Longtime air ticket consolidator Hariworld Travel has added a booking engine for hotels, enabling retailers to book net rates at some 50,000 hotel and resort properties worldwide.
The booking engine offers budget through luxury properties in 120 countries.
"We are trying to create a one-stop shop for home-based agents," said Josanne Swain, vice president of marketing and business development for the New York-based firm. "In addition to air and hotels, we also offer cruises and tours and will add them to our booking engine in the near future, currently available by calling us. Trip insurance and car rentals will also be added."
The site, www.hariworld.com, offers real-time availability, she added. Agents add their markup and clients prepay the booking.
"We don't think the [prepay requirement] will deter travelers because they are used to prepaying on all the online sites," Swain said. "Travel agents benefit by not having to wait for hotels to send commissions."
Markups, she added, should be 20% to 30%, based on the category of the room.
According to Hariworld President Kamini Cohly, the hotel program is based on "innovative technology, which produces search results in seconds with complete hotel descriptions, amenities, services and location. Agents can build clients trips 24/7 through the Hariworld website."
Home-based or independent retailers must have credentials to do business with the company.
"Since our air contracts only allow us to sell to bona fide agents, we require an industry affiliation -- Iatan, CLIA, ARC, TRUE -- or they [can be affiliated with] a host agency," said Swain. "We then provide access to our site offering contracted and commissionable international airfares, plus hotel."