Travelport raises the bar

“TRAVELPORT is no longer a
GDS,” said gm of Travelport
Southern Africa, Robyn
Christie in her opening
address at the Travelport
Spotlight Innovation event.
 Travelport has steadily
grown its offering extensively
over the last few years:
suppliers can now add more
dynamic content to the travel
commerce platform which, in
turn, helps agents sell product
more effectively. Travelport
will again increase its offering
to Southern African agents
with the launch of transfer
app, Drive Me, in May and by
upgrading its hotel interface.
With the transfer app, agents
can search for, book and
integrate a transfer into the
client’s itinerary while doing
an air booking says business
development manager
Hospitality of Travelport,
Andrew Miller. “Travelport is
the only company that offers
a product that allows agents
to book the transfer within the
agent’s workflow.” Currently,
local brands, Avis, Bidvest and
Easyshuttle as well as 5 000
international transfer brands
will be available for booking on
the new app, says Andrew.
The travel commerce
platform will also upgrade its
hotel interface. The upgrades
will feature more dynamic
content like updated pictures;
a display of all available rates
– such as negotiated corporate
rates – and maps indicating
the hotel’s location, including
distances from significant
areas like the airport. The
interface also allows agents
to search for hotels using
specific criteria, for example,
free Internet.
Clive Heighway, regional
sales manager of Travelport,
says Travelport has moved
from offering an end-to-end
solution as the GDS does.
Content is no longer static –
Travelport is a platform where
suppliers have the flexibility to
put in the type of content that
encourages an agent to upsell.
“Airlines can now put in a
reminder about a new service
or product that will appear
while the agent is booking,”
says Clive.
“Because the feature is now
front of mind, the agent can
upsell, which results in more
transactions, more value-add
and more business,” says
Andrew.