Australia’s national carrier Qantas has launched a new technology platform, Qantas Distribution Platform (QDP), to enable its trade partners to interact with its customers on a more personal level through enhancing the airline’s retailing, booking and servicing capabilities.

The QDP improves functionality of indirect agent channels by aligning them more closely with the capabilities currently available via qantas.com, making it easier for trade partners to sell the airline’s products and provide more seamless customer service.

The platform was developed in partnership with Farelogix Inc. and utilises IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC), the new industry standard. It has been certified to NDC Level 3, IATA’s highest certification.

Image source: PhocusWire

According to Qantas, its trade partners will now have access to richer content including images of cabins and meals and ability to book extras such as extra legroom seating. It will also provide Qantas Frequent Flyer information and tier status at the point of sale.

Vanessa Hudson, Qantas chief customer officer, said the platform was a key part of a broader digital evolution of the airline’s booking channels. “There have never been more ways for a customer to research and book their travel. We want to make the booking experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible, no matter their booking channel preference.”

Qantas’ trade partners can access the QDP either via approved partner connections, or directly by developing a connection to the airline’s NDC XML Application Program Interface (API).

Travelport, Serko and CTM are the early adopters of the platform. The airline is working closely with its other GDS and agency partners to adopt the new technology.

In a separate statement by Travelport, the company said the agreement with Qantas also includes distribution of the airline’ content via the Rich Content and Branding merchandising solution. Over 65,000 of Travelport-connected travel agencies globally now have access to Qantas’ booking and ancillary services.

Travelport is the first operator of a global distribution system to be granted the highest certification by IATA for its NDC airline distribution technology. The company said it is well-positioned to support the QDP and improve the flexibility of content distribution as the airline becomes one of the first to deploy NDC content later this year.

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EASA, an Indian travel start-up, wants to facilitate ‘easy visas’. We spoke to the co-founding team which is currently based in Denver and they shared an elevator pitch in their words. Here is what they have to say:

We are an end-to-end online solution that simplifies the visa application process for Indian passport-holders.

While the travel industry has grown in leaps and bounds with cheap flights and hotels, visa processes continue to be as complex as ever. And the fact that the average Indian needs a visa to travel to over 180 countries, highlights the need for an easy, uncomplicated solution!

On EASA’s website, the user initially has to enter their personal information, which entails questions that are commonly asked in almost every visa form. Once this is completed, the platform auto-completes approximately 70% of any visa application. We then verify the form, and submit it as per the embassy’s guidelines, either electronically or physically at a centre. After a decision on the visa is made, the passport/visa is delivered back to the customer.

Easa Co-Founders: From L to R, Cyrus Sethna and Nihal Daswani

As Indian passport-holders, both of us co-founders were constantly filling out multiple visa forms for family, friends, colleagues and ourselves. While one of us is organised, the other is always looking for an easier way out, but with our combined passion for technology & travel, we came up with the idea of EASA earlier this year.

We are currently in Denver, Colorado at the Travelport Labs Accelerator, the only accelerator program managed by a Travel Company and that has a 100% focus on travel start-ups. Travelport is a $2 billion company and has been a pioneer in the travel industry for over 40 years.

Our time here at the accelerator has helped us speed up the release of EASA and we have successfully launched our online service for Indian passport holders travelling to Hong Kong, one of the world’s foremost ‘super-cities’. For years, Indian citizens have taken advantage of visa-free travel to the city. But in January this year, the HKSAR Immigration Department announced a new Pre-Arrival Registration system (like a visa) which resulted in a 20% decrease of Indians travelling to Hong Kong in the first six months of 2017.

So as EASA launched last week, it was a no-brainer that Hong Kong would be our first destination. Moving ahead, our promise is to strive to make international travel borderless for Indian citizens, and then the entire world!

APPLY NOW for a Hong Kong PAR: www.easa.co

TravHQ Take: We believe EASA has a very interesting business model, especially because different countries have complex visa processes for Indian travellers. There are countries that accept eVisa, Visa on Arrival and also allow you to travel if you have visa of specific countries such as USA, Australia, Singapore etc. If the startup can build on its portfolio of the covered countries, then the value proposition for travellers will be very interesting. 

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Travelport Business Insights is a new analytics tool that launched in Asia Pacific region that provides travel agencies and other businesses with a ‘near real-time’ access to data from various sources. According to Travelport, this would bring benefits ranging from the ability to optimise supplier contracts, enhanced customer service and, improved operational efficiency.

“Our customers have told us the volume of data available to them is dramatically increasing, as is the time and cost of collating and interpreting the information,” said Mark Meehan, Travelport’s managing director for Asia Pacific.

The sources of integration are both traditional and non-traditional in nature which are then put together with predictive and forward-thinking analytics. The data is then accessible in a dashboard format which highlights key indicators and insights.

He continues to say, “We have developed Travelport Business Insights to help our customers make key business decisions that can improve revenue, enhance customer service and reduce operational costs by not only aggregating travel data from multiple sources but transforming the information into insights, providing businesses with a competitive edge.”

The whole packaging comes in three sizes designed to suit different sizes of business.

Source: TTG Asia

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Travelport and Roibek Travel have forged a partnership to a long-term agreement that will see Roibek use Travelport’s technology across their 55 branches in the entire Saudi Arabia’s travel industry.

This agreement would witness the growth of Riyadh-based travel agency deploy Travelport’s Universal API, the technology that backs internet bookings and unparalleled travel content to boost their online presence.

Khalid Suliman Al Turaiki, Founder, Roibek Travel, said “as a regional leader in airline ticketing for tours and travels, our selection of Travelport for our business, supports our objective to empower efficiency, increase productivity and improve our overall customers’ experience. A fundamental component of our strategy- as a pioneer of Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism landscape- is to grow our presence online and Travelport’s technology will also allow us to target growth in our business so that we can bring our online presence to an unprecedented level.”

This point of sales solution would give Roibek access to air and other travel content and services aimed at maximising revenues for travel agents. Smartpoint, as the company calls it, would allow travel agents to sell not only air tickets but various other ancillary products and services of a particular airline in real time from over 400 of the world’s leading network and low-cost carriers.

Ibrahim El Mohandes, Country Manager, Saudi Arabia, Travelport, said “Travelport is delighted to announce this business partnership with Roibek Travel. Our technology solutions are redefining how travel is being searched, bought and sold across the globe and our Travel Commerce Platform creates synergies that facilitate revenue growth for our customers, which will empower Roibek’s growth online, increasing revenue as well as improving customer service for the Roibek’s customers.”

Research shows that Saudi Arabia has the largest travelling population in the Middle East, with the young population making 4-5 trips a year, mostly within Gulf.

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Many marketers wish to learn the art of customer acquisition. This year, WIT Singapore held a panel discussion on ‘Travel Distribution, Reboot’ which focused majorly on how traditional global distribution systems are prominently positioning themselves in the market. The panellists of this discussion were: Albert Pozo, President, APAC, Amadeus; Martin Herbert, General Manager, Asia, Travelport; Roshan Mendis, SVP, Sabre.

The panelists of ‘Travel Distribution. Reboot’ session  at WIT 2015

The panel discussion brought to light many essential factors for the marketers who attended this event:

#1- Customer Acquisition, Personalised Unique Experience and Travel Corner Platform

With the motive to attract ‘powerful’ travellers, the need of ‘powerful’ data was brought to the forefront. ‘Powerful’ travellers are the ones who are better connected, informed and experienced in the world of travel. On the other side, the focus of global companies should be customer acquisition while giving a personalised experience to the customers. This is mostly forgotten by businesses in the cut-throat competition in the market. Global distribution system should be converted into a ‘Travel Corner Platform’ that provides richer and diversified content on their fingertips of the users. Taking this into account, Travelport has allowed airline companies to merchandise and sell their products while helping them expand in different sectors like hospitality.

#2- Disruption in corporate travel

While leisure travel space is mostly disrupted, corporate travel is falling in the same category too. In the corporate market, there are many discrepancies. Often there are issues of cost and control between businesses. Then, there are business travellers who have different tastes and preferences- few of them wish to travel in the business style while others want to enjoy the facilities of both leisure and business travel. To counter this irregularity, technology providers can produce sophisticated search and control platforms and use business analytical tools to attain the best results.

#3- Significance of localization & development of advanced technology

Many global companies realise that localisation is inevitable. For this form of development, restructuring of businesses is deemed necessary. Recognising the needs and demands of clients/customers is highly essential for businesses to deliver better products and obtain profits. With the improvement in the quality of products, advanced user-friendly technologies should be developed that help the suppliers to make differentiated offerings for the customers.

#4- Travellers’ feedback in company policies

Travellers’ feedback can really help travel brands to grow and expand. The panellists in the discussion pointed out that adoption of travel feedbacks must be made mandatory and should be included in the company policies. If the company listens to their travellers, their compliance will be higher. This self-regulatory system will increase travellers’ satisfaction for the brand.

#5- Disruption in the Travel and Transportation Distribution System

Be it GDS, Metasearch, corporate travel agencies, the barriers to enter into this market are low. With richer content in GDS, new companies have come into existence. The corporate space is vast and there is room for more players who wish to establish businesses and try out different things.

You can find more stories from WIT Singapore 2015 and other events held during TravelRave here.

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