AUSTIN, Texas -- WiredFlyer, a technology company here, aims to
launch a Web-based sales and marketing tool for the trade in
mid-February which, its creators said, is designed to drive
business "back to travel agencies."
The program provides each participating retailer with its own
Web site, but except for the individual agencies' logos and other
identifiers, all the sites will look alike and provide access to
the same destination information and photos.
The sites also will access the same database of travel product
information, where customers can search for trip options and fill
out trip request forms. A self-booking capability is planned, as
well.
The WiredFlyer product line is based on packages offered by Mark
Travel Corp. units "because of the fine service the company
provides," according to WiredFlyer president Rick Barton.
However, as more agencies join the WiredFlyer network, other
suppliers will be added, he noted.
Highlighted destinations initially will be Las Vegas and Mexico,
with the Caribbean, Hawaii and ski vacations scheduled to
follow.
Barton said he knows the WiredFlyer Web model site can bring in
business because he and his partners tested it first with their own
agency, Make Your Bet Vacations, also based here in the Texas
capital.
He said the 4-year-old agency, which sold about $5 million in
travel last year, generated 24% of that business from its Web site.
That was up from 16% of sales in 2000 and 9% in 1999.
Barton said the agency's Web site is hooked up to 600 search
engines and can be found with any of 1,465 keywords. It attracted
500,000 visitors last year, he said.
He said WiredFlyer will have comparable numbers of links, but
individual agency participants won't because, as their numbers
grow, too many agency names would appear as a result of a search,
to the benefit of none.
Instead, Barton said, surfers would use the agency locator
element of WiredFlyer to choose an agency based on geography or
other characteristics.
At the agency Web sites, there will be no links to any other
sites, thus providing each host agency with a "captive audience,"
he said.
The booking engine, not yet available, will be eLeisure Network,
a product created by Trisept Solutions for use by agencies at their
Web sites and providing access to Mark Travel products plus
Certified Vacations' brands as well as other operators.
WiredFlyer launched informally last October and counts a dozen
early participants now, all in Texas except for one Atlanta
agency.
The network has another 18 orders for agencies "from New York to
here," Barton said.
Also, the firm already has started some newspaper advertising in
Texas to promote the group.
Barton projected 200 network members by year's end, and 5,000 by
2006.
Those joining by June 30 can participate for free -- "no strings
attached," he said -- for six months. Thereafter, the fee is $330
monthly.
Asked if this network could be seen as competitive to existing
trade consortia, Barton shied away from such characterizations,
saying WiredFlyer is highly focused on only a limited product line
while organizations such as Vacation.com are "all things to all
people."
He said, "We will have lots of buying power," which WiredFlyer
will use to buy products in bulk, but there also is "lots of room
for consortia."
Make Your Bet Vacations is owned by Barton; his wife Kathy
Monte, and Albert Edgar. The triumvirate plus a fourth investor,
Tim Huggins, founded WiredFlyer late last year.
Barton also is president and chief executive officer of the
agency, Monte is vice president of both businesses and Edgar is
director of creative imaging for both. Portland, Ore.-based Huggins
is president of Internet technology for WiredFlyer.
When Make Your Bet Vacations was founded, it zeroed in on gaming
trips; the agency's large entry area is constructed to replicate
the interior of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
The gaming tables are used to teach clients how to play casino
games so they can get the most enjoyment out of their
vacations.
Now, the agency also emphasizes Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii
and ski programs -- precisely the roster planned for WiredFlyer's
network Web sites.
Last year, Barton claimed, Make Your Bet was the top producer
for Mark Travel's Funjet Vacations and Southwest Airlines Vacations
brands, and of the 10,000 clients the company served, 8,000
traveled on Mark Travel programs.
The agency's Web site is at www.myb.com.
For more information on WiredFlyer, visit www.wiredflyer.com.