Tripbam has added an
auto-fulfillment feature to its hotel shopping platform, a move that
essentially cuts out the "human touch" factor on the back end of the
service. Previously, if Tripbam located a lower hotel rate on behalf of a
traveler, it would have to be rebooked manually, explained Tripbam
founder and CEO Steve Reynolds. That means the lower rates the system found were
being rebooked only about 60 percent of the time. "Forty percent of [rates] would get stale
because they'd wait too long to rebook," Reynolds said. "Now we can
get that to 85 or 90 percent because rebooking is almost instantaneous."
Now, once the
traveler accepts the new rate, Tripbam rebooks it automatically. Additionally,
the automation eliminates the fees agencies charge clients for handling each
rebooking. "Every time the agency would rebook the rate, the agency would need
to touch the PNR, and they would charge a fee to do that," Reynolds said.
Those fees were sometimes as high as $20, he added.
The company did a
soft launch of the feature earlier this year, and it is now available to all
Tripbam travel management company partners and direct clients.
Reaching into Europe
Tripbam also is making
progress on its pledge to expand in Europe. The company has hired Peter Grover
to head its first European office in London. Grover has almost 30 years of
experience in travel and travel technology, having worked at WNS Global
Services, TRX, Amadeus and, most recently, Fareportal. His official start date
is May 1, according to Reynolds. About
30 percent of Tripbam's bookings are generated by European travelers staying in
the U.S. or by U.S. travelers staying in Europe.