NEW YORK --
Vacation.com signed an agreement with travel technology firm Comtec
to evaluate the technology needs of Vacation.com member agencies
and propose next-step solutions.
The goal is to
provide members a common platform for all their technology and "to
explore online brand presence for Vacation.com," the organization
said.
Steve Tracas,
Vacation.com president and CEO, said the "intent is to allow agents
to mix and match [product] from our preferred suppliers in one
system and to sell them as one with their markup."
Simon Powell, CEO of
Comtec, said an additional goal would be to help agents manage
bookings after they are made, manage their margins and "allow
consumers to manage their bookings the way they want to."
Implementation would
be "in a very staged approach that delivers benefits on Day 1," he
said.
Vacation.com member
technology already includes booking capabilities via Amadeus Cruise
and a custom version of VAX.
Powell said Comtec
would not propose "reinventing the wheel ... If it exists already,
we want to use it," he said, adding that one of Comtec's strengths
is integrating technology with legacy systems, "and we don't see
them being reinvented."
As to cost, all
Vacation.com technology is currently covered by the annual bundled
per-agency $575 membership fee, but it is not clear that will
continue to be the case.
Tracas said that
"with every product, we still have to determine how it will be
financed and where revenues will come from."
Another big piece of
this puzzle is how best to position the Vacation.com domain name
with the public.
The name "resonates,
and we haven't taken advantage of it," Tracas said.
To contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail
to Nadine Godwin at [email protected].