Travelong goes the distance with innovative technology

Travelong, a multi-national travel company that's one part travel management, one part travel Web site and one part technology infrastructure, is a rare success story in today's tough economy thanks to unique technology and a savvy business model.

The Manhattan-based company, which now employs more than 200 call center agents, has come a long way since 1994, when owner Sam Jain first got into the travel business with "FareBuzz", a B2B travel company. Since then it acquired CheapOair.com and FarePortal, a technology development company.

Travelong operates using proprietary technology integrated with Amadeus products including Amadeus Selling Platform, Amadeus Master Pricer and Amadeus Cruise. We recently sat down with Sam Jain and his Chief Technology Officer Harsh Sood, to talk about what makes Travelong unique and successful.

What makes Travelong unique?
Our technology is unique in many regards. It allows us to be flexible in terms of what we can achieve. We can scale up to any number of simultaneous users and we can support B2B [business-to-business] and B2C [business-to-consumer] functions, including private labeling of Web sites. We can connect to many different databases using a single search, for example, which allows us to find the lowest and the most diverse air fares and hotel offers, which ultimately benefits the end consumer.

We have built a call center owned and operated by us. We currently employ approximately 200 agents providing 24/7 toll free support. We get about 50% of our business through the call center agents. So it’s a great synergy of online and traditional businesses, making us unique and successful as well as providing the highest level of customer service.

What is the secret to Travelong’s success?
We’re a coherent and dynamic team of people. Everyone works well together. Marketing, accounting, auditing, call center and the technology teams are all on the same page. We think teamwork is what builds a great company. Also, the proprietary technology that we own is a key success factor. We also benefit from being a diversified travel company with a technology arm, which strongly supports FareBuzz, our business-to-business model, and CheapOair.com, our business-to-consumer model.

How long have you used Amadeus?
Since 2006.

How has Amadeus helped Travelong succeed?
Amadeus offers good quality content and robust technology that’s modern and easy to integrate with our system. Amadeus technology is fast, producing search results quickly.

These are tough economic times, particularly for the travel industry. How has your company managed to thrive when so many others are struggling to stay afloat?
Part of it is that we have an integrated, cost-effective marketing strategy. We are also thorough and financially detail-oriented. We audit each and every dollar to make sure we’re spending in the right areas. We remain profitable by investing in the growth of our people, new technologies and maintaining robust infrastructure.

What new developments lie ahead for Travelong?
In 2009, we’ll be focusing on hotels as well as growing the air side of our business with traditional marketing such as TV advertising. We recently launched a new hotel booking engine on www.cheapOstay.com which will offer highly-competitive hotel rates.