Octopus goes after agents
OctopusTravel.com has launched a trade website that pays 10% commission.
The company has previously worked with suppliers like easyjet and Eurostar, offering hotel product to sell alongside flights/trains. It now says it wants to encourage bookings through agents.
Octopus managing director, Ray Mason told TravelMole: “We want to get agents into the habit of offering extra services to their customers. They have to give a good service to compete with online.
“It’s also worth remembering that there is still a huge volume of people who don’t have the confidence to book online.”
The website features the same products at the same prices as the consumer website – 15,000 hotels and 1,700 sightseeing tours around the world. The products can be booked in real-time and there is a commission of 10% paid by Octopus on each booking at the time of booking.
Octopus has added extra functions to the agent website such as management reporting – so agents can track bookings, delayed payment up to eight days before the hotel stay, and a reminder email to the agent to pay up ten days before the hotel stay. Agents can also search by passenger name or departure date, and can attach their own reference number to bookings.
Mr Mason told TravelMole: “Agents have always had a number of ways to book hotels but often the rates aren’t good, the portals or GDSs often pay commission after the hotel stay, this can be paid in local currency, and often is a poor commission anyway.”
Agents can register for free on the dedicated website.
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