The Travel Network Group rolls out enhanced version of travel agent Honeycomb tech

Members of The Travel Network Group are being upgraded to the latest version of the consortium’s Honeycomb dynamic packaging technology. The enhanced version has been released following a new partnership with travel booking systems developer Comtec and technical support has been brought in-house to TTNG’s headquarters in Woking. TTNG, the Travel Trust Association and Worldchoice … Continue reading The Travel Network Group rolls out enhanced version of travel agent Honeycomb tech

Members of The Travel Network Group are being upgraded to the latest version of the consortium’s Honeycomb dynamic packaging technology.

The enhanced version has been released following a new partnership with travel booking systems developer Comtec and technical support has been brought in-house to TTNG’s headquarters in Woking.

TTNG, the Travel Trust Association and Worldchoice parent, says the new version offers an increased selection of suppliers, including low cost airlines, and improved functionality and speed.

The group says two thirds of its membership are using the system, which is now on its seventh iteration having been first launched eight years ago.

TTNG claims it has 650 active users of Honeycomb which is provided free of charge to members and was built in-house to help its agents benefit from creating their own holidays as well packages from suppliers.

Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, said: “We developed Honeycomb eight years ago and today it is a market-leading platform that gives members a technology solution allowing them to dynamically package under our Atol license, whilst controlling their own sales margin.

“The new updated Honeycomb has seen 12 new business partner and low cost airline feeds added to the system, major improvements to its functionality and the speed of the system has also been greatly enhanced.”

The new 24-hour support service offers crisis-management back-up should any major incident take place that could impact members and their customers’ travel plans.

As a result of the move to Woking, Lisa Henning, group membership services director, has been given the job of heading up Honeycomb.

She said: “Honeycomb has proved itself to be a robust and value-adding platform for members, but as with any technology of this size and scale, it needs to be continually adapted and invested in to ensure it remains relevant.

“This latest update incorporates many of the changes that members fed back to us that they would like to see changed or added and through a new relationship with Comtec, members are now seeing a real difference in the performance of the platform.

We would like to thank the out-source team for their support to date. However, we have now appointed an experienced team internally to act as the main support function when it comes to Honeycomb issues. The high level of support we deliver to our Members sits at the heart of everything we do, and I am delighted that on day one of us providing this service to Members, all calls were answered in under 30 seconds.”

Following the recent launch of a new tour operation by rival Advantage Travel Partnership Lewis claimed Honeycomb 7 will give TTNG a competitive edge.

“There are others trying to play catch up with Honeycomb and our cruise club technology. Our Honeycomb platform has been in place for eight years and has always been about stripping out cost for members, and not adding another ‘tour operator’ into the mix to compete with our business partners.

“For our members it’s all about the ability to control margins, remove their own Atol costs and have a one-stop dynamic packaging search and booking solution, which is exactly what Honeycomb offers. We are delighted that our third reincarnation of Honeycomb will deliver more of our business partners’ product with faster results and deliver the same incredible net rates.”