WTM 2015: Open Destinations claims to have taken tour operating dynamic packaging to the next level

The need for speed is becoming increasingly important as travel supply increases in complexity, according to one leading travel software developer.

The need for speed is becoming increasingly important as travel supply increases in complexity, according to one leading travel software developer.

Open Destinations last week launched a new dynamic search module to its Travel Studio reservations platform.

It says that partnerships with some of the biggest global wholesalers, like Jac Travel make it well positioned to combined this content with GDS, airline and hotel inventory.

Kevin O’Sullivan, chief executive of Open Destinations, said: “Today there are more and more suppliers providing content so it takes longer for searches to come back.

“We have brought dynamic packaging for tour operators to the next level. Tour operators need the functionality to compete head on with major OTA’s and provide easy access to their range of air and hotel product.

“This technology provides automation that will help them quickly see and sell their most competitive and profitable products.”

The new module provides higher visibility of the tour operator product in search results, which O’Sullivan claims will aid operators in pushing their more profitable product.

Operators will have the option to filter search results by supplier, where they can choose a nett rate of a hotel contract over a wholesaler, or vice versa.

Flight search within the new module will look across all air integrations, enabling operators to filter by either GDS or direct airline contract.

The flight component will also take account of hidden extras, such as luggage charges, so that customer are given a true comparison.

Open Destinations has used Microsoft’s Signal R technology for the development, which allows bi-directional communication between server and client.

This technology has been built into the existing booking engine of Travel Studio allowing existing customers to take advantage of the new functionality.

For operators new asynchronous search means the quickest providers’ results are shown immediately so sales agents have some product in front of them immediately.

In the past year Travel Studio has completed integrations with Jetstar, Air Arabia and Aer Lingus, as well as large bedbanks such as Miki Travel, JacTravel and Diethelm Travel Group.

The company has also migrated more channel managers into their channel management API.

O’Sullivan said most of its demand over the past year has come from overseas which now accounts for half of the firm’s business.

In particular Asia and Australasia are strong markets. “There is lots of competition but people at who are the companies like them and what software they are using.”