Travel Weekly technology editor Dennis Schaal spent a day at
ByeByeNow.com headquarters. His report follows:
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. -- Racks of phosphorescent-like travel
brochures frame ByeByeNow.com's relatively diminutive call center
here like just-pasted-down wallpaper trim.
But, the travel experts, who handle consumer inquiries through
live chat, Web cams and Internet telephony every waking and
nonwaking hour, hardly ever open the brochures. That's because all
of the information is already downloaded into their computers.
Say hello to ByeByeNow.com, the bandwidth-pulsating,
clicks-to-bricks leisure travel site that features spokesman Regis
Philbin's virtual tours, streaming video of exotic resorts and
360-degree panoramic views of plush cruise ship cabins. All
available on its Web site.
But, to borrow a phrase from Apple Computer Inc., everyone here
seems to "think different." And, everything about the place seems
to defy travel-site orthodoxy.
ByeByeNow.com is a privately held Internet start-up that shuns
the label dot-com, pledges to be profitable next year and has no
plans to expand its call center.
That's because everything is geared toward its now-wired agency
franchisees.
The goal is to take almost every call, e-mail or chat directed
from the Web site to the second-floor "customer-care center" here
at headquarters and route them to a local travel store franchisee
near customers' homes.
"If you're calling in at 3 a.m., there's a live voice [at the
company's headquarters]," said chief operating officer Douglas
Ziemer, who came to the enterprise from Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
"Our goal would be to talk to that person at 3 in the morning and
say, 'We can help you with it now, but would it be better for us to
route you to the nearest franchise so they could call you in the
morning?'
"We want the franchise to get every call."
And, even if consumers make "agentless" bookings on the site, a
commission and the customer's profile go to the nearest franchise
for follow-up.
Speaking of franchises, the company wooed Emmy Award-winner Guy
Pepper, who became chief executive officer about six months ago.
Pepper helped launch CNN and MSNBC, which melded broadcast, cable
and the Internet.
The chief executive officer is clearly in charge at the launch
of the daily 8 a.m. "ops meetings," where, on a recent Tuesday
morning, about 15 staffers are gathered with notepads at the ready
and Styrofoam coffee cups nearly ready for refills.
The discussion ranges from an upcoming pitch to Amazon.com for a travel
button, a franchisee meeting that went well a day earlier and
progress on the filming of vacation properties in Mexico, which
were done by one of 15 freelance film crews that update the
company's extensive video database.
"We looked at the agencies, and they have no tools to sell
vacations," Pepper said after the staff meeting. "It's not low
tech. It's no tech."
So ByeByeNow.com, which said it is doing $500 million in annual
sales, is going after the leisure travel franchise market. And,
Worldspan, an equity and technology partner, is a major asset.
Pepper and Co. are providing agencies with tools to protect them
from Internet incursion; customer relationship management
applications, and multimedia presentations that agents can show to
consumers in the office or on customers' home computers.
Everything that's available on the site is accessible to agents
on their desktops so they just have to tilt the screens toward
customers to display streaming video of vacation packages. Or, they
can remotely take over customers' home PCs and push along to them
pages of vacation options with panoramic views.
"Instead of just handing out a brochure, the agents can show
customers video of the hotel, what it really looks like, what the
room really looks like to see it before you buy it," Pepper
said.
Much of ByeByeNow.com's existing franchise base -- 278 agencies
-- is cruise-oriented because the franchisees came with the
acquisitions of Cruise Holidays International, Travel Professionals
International and First Discounts.
Another 14 agencies were brought into the fold by the middle of
August, which was the first month of the franchise sales
effort.
The company has to sidestep the gauntlet of on-line and
franchisor competition, overcome its current lack of brand
recognition and agencies' reluctance to give up their
independence.
Still, Pepper sees an opportunity that's, well, panoramic in
dimensions.
"I can drive a truck through the hole of competition in this
market," he said.