Helping agents to compete with online
WTM 2004 Special: Agents can compare GDS hotel rates and merchant rates on one screen with a new product launched at WTM.
The product, called TLC (Travel Lodging Connector), is being launched in the UK by CNG Travel Group, the company that owns PlacesToStay.com, the consumer hotel booking site.
The solution is placed onto agents’ desktops and works with a GDS to search hotels and come back with a list of both GDS and merchant hotel rates from the hotels listed by PlacesToStay, allowing the agent to pick which one suits the customer best.
TLC connects to 17,000 hotels in 111 countries, which adds to an average 40,000 GDS properties. TLC will work with Worldspan, Sabre and Galileo by the end of this year, and will work with Amadeus in the first quarter of next year.
The presentation was made at World Travel Market by Tim Wright, CNG’s senior vice president EMEA, who until recently held a similar role at Worldspan.
He said: “The benefits of this product is that it gives travel agents the ability to compete with online players without having to do any extra legwork.”
According to Mr Wright a booking can be made by agents in six to eight key strokes. He said this ease of use was crucial to ensuring high levels of bookings.
If the agent decides to book the merchant rate, a commission is paid using CNG’s Prompt Payment, which delivers commission automatically. The company hopes this fast payment of commissions will encourage agents to make more merchant hotel bookings.
A merchant hotel booking can also be cancelled or amended by paying a $10 charge.
TLC was launched in the US about one year ago and is being used on 3,000 agency desktops. CNG signed its first UK customer for TLC at WTM – CorporateChoice, the business travel division of Worldchoice.
CNG also said at the conference that it was looking into enabling dynamic packaging. The company says it is undecided as to how to price the product, but is likely to opt for a sliding scale licence fee per agency desktop.
Report by Ginny McGrath
Ginny McGrath
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