeholders
about the importance of
collaboration and open
discussions across all
sectors if meaningful
progress is to be made.
Amadeus is currently
preparing for the global
deployment of its NDCenabled Web Services and
Selling Platform Connect
solutions. These solutions
are backed by the
Amadeus Travel Platform,
which brings together all
relevant travel content –
air, accommodation, rail,
mobility, insurance and
destination – from any
source (EDIFACT, NDC and
other APIs) into a single
platform.
NDC content will be
available in Amadeus
Travel Platform as well as
in the redesigned All Fares
from next year, confirms
Andy Hedley, Amadeus
Southern Africa gm.
Amadeus recently
announced a partnership
with Travix to co-design
an NDC-enabled Web
Services solution to help
online travel agencies
deliver more personalised
and differentiated travel
experiences.
“Travix has been a driver
customer of the Amadeus
NDC [X] programme and
we’ve been developing
our Web Services solution
together, which is already
generating live bookings
in certain markets. This
is not available in SA
yet, although it is in the
pipeline.”
The Amadeus NDC [X]
programme accelerates
NDC deployment and
adoption across the
industry.
In the first phase, the
two companies will define
a solution to give online
travel sellers access
to aggregated NDC and
non-NDC content. In the
second, Amadeus and
Travix will refine servicing
requirements such as
ticket changes or refunds,
cancellations or adding
ancillaries.
Parallel to this, says
Andy, Amadeus has been
co-developing and testing
the NDC capabilities of
Selling Platform Connect
with Flight Centre and FCM,
who are also Amadeus NDC
[X] driver customers.
“Flight Centre Travel
Group is poised to begin
testing the enhanced
interface and will start
making NDC bookings
via the new integrated
solution in Selling Platform
Connect in the coming
months. Travel agents will
access this content in one
display screen and via the
new, redesigned All Fares
graphical interface. They will
also see airline rich media
content, such as pictures.
Flight Centre’s feedback will
be key to driving adoption,”
says Andy.
For Amadeus, on the
IT side, the NDC is more
than a simple upgrade
of a messaging protocol;
it implies a fundamental
overhaul in offer and order
management.
“In addition to being
Level 3 certified as
an aggregator, we’re
proud of our badges as
an IT provider, having
recently achieved Level 4
certification for Altéa NDC.
We are working with Finnair
to seamlessly integrate
Altéa NDC into the
Amadeus Travel Platform.”
This means that, in
addition to being able
to connect to individual
partners directly, any
airline with Altéa NDC will
be able to share its NDC
content with travel sellers
through the Amadeus
Travel Platform.
Amadeus and Booking.
com also recently signed
a distribution agreement
that will see the number
of accommodation options
available on Amadeus
increase by 30% (See TNW
June 5).
Once executed,
Booking.com’s global
accommodation content
will be available to the
local trade through
different points of sale,
namely Amadeus Selling
Platform Connect, Web
Services and Cytric Travel
& Expense.
First Car pop-ups celebrate personal bests
achievements, incentivising
them to smile more and be
more efficient in checking out
customers in record times
– when assisted check-outs
occur.”
She says the Operations
Dashboard, which reflects
stats and graphs relating
to the entire network,
launched in March. “This
allows for a transparent and
friendly environment, also
competitive, when mining
data and using it to our
advantage internally and
externally.”
Customers also have the
opportunity to rate their
experiences with every checkout, using a simple thumbs
up or down, factoring into
the agent’s overall scores,
Melissa adds.
A new project has also
just gone live with internal
improvements for banking
and error reporting as well
as a user-friendly way of
handling these.
FIRST Car Rental continues
on its drive to enhance
customer service – whether
it is additional roll-outs
as part of the new SelfService stations project – or
enhancements to the service
provided at counters.
Launching early this
month as part of the
internal operational
system development, are
personalised image pop-ups
populated with values that
congratulate First Car Rental
agents on personal bests
as well as best at branch, in
region or country, confirms
Melissa Nortje, executive
head: Strategy, Development
& Marketing at First Car
Rental/SIXT Rent a Car.
“This is all automated and
rendered subject to their
FIRST Car Rental continues
on its drive to enhance
customer service – whether
it is additional roll-outs
as part of the new SelfService stations project – or
enhancements to the service
provided at counters.
Launching early this
month as part of the
internal operational
system development, are
personalised image pop-ups
populated with values that
congratulate First Car Rental
agents on personal bests
as well as best at branch, in
region or country, confirms
Melissa Nortje, executive
head: Strategy, Development
& Marketing at First Car
Rental/SIXT Rent a Car.
“This is all automated and
rendered subject to their
achievements, incentivising
them to smile more and be
more efficient in checking out
customers in record times
– when assisted check-outs
occur.”
She says the Operations
Dashboard, which reflects
stats and graphs relating
to the entire network,
launched in March. “This
allows for a transparent and
friendly environment, also
competitive, when mining
data and using it to our
advantage internally and
externally.”
Customers also have the
opportunity to rate their
experiences with every checkout, using a simple thumbs
up or down, factoring into
the agent’s overall scores,
Melissa adds.
A new project has also
just gone live with internal
improvements for banking
and error reporting as well
as a user-friendly way of
handling these.
Sabre tests live NDC offers
FIRST Car Rental continues
on its drive to enhance
customer service – whether
it is additional roll-outs
as part of the new SelfService stations project – or
enhancements to the service
provided at counters.
Launching early this
month as part of the
internal operational
system development, are
personalised image pop-ups
populated with values that
congratulate First Car Rental
agents on personal bests
as well as best at branch, in
region or country, confirms
Melissa Nortje, executive
head: Strategy, Development
& Marketing at First Car
Rental/SIXT Rent a Car.
“This is all automated and
rendered subject to their
FIRST Car Rental continues
on its drive to enhance
customer service – whether
it is additional roll-outs
as part of the new SelfService stations project – or
enhancements to the service
provided at counters.
Launching early this
month as part of the
internal operational
system development, are
personalised image pop-ups
populated with values that
congratulate First Car Rental
agents on personal bests
as well as best at branch, in
region or country, confirms
Melissa Nortje, executive
head: Strategy, Development
& Marketing at First Car
Rental/SIXT Rent a Car.
“This is all automated and
rendered subject to their
achievements, incentivising
them to smile more and be
more efficient in checking out
customers in record times
– when assisted check-outs
occur.”
She says the Operations
Dashboard, which reflects
stats and graphs relating
to the entire network,
launched in March. “This
allows for a transparent and
friendly environment, also
competitive, when mining
data and using it to our
advantage internally and
externally.”
Customers also have the
opportunity to rate their
experiences with every checkout, using a simple thumbs
up or down, factoring into
the agent’s overall scores,
Melissa adds.
A new project has also
just gone live with internal
improvements for banking
and error reporting as well
as a user-friendly way of
handling these.
Sabre tests live NDC offers
AS NDC standards continue
to evolve, so do Sabre’s NDC
functionality and content.
Throughout 2019, Sabre
plans to release additional
NDC capabilities in phases,
including integration into the
agent desktop workspace,
Sabre Red 360.
Sabre recently released
its first set of NDC APIs
with launch carrier, United
Airlines.
This development is a
significant step forward
because it advances a panindustry vision and moves
NDC closer to becoming
an everyday reality for
travellers, carriers, agencies,
corporations and more.
Sabre’s NDC solutions
enable the airline to offer
new fare options and
additional flight amenities
for a more comprehensive
shopping experience.
Sabre is working with all its
Beyond NDC airline partners
to integrate their NDC
content this year. Its holistic
approach goes beyond
shopping and includes
important agency processes,
such as invoicing/itinerary
activities, mid- and backoffice workflows and duty-ofcare considerations.
Per Iata, Sabre is NDC
Level 3 Certified (Offer and
Order Management) as an
aggregator. As an IT provider,
Sabre is designated as NDC
Level 3 Capable (Offer and
Order Management).
Photcap: No queuing with Snappdrive
Bidvest Car Rental’s Snappdrive app is now available for
Group B1, C1 and G1 cars in the Bidvest Car Rental fleet.
Snappdrive allows customers to bypass the queues and
collect their car rental with zero human interaction. The
Snappdrive app can be downloaded from Google Play
or the App Store. Customers complete the registration
process and visit a Bidvest Car Rental branch once to
complete their validation and receive a radio-frequency
identification (RFID) card. When clients next need to
collect a rental car, the app on their phone will help them
locate their car in the parking lot and will also act as a
key to unlock the vehicle.
Phenix facilitates dual role for Travel Counsellors
PHENIX, the integrated
booking platform of Travel
Counsellors, is constantly
being refined – as are all
the group’s tech platforms
– and it gets an update
every ten days or so to
meet the evolving needs of
franchisees.
The fact that Phenix can
also help Travel Counsellors
tailor-make their own
itineraries specifically to
meet customer requirements
is a popular feature, says
Michelle Bullmore, marketing
manager & recruitment – SA
for Travel Counsellors.
“Travel Counsellors can
sell trips created by
and bought from other
companies, or they can
combine flights, hotels,
transfers and more to create
their own itineraries for
clients. We also have our
unique customer financial
protection plan, so all
packages Travel Counsellors
create are fully protected.”
What franchisees also
appreciate about this feature
is that, by using Phenix
to build a customer’s trip
from scratch, they earn a
commission on each element
or component pulled in from
the system rather than on
the package as a whole.
“Travel Counsellors also
control the overall margin
they apply to that holiday.”
Phenix enables Travel
Counsellors to select from
thousands of hotels, lowcost airlines, excursions,
transfers and other ancillary
products all in one place,
instead of having to navigate
through multiple systems
and browsers.
“Once they’ve put together
a bespoke itinerary, through
the same platform, Travel
Counsellors can immediately
send a detailed and
personalised quote directly
to clients via e-mail or the
integrated MyTC app,” says
Michelle.
Travelport amps up NDC roll-out through Smartpoint
TRAVELPORT will be
expanding the number
of agencies with access
to NDC content through
Smartpoint during the
next phase of its NDC
roll-out and continues to
connect airlines as they
begin to make NDC content
available.
“We are also working on
further enhancements to
our Smartpoint product,
which will allow the agent
not only to shop, price and
book, but to service the
booking as much as they
can do today for a booking
containing traditional
content,” according to a
Travelport spokesperson.
The enhancements will
be worked through in
conjunction with airlines’
own NDC implementations
throughout 2019.
Travelport continues to
work toward achieving
the Iata NDC Level 4
certification, which was
released earlier this year,
and has a greater focus
on servicing to support
re-shopping and changing
orders.
“We have some exciting
developments in the
pipeline that we are looking
forward to sharing in the
upcoming months.
New ship boasts next-level MSC for Me
MSC CRUISES is set to
launch its sixth connected
cruise ship in November,
with the christening of
MSC Grandiosa, which will
offer next-level MSC for Me
features.
MSC for Me is a multichannel digital programme
that enables guests to
interact with the ship and
crew members any time, in
any place.
Since it introduced it on
MSC Meraviglia in 2017,
MSC Cruises has introduced
this digital programme on
four more ships – MSC
Seaside, MSC Seaview,
MSC Splendida and MSC
Bellissima – each time
adding more features
to improve the guest
experience.
March this year saw the
introduction of ZOE, the
world’s first virtual personal
cruise assistant, to MSC for
Me on board MSC Bellissima.
It is AI voice-activated
technology that will also
launch on MSC Grandiosa.
Alongside ZOE, MSC
Cruises has also introduced
a number of new guestcentric digital innovations.
These encompass not only
the on-board experience,
but also pre-cruise. These
services include the option
to book packages or
experiences through the
MSC for Me app. Guests can
also pre-register their credit
cards through the app prior
to the cruise.
On board, new services
such as the Friends &
Family Locator and MSC for
Me Chat help guests stay
connected with travelling
companions.
Friends & Family Locator
is a paid-for service at
$15 (about R222). Guests
purchase a special MSC for
Me wristband with Bluetooth
Low Energy technology to
find companions on the ship
map shown on the app. This
is in addition to the Kids
Locator service introduced
in 2017.
MSC for Me Chat enables
guests to message each
other directly, without
the need for an Internet
package.
A ‘what to eat’ feature
has also been included
in the app to give guests
insight into local must-eat
ingredients or dishes. For
example, it recommends ‘la
bomba’, one of Barcelona’s
most iconic tapas dishes,
a potato croquette served
with two sauces, one a white
garlic aioli and the other a
spicy tomato sauce.
MSC for Me also offers
mobile check-in, ship
navigation and planning of
the cruise in real time.
Bedsonline elevates offering
BEDSONLINE has
increased by 10 000
the number of unique
hotels available on its
platform during the last
year, says Shaun Beckley,
Bedsonline key account
manager Africa & Indian
Ocean.
“Currently 180 000
unique hotels are
available and most are
directly contracted under
exclusive terms and
conditions.”
Furthermore, over the
past three months, new
website features have
been released.
These include a quotes
tool that allows agents to
save and share their own
quotes on the platform.
“The services saved in
the tool can be added
to the cart and the
reservation confirmed
at any time. It’s also
possible to add new
services when needed,”
says Shaun.
In addition, access
from the booking
management section to
the supplier reference for
accommodation services
is now enabled, he says.
Agents can also benefit
from a new local experts’
assistance service
included in the cart and
linked with the destination
of the selected hotel.
This growth has been
driven by the renewed
focus of parent company,
Hotelbeds, in providing
its hotel partners with
non-competing bookings
via its network of travel
buyers.
“In particular, there
has been an increase
in signing strategic
partnerships with
key hotel chains and
preferred agreements
with channel managers
worldwide. This has in
part been supported by
the expansion of the
contracting workforce
to more than 1 100
contractors globally.”
Hotelbeds recently
announced that, following
the acquisitions of Tourico
Holidays and GTA into
its business, 90% of its
hotel partners now had
access to the more than
60 000 travel-buying
intermediaries using the
platform.
“Such channels attract
guests who book further
in advance, cancel less,
stay longer, spend more
in-destination and re-book
more frequently.”
As part of this change,
Hotelbeds’ hotel
partners are unified
under the same terms
and conditions, while
also having access to
a simplified and unified
billing and account
management service,
says Shaun.
