Keith Prowse has partnered with online reservation firm Innstant Group to launch a centralised ticket and travel portal which it claims can boost agent profits by a third.
It will enable travel agents to book a range of product including tickets, hotels, car hire and low cost airlines, with scheduled carriers and cruise to be added in the third quarter.
Dynamic packaging functionality will be available towards the end of the year.
Managing director John Godwin claimed travel agents currently account for 60% of a client’s overall holiday expenditure. Although half of the remaining 40% is spent on food and beverages, the remaining 20% is generally spent on entertainment.
“We are increasing sales opportunities for travel agents with them able to increase their profits by 30% by selling entertainment,” Godwin said. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t sell $1 million worth of tickets within the first year.”
The portal also enables agents to book instantly with more than 150,000 hotels with live price comparisons with 54 other booking engines with last minute availability.
“We will undercut the competition in most cases,” he said.
Content will be sourced directly from the properties rather than via a third party. Agents can decide on their own mark up.
Corporate travel management firms are a major focus with the new product offering a 30 minute “white label conversion” that agents can offer to their corporate clients, according to Godwin.
Meanwhile, Innstant chief executive Darryl Ismail said the platform was still evolving. It currently features fares from more than 600 low cost airlines, but will offer those from scheduled airlines from the third quarter.
Cruise will also be introduced, with Ismail promising a four step booking system as opposed to the regular 12 or 15 step system.
Hotel inventory will also continue to expand.
“We expects to have more than 200,000 hotels online within 12 months,” he said.
The product will be rolled out to New Zealand and Asia by the end of the year with the firm currently in discussions with its first major client.
