OVER 800 South African
travel consultants have
joined a new agent
collaboration platform in the
last seven days.
Called Open Jaw, the new free
function on the homepage of
Travelinfo allows consultants
to tap into each other’s
experiences.
The platform enables travel
agents who post queries on
Open Jaw to get several helpful
comments from colleagues
within minutes.
“While there is a lot of
information on Travelinfo, it
is often those little bits of
lesser known travel facts that
an agent needs,” says Linda
van der Pol, divisional head
of Travelinfo. “The questions
we are seeing range from
how to get a visa for Bhutan,
which has no representation
in SA, to which company in
SA represents a well-known
Australian tour operator.”
TNW will, from time to
time, follow up unresolved
issues raised on Open Jaw
and publish a more definitive
answer, says editor, Taryn
Nightingale.
“Loving this new system,
whoop whoop!” says Cape
Town-based consultant, Natalie
Watson. “Lovely, lovely! I love
this idea,” commented Sharon
Nyamambi of XL Novo Mundo
Travel, Johannesburg.
The last 50 comments and
tips on Open Jaw are published
at the bottom of the centre
column of the home page
of Travelinfo. This is where
agents can join. The function
is integrated with Facebook so
that consultants can access
the feed and group notifications
through the social media site
and Travelinfo. Only verified
trade members are given
access to Travelinfo, which had
over 9 000 unique users in
the last seven days. Because
of this, Open Jaw (also only for
members of the trade) will
grow into a powerful timesaving
resource for the trade,
says Linda. Although currently
an open group, it will soon be
closed and agents will have to
be invited to join.
The main purpose of this
group is to create a platform
where agents can share tips,
ask questions and get insights
and make everyone’s lives a
little bit easier, says Linda.
It is not for commercial
posts by suppliers. Linda
urges consultants to keep
their posts and comments
relevant to the travel trade,
friendly and fair. Agents
are welcome to post pictures
of educationals on the
platform.
