Travel Leaders Network (TLN), part of Internova Travel Group and
North America’s largest travel advisor network, has just launched a
revolutionary new booking tool, developed in collaboration with leading global
distribution system Sabre. Dubbed Internova SNAP, it’s a co-branded product that
is the first-to-market of Sabre’s newest single sign-on capabilities, called Launchpad.
SNAP is a cutting-edge graphical booking
tool that makes a travel advisor’s work of shopping and booking combined
air, hotel and car itineraries ridiculously easy. Rather than having to train
on systems that require complex codes, it will also enable those who are new to
the industry or independent consultants who do not currently use an aggregator
or GDS to start using the software quickly and intuitively.
Product
“It’s
single-source shopping for the agent—they don’t have to toggle back and forth,”
and they don’t have to worry about, ‘is this an NDC booking or this type of
booking or this fare code?’ We’ve taken all of that away and just made it very
simple in giving them the tools they need to take care of their customers,” said
Lindsay Pearlman, Senior Vice President, International Leisure at Travel
Leaders Network.
Plus, the tool
supports NDC offers, as well as low-cost carrier content and traditional fare
data for the airline industry, making air an easy-to-book package component. Users
can book one-way, roundtrip or multi-city flights for multiple passengers, as
well as lock in their seating assignments and add any special requests.
Internova's new SNAP booking tool interface. (Photo Credit: Internova Travel Group)
Instead of memorizing
native language commands and commission codes, advisors can now click on any
number of drop-down menus to find available options, complete with their
details, and use the intuitive and comprehensive search functions. Easy and
highly visual comparison functions even include hotel searches powered by
Google Maps, which pull in all the associated details and live data available
through Google.
At each stage of
the process, advisors can readily search using all imaginable criteria with
opportunities to include additional qualifiers at every turn, compare vendors
and view multiple pricing options made possible through TLN’s vast collection
of program deals and contracts with suppliers. And, it all appears on a single
screen, thanks to expandable and pop-out menus. You can view all the
information at your fingertips in as simple or detailed a format as you want.
Users can also input
their clients' travel credentials and loyalty numbers, see the potential for
mark-ups and add any service fees they’d like to their reservation. Once they
hit ‘purchase,’ the booking is routed through automated routines that have been
programmed in, including quality control and fraud checks.
Roger Block, president of Travel Leaders Network. (photo courtesy of Travel Leaders Group)
Implications
“One of the
biggest challenges that we face as a sector is recruiting new talent,” said Roger
Block, President, Travel Leaders Network. “We need modern retailing tools that
will help those new to the industry become successful without having to learn a
complicated language. Internova SNAP is a vital component of that effort. It
also gives our independent travel advisors a simpler way to shop and book
travel, helping them retain clients and build a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”
Besides the advantage of being easy for new
advisors to learn or established advisors to transition into using, SNAP’s
graphical experience and point-and-click functionality are advantageous on
other logistical levels.
“The shift from manual commands to a graphical
interface is inevitable because of the new technologies. NDC does not work with
native commands, so you have to use a graphical solution to access them,” said Burton.
“There's a large
opportunity here, right? [SNAP] simplifies the process, it supports our
preferred supplier partners, it provides them with the new distribution
channel, it helps the industry in that it's bringing on board new agents
quicker, and it supports our partners and it drives additional revenues, but
efficiencies of operations, as well. So, it's a pretty exciting time,” said Pearlman.
John Lovell, president of Travel Leaders Group. (photo courtesy of Travel Leaders Group)
Including
Air
One of the reasons
that Internova SNAP stands to prove significant for travel advisors is because
of the ease with which it integrates the ability to book the air portion of clients’
travel plans and packages. Burton observed that largely, “People are steering away from
really booking the entire package for their customer and they’re either handing
it off to a consolidator or they’re just sending their customer to airline.com
to book their air.”
Pearlman says
that, in leaving air reservations to others, advisors are missing out on
potential earnings. “The reason why most advisors don't book air is because it's
very complicated and they run the risk of getting dinged with debit memos, and
those debit memos can be extremely costly. So, a lot of agents just don’t
bother with it and we’re turning around and saying, ‘look, in an era
where revenues continue to be squeezed for the advisor, this is an option to go
back to booking air without the fear of the debit memos’.”
And SNAP’S
point-and-click functionality means booking those flights for your clients is a
snap (pun intended). Pearlman added, “Everything [advisors] used to have
to do to book air—understand the commission codes and all that stuff—you
don't have to worry about any of that. So, you're back to being able to make
money on a product that the vast majority of people who are traveling need. They're
going to be getting their air from someplace, they might as well get it from
the advisor that they’re dealing with.”
Of the new tool’s launch,
John Lovell, President, Travel Leaders Group remarked, “I think it’s going to
reverberate across the industry as a whole. Giving agents and advisors access
to new revenue streams is extremely important. You know, we’re in business to
make money and that’s what we’re trying to help them do, is make more money and
to maximize their earnings and efficiencies.”
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