NEW YORK -- In a push to develop relationships with travel agents,
Site59.com is
in talks with several CRSs, including Worldspan, and an unnamed
national agency consortium to provide them with the Web site's
last-minute tour packages on a commission basis.
Site59.com, based here, said it uses a unique technology and
approach to the distressed-inventory market.
The company dynamically creates last-minute packages -- as
opposed to just air, hotel, car rental and activity components --
and it does so seven to 14 days before departure using technology
that guarantees availability because it polls suppliers and its own
library of potential packages on an hourly basis.
"We think there's been a lot of arrogance out there with sites
spurning off-line agents," said Site59.com chief executive officer
Michelle Peluso, explaining the rationale for the talks. "We take
the opposite approach because we think agents bring a lot to the
table."
Site59.com is a privately held company that was seed-funded and
is majority-owned by the Boston Consulting Group, the same firm
that's behind the origination of the airline-owned Orbitz.
Launched in May, Site59.com recently completed its Series B
financing stage.
From a supplier standpoint, although a Delta flight or a Bass
Hotel stay is identified as consumers browse, the inventory and
brand are not "diluted" because only the package price is posted
and not the components, Peluso said.
With some 100 agencies in its program so far, Site59.com's
free-to-join travel agent program offers 5% commissions, which are
uncapped, on the entire package, including dinners or a canoe trip
along the Potomac River if they're featured.
Karen Vaites, who's responsible for the travel agent program, as
manager of application services, said feedback from agents at the
recent ASTA congress confirmed the company's agent efforts.
"Agents seemed to really want to find ways to make the Internet
more of a tool for them and we think we're a natural fit," Vaites
said.
Site59.com already uses Worldspan to query for air, hotel and
car rental availability, and for booking once packages are
sold.
Worldspan was among the first CRSs it approached, said Vaites,
because of this ongoing relationship. A closer partnership with
Worldspan or another CRS would either provide CRS subscribers with
a link to the Site59.com site or would place the
distressed-inventory site's content directly in the reservations
systems.
If the discussions with the national agency group lead to a
contract, Peluso said, Site59.com content would be on the
consortium's intranet.
Peluso contended that Site59.com can offer agents better
commissions on its packages than other on-line agencies because
Site59.com uses a net business model, where it has the flexibility
to determine the markup, to secure inventory rather than a
commission-based agency model.
Agencies can sign up for the Site59.com travel agent program on
the site at www.site59.com. It can work with agents who have IATA
and Cruise Lines International Association numbers, Vaites said,
and independents who don't have these credentials.
Currently, with the "spontaneous" (the company name is a
reference to making plans in the 59th minute) travel site featuring
16 originating cities and 40 destinations in the U.S., Site59.com
transmits 16 different e-mails to agents in its program, Vaites
said. Each highlights content and specials in the agents'
regions.
Take me to your leader
NEW YORK -- Michelle Peluso, 29, the chief executive officer of
Site59.com, walks through the company's crammed, temporary Wall
Street-area offices, pridefully outlining staffers' industry
credentials and playfully commenting on their fishnet stockings,
leather boots, bowling shirts or Yankees regalia.
With a bell clanking when a major sale is made and co-workers
chiming in with workplace banter as well, the office has energy --
and so does Peluso.
She came to the job about a year ago via the Boston Consulting
Group; a White House Fellowship; Oxford University, and the Wharton
School of Business.
Near the end of the Labor Department stint, where she worked on
youth unemployment and equal pay initiatives, Peluso received a
call from the Boston Consulting Group, which wanted her to
return.
"We know you love travel and know you're a great procrastinator
so this is a perfect company for you to run," said Peluso,
recalling the BCG offer.
Half a lifetime ago, at age 15, Peluso was already in the
"travel" business. After visiting the Soviet Union, she formed the
nonprofit New Generation for Peace, which brought students from
around the world to New York for seminars to promote global
understanding.
Her entrepreneurial spirit was there at age 16, too, when she
formed a swimming instruction business in Middletown, N.Y.
In the future, perhaps 20 or 30 years from now, Peluso would
like to "go back to government."
For now, though, given her Site59.com duties, Peluso doesn't
travel as much and isn't as spontaneous as she'd like to be.
Said Peluso: "I was home last weekend writing two
contracts."