<B> Web Gains On GDS Domain</B>
By Mary Ann McNulty
<I>Denver</I> - In the latest wrinkle on using the Internet as an alternative to the global distribution system, Trip.com last week released new software that will robotically search for low airfares on the Web sites of more than 19 participating suppliers, as well as in the published and nonpublished fare databases of the CRSs.
While the software, dubbed Intellitrip, now is available only on Trip.com's site, the company is licensing it to agencies, suppliers, corporate travel departments and even other qualified Internet sites. In fact, Galileo International has reached an exclusive agreement to be the only CRS to license the software as part of a multimillion-dollar investment in the online travel service. As soon as Galileo figures out how to offer the technology as a value-added service to agencies, it will.
Participants in the initial launch are Alaska Airlines, America West, Delta, Frontier, TWA, United and US Airways. Other airlines, hotels and car rental firms will be phased in over the next several months, including Air Canada, Alamo, American Airlines, Continental, Dollar Rent-A-Car, Hertz, LOT Polish Airlines, Reno Air, Skyjet.com, Virgin Atlantic and WorldRes Places to Stay.
Using Intellitrip, travelers log into Trip.com's Web site with user names and passwords, checking off all databases they want to search, indicating the date, time and airports of departure and return. During the 90-second search--longer if connections are slow--the software lists all sites it is checking and indicates whether the search engine has had success in finding a cheap fare. The intelligent agent search engine then displays the fare options it found, and allows users to book by hyperlinking to the low-fare airline's Web site.
Trip.com began developing the software in 1997, first as a plug-in before moving to server technology (<I>BTN,</I> Feb. 22).
"Intellitrip is not an electronic intermediary, but rather an electronic facilitator," said Trip.com president and CEO Antoine Toffa. "Travel suppliers are very excited to participate because this platform drives qualified traffic to their Web sites, and allows them to dramatically reduce distribution costs through lower segment fees and commissions."
Trip.com is relying on advertising, sponsorship and licensing fees from Internet sites to gain a return on its investment.
Galileo opted to finance the startup's three rounds of venture capital financing, as part of a strategic initiative begun last year to invest in companies that can provide it technology or other growth opportunities. Galileo now has money in Stamps.com, Vin.net, Objectspace, Uniglobe Travel Online and several other companies. USWest, now Media One, and Hollinger Digital financed Trip.com's first and second rounds of financing.
Galileo began researching the company as it sought new investment opportunities, but only in recent weeks has begun researching how to best integrate the intelligent robotic search engines into Apollo, said Mike Montemurro, vice president of agency sales and systems. By this summer, it plans to have more answers, he said.
"This has to happen at the agent desktop," said Norm Rose of TravelTech Consulting in Belmont, Calif. Corporate travel agents have to be able to tell customers that they're automatically checking various airline Web sites to ensure they're getting the lowest fare. Rose said that use of intelligent agents, offering this behind-the- scenes checking, will rise.
Other vendors also are developing solutions to the increasingly complex Internet fare offerings.
Aqua Software of Santa Ana, Calif., offers a product that essentially scrapes the screens of the various Internet sites it checks nightly and dumps the results into a database that is automatically compared to the lowest fare an agent finds during the automated quality control process. If a lower Web fare is found, the QC agent sends a message to the real agent, said Aqua general manager Mark Ferguson.
Travel Technologies Group, the Dallas-based software arm of WorldTravel Partners-BTI Americas, likewise has been studying possible solutions. The best it found to date is Best Fares' product, which also scans the various sites.
The Eastman Group's AutoLink also can search other Web sites, said Richard Eastman, president of the Newport Beach consulting and software development firm. Several airlines are using the product to compare competitive airfare offerings.