Global travel management company network Win and emerging
booking tool provider WhereTo have modernized a central travel booking
experience across the network of 6,000 travel agency locations. The move also
streamlines the global data consolidation process while maintaining local
service. Win member Options Travel, a TMC and technology company,
engineered the solution with WhereTo.
Similar to Radius Travel and GlobalStar Travel Management, Win
is a TMC member network that offers a single contract point to access in-market
travel management expertise. Win has specialized in the midmarket, though its
website claims enterprise clients, as well. The challenges with the networked
TMC model—and, indeed, often with mega TMCs that inevitably use in-market
partners—have been inconsistent experience and service for travelers and
fragmented and lagging data for travel managers.
Modern Traveler
Interface
Corporate booking tools are the technology the managed
travel industry loves to hate. A surge in entrants has given the industry hope
for a future with a consumer touch. Win has taken the leap, partnering with
up-and-coming booking provider WhereTo as the modern face and function for the
entire travel management network.
WhereTo, which started as consumer tool WhereFor, pivoted to
corporate early, at the urging of a Fortune 10 company. After building to that
company's requirements, WhereTo launched a customizable enterprise booking
solution in April with "a handful" of clients, according to founder
Ryan Wenger. Powered by machine learning and algorithms that crunch loads of data,
WhereTo aims to deliver price-conscious, policy-compliant itinerary choices
that still are customized to the traveler's loyalty preferences and travel
history. WhereTo offers a mobile experience, chat functions and a booking
process with fewer clicks.
The technology will operate as a single platform
encompassing booking, fulfillment and reporting and offers a 24/7 multinational
and multilingual call center. "Local agencies serve as ticketing and
invoicing outlets," said Options Travel EVP strategy Mark Walton. Bookings
made through local agents are integrated into the solution, as well.
In addition to content from global distribution system
Travelport, WhereTo pipes HotelPlanner content into the booking tool, and an
integration with Meetings.com brings group booking functionality into play. WhereTo
taps Travelfusion for non-GDS air content. WhereTo head of strategy and
customer success Kim Kaye indicated the company is pursuing additional content
partnerships but is not ready to announce them. Clients turn off the content
channels they don't want.
According to Walton, it's a "game changing"
end-to-end experience for the networked agency model that also allows clients
to sidestep the "big tech company powerhouses that currently dominate the
business travel space."
Immediate Global Data
Options Travel also has engineered a global data
consolidation feat that should be a boon for Win's network model.
Global data consolidation has improved in recent years. Some
corporates appoint a "lead" TMC as a consolidator and funnel multiple
TMC partners' data through that host. Others hire a third-party consolidator
or, more rarely, consolidate the raw data themselves. The networked model
offered by Win and others traditionally has baked the data consolidation and
reporting service into the overall network contract.
That service has been convenient for clients but not
particularly timely; data passes through multiple TMC back-office systems
before transferring to the network's consolidation services for normalization
and reporting. The lag time from booking to reporting commonly reaches 30 to 45
days.
That's where Win has claimed a differentiator. "We built
a passenger name record-based network through Win that is linked through
Travelport's distribution network regardless of the local agency," said
Walton. "The big difference is that we are processing a direct XML feed
from the PNR. Every time an agent or traveler is entering anything into the
tool—whether online, offline or integration with Travelfusion or a passive
record—we capture that. The cleansing we do is based on the PNR level, and
every time the PNR is amended, we have access to the data, which means we can
submit accurate clean data within 24 hours from any point of sale."
According to Win CEO Neil Amorgie, the solution is a
bellwether for the networked TMC strategy. "A common set of technologies—global
data consolidation and reporting, hotel content and meetings management
technology—these are the ingredients for what we envisage to be the emerging …
TMC network model," he said.