Discovery Vitality, Travelstart and SafariNow (Travelstart’s sister company) have signed a new partnership agreement that will allow Discovery Vitality clients to spend their Discovery Miles on flights, accommodation and holiday packages through the Travelstart and SafariNow booking platforms.
“Vitality clients will be able to purchase their air tickets on www.travelstart.co.za using their Discovery Miles as full or part payment toward their tickets. There will be no restrictions on content, which means that Vitality clients will have access to the full range of Travelstart offers for all airlines, all airfares, including tacticals, and all cabin classes,” says Travelstart head of supply, John Friel.
Vitality clients wanting to book local accommodation will have the run of SafariNow content and here, clients can pay with Discovery Miles in full or in part for bookings made via the SafariNow website. Clients shop online as usual but can select the ‘pay with Discovery Miles’ option when processing payment.
“I believe that Discovery wants to offer its clients as much choice as possible. Bringing on Travelstart and SafariNow as Vitality partners means Vitality clients now have access to a full range of flight and accommodation services rather than the limited airline offering that has previously been in place. I believe that Discovery was enticed to sign up with us due to the wide range of local, regional and international flight options that Travelstart has on offer,” says John.
He adds that Travelstart and SafariNow are looking forward to finding new customers from the extensive Discovery Vitality client base and that airlines, who were previously not part of the Vitality programme, are also looking forward to accessing this new customer base through the Travelstart booking channel.
John also confirms that there is nothing to stop an agent from booking on the Travelstart website and processing their clients’ Vitality Miles through the booking platform. This includes Travelstart ITCs (Travelstart Affiliates) will also be able to process their clients’ Vitality Miles as a form of payment when booking flights on Travelstart, he says.
John says there is a lot of integration going on behind the scenes that will allow for seamless reconciliation of bookings and payments between Discovery, Travelstart and SafariNow. “Once the integration is complete, we will launch an extensive marketing plan to promote the new partnership.”
