Site Sets Sight On Midsize
<B>Site Sets Sight On Midsize</B>
Joining a host of companies attempting to use the Web to bring the elusive midsize corporate travel market to suppliers, Austin, Texas-based BTLogic next spring plans to unveil a site where suppliers can search a database of 10,000 mostly midsize corporate travel buyer profiles and offer them contracts.
According to BTLogic, the site has proven successful in limited testing in which United Airlines, for one, closed 17 new deals after a free peek at 50 of the profiles. The company said United already had deals with just four of the companies. A United spokesman could not confirm the 17 deals, noting that the person at United who dealt with BTLogic is no longer with the airline. Also, he said, "We never gave BTLogic permission to use our name in their press release." Japan Airlines vice president of passenger marketing John McGhee called what he had seen of BTLogic "very worthwhile."
Official beta testers include Air New Zealand, British Airways, Fiesta Americana Hotels, JAL, Kimpton Hotels and National Car Rental. BTLogic also is in talks with American Airlines and Starwood Hotels, said president and CEO Fernando Avila.
The BTLogic model works by allowing suppliers to search and view profiles of companies that voluntarily listed as many as 60 criteria about their corporate travel, such as top city pairs, domestic/international mix and class of service policy.
In addition to inviting buyers to contact them, vendors have the option of making an automated contract offer. Buyers are notified by e-mail that they have offers waiting and log on to the site to view them. Deals can be consummated online with electronic signatures or via fax. Anonymous bids also can be posted in which vendors see what the competition offers but not who they are.
Charges to the vendor for a completed contract can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the size of the account, said Avila.
BTLogic developed its database over the past two years and hopes to expand it to 60,000 by 2005. Most account volumes range from $800,000 to $1.5 million in T&e; in total, current BTLogic participants spend $34 billion.
BTLogic is supported by a number of names familiar to the corporate travel industry, such as retired researcher Stanley Plog, who is chairman of the board, and former Hewlett-Packard travel manager Fred Swaffer, a member of the board. Avila also named travel managers Earl Foster, Kevin Iwamoto, Armand LeCompte and others as advisors.
An initial round of financing brought in $1 million from venture capitalists, including Sanchez Capital Partners and Greenfield Capital Partners. BTLogic is working to complete a second round within three months.
The company also is talking with ACTE for online seminars, Travelmanagement.com for benchmarking services and technology vendors for booking in an effort to expand its Web content later in 2001.
GetThere, Whale Media and Yatra Corp. are among the other companies seeking to connect vendors with midsize buyers, though they are focused more on travel bookings than online contracting.