AUCKLAND, N.Z. -- Technology vendors rolled out products here that
are designed to assist agents in planning itineraries to New
Zealand and booking nontraditional accommodations electronically.
The services, displayed at the Travel Rendezvous New Zealand
(Trenz) trade fair here earlier this month, are as follows:
• Availability, based in Whitianga and headed by managing director
Peter Ratcliffe, is a 9-month-old business designed to provide the
trade with real-time booking capabilities for small and
medium-sized lodges, cottages, inns, B&Bs as well as home
stays. Availablilty's Web site is www.availability.co.nz.
The software was initiated to benefit an affiliated inbound
business, New Zealand Encounters, and was adapted for other users
and first displayed to the trade in June.
Called Agent ART (Availability and Reservations Tracking), it
includes an itinerary-building feature and lets agents view photos
of available rooms and book specific units. About 100-plus
properties participate, Ratcliffe said.
Fees for agents start at $50 monthly for 50 properties for one
user and increase with the number of users (at $150 for up to five
users and $250 for up to 10) and rise with the number of
properties.
Ratcliffe said most sellers describe their commissions as
"negotiable," and agents can arrange their own terms.
He said some Australian properties are in the database, as well,
and he envisions expanding the resource to encompass more
Australian properties plus those in Africa and South America.
• Seekom at www.seekom.com, based in Wellington and headed by
managing director Simon Casey, introduced its Robert (Real Time
Online Booking Engine for Recreation & Tourism) last September
and counts 65 New Zealand properties, mostly B&Bs and private
homes, in the database. It also includes backpacker facilities,
and, Casey believes, the ease of electronic bookings for these
budget choices may open doors for agents.
Plans, he said, call for adding motels, hotels and apartments,
plus car rentals and scheduled tours. With those options, he said,
agents could create full ground itineraries in the same record.
Features in place now include availability searches based on
location and the ability to print brochures with photos for each
property.
Depending on technical capabilities, sellers have the option to
take bookings on a request basis instead of in real time, he said.
The service is free to agents, but retailers have to register to be
paid commissions.
• E4Itinerary.com at www.e4itinerary.com, based in Queenstown and headed by
director Bill Liscom, is an online itinerary planner developed
originally for its affiliated inbound business, E-travel, and first
seen by the trade at Trenz.
Liscom, an American resident of New Zealand, said the system
delivers suggested programs based on client interests, travel dates
and other data fed to the computer.
He said agencies can link the planner to their own Web sites or
can provide clients with an agency referral code so clients can do
some the initial planning on their own. The client pays NZ$100
(about $55 to $60) for the service using a credit card. E4Itinerary
is the card merchant and splits the fee with the retailer, Liscom
said, adding the agency can offer its share to customers as an
incentive to return to make the booking.
The new Web-based booking systems described above join the likes
of Mitchell Corp. in Christchurch, a sales and marketing firm that
represents nearly 300 hotels in New Zealand and Australia and makes
an electronic-booking option available, but only to
wholesalers.
In addition, Wellington-based Book In at www.bookin.co.nz,
which specializes in representation -- at both the wholesale and
retail levels -- for about 2,200 New Zealand B&Bs, said it is
preparing a real-time, Web-based availability and booking system.
Forde Clarke, director, said it will be available to the trade by
October.