Travel agency consortium The Global Travel Group is in discussions about bringing in new mid-office technology for its agents, having rolled out Traveltek’s iSell booking platform.
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Global Travel Group poised to invest in new travel agency technology
Travel agency consortium The Global Travel Group is in discussions about bringing in new mid-office technology for its agents, having rolled out Traveltek’s iSell booking platform.
The firm, which was bought by Emirates Group-owned dnata as part of the Stella Travel Service acquisition last year, says it has money to invest in its systems.
Andy Stark, managing director, told agent delegates at this week’s annual conference in Chester that he was aware that technology was a frustration.
“We are looking at different systems out there. There’s nothing that suits everyone, there is not a Holy Grail.
“We are in a position now to start to build a hybrid, to work with a technology partner to build something that fits with our members.
“We have a huge organisation backing our strategic moves now and we have investment.”
The Traveltek iSell look and book search technology has now be rolled out to members and is being offered as an alternative to Global’s own-built system.
Stark said Global’s own system was built to give it financial control and some members continue to prefer it, but he said iSell was more modern.
Global is also piloting a new Customer Relationship Management system from a third party provider with members.
“There’s quite a lot of choice and the question is do we buy something already in the market or do we build our own. My vision to be able to plug in lots of different travel systems.
“It’s about customer management and being able to track your data which you can already do but only once someone has made a booking.
“The trick is to have a system that incorporates all those leads that did not go anywhere. That data is much more difficult to get back and yet much more lucrative from a commercial perspective.”
