Travelport reports the launched of its Travelport Merchandising Platform which Travelport says will "transform" the way airlines deliver their products and the way products are displayed to travel agents. Among the advantages cited by Travelport for agents is access to the full range of airline products, including ancillary services.
“Travelport Merchandising Platform paves the way for significant change in the distribution landscape by enabling airlines to go to market with all of their products in the right place, at the right time, in every channel. It provides complete consistency in how an airline’s product portfolio is presented and sold across all channels," said Derek Sharp, managing director, Global Distribution & Sales, Travelport.
Travelport says its Merchandising Platform will facilitate the acquisition of additional, richer content from airlines, whatever the source of that content, i.e. through APIs, through industry standard data filing protocols, such as ATPCO or through a blend of both. The Travelport Merchandising Platform then enables the ability to display and promote this content across all points of sale.
“Travelport Merchandising Platform is a ‘sea change’ in the travel industry and truly differentiates us from our competitors. We are the only GDS encouraging airlines to connect in any way they want, in order to deliver their full product portfolio with equal impact across all distribution channels. This underscores the fact that Travelport is ready, willing, able and already utilizing new technologies to work with any and all airlines interested in partnering to enable travel agents and consumers to shop, compare and buy travel in whichever channel they choose,'' Sharp said.
Travelport Merchandising Platform enables travel agents to:
• access the full range of airline products, including ancillaries, in their familiar, consolidated and integrated workflow that assists them in making the best informed choice for their customers
• offer a better, more complete service demonstrating their deep product expertise to customers
• maintain high levels of productivity and reduce training times.
Travelport Merchandising Platform enables airlines to:
• differentiate and distribute their full suite of products and services, including fares and ancillaries with complete consistency across all channels;
• distribute their content using whichever technology best suits their business model;
• achieve greater brand consistency by controlling how their product is presented across all channels;
• maximize return on investment by demonstrating differentiation from their competition and increased ancillary sales;
• deliver a compelling user experience in all channels, driving
Travelport Merchandising Platform provides three retailing solutions, Travelport says:
1. Travelport Aggregated Shopping – Launching now: Consolidates within the same screen shopping results for traditional carriers who connect through ATPCO and those with whom Travelport has an API connection so there is no need to duplicate shopping requests and compare across several screens. Travelport says it is the only GDS that allows agencies to shop both types of carriers in a single display and booking flow. Simply put, Aggregated Shopping gives airlines the ability to distribute their content in the way they choose to, and for travel agents to be able to sell this through a consistent, efficient workflow.
2. Travelport Ancillary Services - Available now: Enables travel agents to sell airline ancillaries within their existing workflow so there is no need to navigate to airline.com to offer the full range of products for carriers that choose to do so.
3. Travelport Rich Content and Branding – To Be Launched late 2013 ; Currently in development with several partner airlines the Rich Content and Branding component of the Travelport Merchandising Platform allows airlines to communicate the value of their products to and through the agency community. Travel agents have access to all of the information on an airline’s product within the booking flow improving efficiency, levels of service and the ability to make informed travel choices.
Travelport Aggregated Shopping Launches with EasyJet:
Travelport also said earlier this month it launched Aggregated Shopping with EasyJet. As a result, Travelport-connected agents can now sell all EasyJet fares and ancillaries, including those that were previously only available on the carrier’s website.
This makes Travelport the only GDS that allows its subscribers to shop, price and book fares and ancillaries from all types of carrier in a common workflow regardless of the technology used to aggregate that content, Travelport says.
Travelport also offered examples of the implementation of its Merchandising Platform, including:
• Air Canada: Travelport Agencia aggregates content provided via an API connection with ATPCO filed fares to allow Travelport customers to access and sell all products sold by Air Canada, including ancillaries and fare families.
• KLM Economy Comfort Seating: connectivity via industry standards joined with Travelport’s own approach to allow KLM to describe its product. Travelport was the first GDS to enable a complete transaction for KLM Economy Comfort seating using Electronic Miscellaneous Documents. This solution is implemented and available now.
. British Airways: connectivity via API. Travelport enabled agents can book pre-paid seating on BA flights for the first time through the GDS channel, using their usual desktop and workflow processes.
• Ancillary services from Alitalia, Air New Zealand and Aegean using ATPCO filed ancillary services fulfilled via Electronic Miscellaneous Document.
Visit www.travelport.com.