NEW YORK -- An Internet start-up company here is planning to roll
out a reservations system at the ASTA convention in September that
would allow agents to book all travel modes, including air
consolidators, through a single Web site that would include links
to all the major CRSs.
The company, Fare1.com, got a major shot in the arm recently
when it was acquired by a unit of the U.K.'s Culver Holdings, a
publicly traded firm that operates the Worldtraveldirect site at www.wtd.com.
Fare1 chief executive Ron Andruff, a former hockey pro who is an
international business consultant, said the acquisition will
accelerate Fare1's development because its sister site in the U.K.
already is up and running with proven technology providers,
including Datalex, which is providing the booking engine for the
U.S. airlines' Orbitz venture.
The Worldtraveldirect site also uses a CRS gateway switch from
Aerotech, whose founder and president, Henry Ting, is
Worldtraveldirect's technical director.
Andruff said the goal of Fare1 is to enable agents to book
anything on the Web. It will start with air, cars and hotels,
including instant confirmation for unpublished consolidator fares
not normally available through CRSs.
He said about 10 major U.S. consolidators already have agreed to
participate.
Cruise and tour companies will be added later as the firm
gradually builds the links and "middleware" to get them
connected.
Andruff said, "We want to cover the world," but replacing the
CRSs is "not the initial purpose."
The system will have links to all the major airline systems and
enable agents to book through their CRSs to get their segment
counts.
Travel agents will be invited to use the system on a subscriber
basis, paying monthly fees that Andruff said would be in the $20 to
$30 range.
The fee likely will be waived at first, as Fare1 seeks to sign
up an initial group of between 500 and 1,000 agents.
Andruff said he's looking for a representative cross section of
U.S. agents, both consortium members and independents.
Fare1 would derive additional revenue through a 1% fulfillment
fee from nonair suppliers.
Andruff, who hung up his skates in the mid-1970s to start his
business career, said he got the idea for Fare1 after a discussion
with a travel agent led him to conclude that travel was "an
industry in turmoil."