TC betters its business

TRAVEL Counsellors plans to
upgrade how its agents do
business. The consortium
will pump R12m into the
investment of its myTC app
locally, ceo Steve Byrne said
at Travel Counsellors’ annual
conference held on May 5-7
at the Belmond Mount Nelson
Hotel in Cape Town. The app
will eventually enable travellers
to plan, book and organise
every aspect of their trip
while being in contact with
their agent 24/7, eliminating
the need to converse via the
phone or email.
Steve says the app, which
launched May last year and
“combines high tech with
human touch”, was introduced
to keep up with the growing
trend of travellers wanting
to organise their travel via
their mobile phones. “This
investment is a way of futureproofing
our business. Staying
dedicated to promoting
intimate customer relationships
is critical to an ITC company’s
survival,” he says. Waseem
Haq, digital and innovations
director of TC, adds that the
app is a way of supplementing
rather than substituting how
agents and customers liaise.
The app’s current features
include imagery and videos
to provide trip inspiration, an
enquiries section to request
and view travel quotes, and
the ability to request an
appointment or booking with
an agent. New features include
an integrated system that will
collect data on what a traveller
did or didn’t enjoy about their
trip. This will make future trip
planning easier for agents and
ensure that customers are
only sent marketing relevant to
their interests. Other features
on the way include flight
status, parking availability,
geographical tracking, road
mapping and duty of care.
Within the next two years,
TC envisages that most of its
customers will only be using
their mobile phones to make
bookings. Mladen Lukic,
gm of TC South Africa, says
many customers are already
using the app to engage with
agents. He believes it will
have the biggest impact on
the corporate market as it
will remove all admin-related
processes involved in booking.
Travellers will not need to carry
a wad of paperwork to ensure
all itineraries are in one place,
for example. Steve says the
app will drive more bleisure
travel for the same reasons.
“Spontaneously deciding to
extend a trip will be completely
fuss-free, no matter where
you are.”
TC agents agree that the
rapidly improving app puts
them ahead of the curve.
Roshnee Govender says the
app has already given her
customers peace of mind
knowing that she is available
24/7. Once all the features
are added, Siobhan Nel
expects the app to be a hit
with both corporate and leisure
travellers.
Steve says TC will continue
to invest in keeping up with
trends while ensuring customer
relationships remain personal.
“The future is huge,” he
concludes.
For more on the TC
conference, see the next issue
of TNW