Tripology, the interactive travel referral service that lets agents bid online for customer leads, is in the news with a series of preferred-supplier agreements with some big industry players.
CCRA International, a marketing and distribution channel for some 22,000 agencies; Hickory Travel Systems, a consortium that reports $17 billion in annual sales; and IT Group, an agent network with $1.4 billion in annual sales, all have signed on with Tripology.
Tripology’s travel agent web site, www.Tripology.com/agent, provides traditional and home-based agents with leads for potential customers. Using proprietary technology to match travel professionals with consumer requests, the company said it has received and processed more than 40,000 trip requests since Tripology.com launched in June 2007. Tripology is a privately held corporation based in New York. Its principal investor is Ascend Venture Group.
Executives of the preferred suppliers agree that their affiliated agents need new avenues through which to pursue more clients.
Dic Marxen, president and CEO of CCRA, which operates the B2B booking portal www.ccratravel.com, said the partnership would enhance CCRA’s member offerings, “giving our traditional and home-based agents a novel and economical way to harness the Internet to grow business and access new customers.”
According to Veronique Deblois, vice president of travel trade sales and marketing for Tripology, agents who specialize in a niche such as cruising or religious pilgrimages, as many CCRA agents do, have an advantage.
“Yet many surveys and research findings reveal that consumers have difficulty finding specialized travel agents to help arrange their trips. Tripology is designed to fill that gap and, through this new alliance, will help CCRA agents to access high-intent travelers seeking their travel planning expertise,” she said.
Hickory said the firm’s new relationship with Tripology “further enhances the suite of product offerings for our agency members, enabling them to access a targeted range of prospective new clients tailored to each agent’s specific knowledge and expertise.”