A new rival for TravelstartBIDTRAVEL has launched
an online travel agency
targeting South African
leisure travellers that, it says,
will “compete head-on” with
market leader, Travelstart.
Webjet.co.za, which is
backed by the Proudly Bidvest
brand, is a consumer-facing
website that offers South
African travellers a one-stop
online shop to book domestic
and international flights, hotel
accommodation, car rental
and travel insurance as well
as holiday packages.
The launch of the new OTA
forms part of BidTravel’s multibrand
strategy and its strong
focus on online, says md of
BidTravel, Allan Lunz. “Online
is the future. Consumers
want to book online and it
allows you to run a company
with fewer staff and fewer
overheads, while still serving
the customer’s needs.”
Primarily focused on
corporate travel, the new
product is BidTravel’s first big
venture into the leisure space.
The company plans to launch
an aggressive advertising
campaign for Webjet in August,
backed by a big budget and
a series of competitions to
drive consumer awareness.
“We want to make it clear to
the consumer that Webjet is
endorsed by Bidvest, a global
brand, a brand they can trust
and feel confident booking
their travel with,” says Allan.
Webjet
Limited is a
listed company
based in
Australia, with
operations in
New Zealand,
North America,
Canada, the
UK, Singapore, Hong Kong
and Mexico. “We had to make
the decision: do we build
or buy? We looked at the
competition in the market and
decided the Webjet brand was
like no other consumer-facing
website in South Africa. It’s
incredibly easy to use,”
Allan says.
“Customers will find the
cheapest available fare,
comparing airlines, on one
website. What they see is live
and bookable. If they hover
over the fare, they’ll see a
detailed breakdown of costs.
The site offers complete
transparency, showing the
customer what service fee
they are paying, so they don’t
get a nasty shock at the end
of the transaction. The price
they see is the price they pay.”
he says.
The company is headed up
by md, Herby Seedat (left),
with a small support centre at
Bidvest’s offices in Rosebank.
The next step for the OTA,
Herby says, is to go mobile,
with the development of
an app. Webjet will also be
working with tour operators
to further develop its holiday
packages content, which
currently doesn’t offer live
bookings but will in the future.
Currently, customers can also
request forex through the
website. The next step will be
to develop a direct API with
various banks so customers
can purchase their forex
through Webjet.
