FAREPORTALSM CASE STUDY 1

The FAREPORTALSM system offers an outstanding solution for increasing sales agent productivity and customer satisfaction, and delivers a strong return on investment.

Customer Profile

Tour Operators

Deployment Summary

• Deployable to hundreds of concurrent users with role based rights and unique navigation experience.
• Integration and backward compatibility with existing Customer Relationship System

Benefits

• Enhances customer relationship management (CRM)
• Reduces response time and resolution to client inquiries
• Increases productivity of call center staff
• Lowers cost of air component of package

Tour Operators occupy a unique niche in the travel industry. Packaged holidays or cruise bookings usually require an air booking component to transport the travelers to the start of their tour or cruise and back. Although the actual sale is dependent on a good air connection, this is rarely the part tour operators specialize in, and depend on disparate systems to put the air component together in a package for their end clients. This leads to unnecessary loss of productivity while responding to client requests, because the package is not complete without the air booking, which in turn must be booked from a different source or sources than the tour or cruise component. Often, since the air bookings are not consolidated from one source, the benefits of volume purchase cannot be realized, which leads to an increased cost to the tour operator and subsequent loss of potential profit.

Without a single view of every component of the package offered, as well as the travel agency customer requesting it, customer service agents are unable to respond quickly or efficiently to customer inquiries. With the present trend in the travel industry of reduced staff, the ability to deliver high quality service, and convert inquiries into sales can come under significant pressure. FAREPORTALSM customer studies have identified the need to introduce a single view to Tour Operator sales staff of the main product they offer, combined with air availability and the profile of their Travel Agency clients. In the competitive market today, otherwise they risk losing their travel agent partners – and lucrative customers – to other holiday companies.

FAREPORTALSM standardizes all call center operations to create a single, comprehensive, and company wide view of all travel agent customers through the FP Profile System. It then combines the specialty product of the Tour Operator with the most comprehensive real time air availability and fares ever offered, including published, consolidator and web fares with any existing air contracts the Tour Operator may have, on a single bookable screen.

Conclusion

The enhanced quality of service and improved productivity of staff are obvious benefits. Other potential benefits include a higher conversion of inquiries to sales and a lower cost of air, leading to increased profits per sale.

FAREPORTALSM achieves this because it is based on the latest .NET technology, and represents the most functionally rich, scalable, and market proven travel eBusiness solution available anywhere today.