Worldspan and Amadeus, in separate moves,
entered into partnerships that give travel agents enhanced ability
to earn revenue from concerts, restaurant reservations and tickets
for local attractions.
Worldspan entered
into a partnership with Home and Abroad that enables agents to use
Worldspan's Web-based Go Resource Center to send clients suggested
activities after agents book their trips.
Clients then can
use a Web page from Home and Abroad to book the activities, with
agents earning commissions from the consumer bookings.
In an April 18
message to agents, Worldspan said the Go Resource Center, which
provides links to cruises, tours and other travel services, had
been redesigned. But at press time, Worldspan hadn't publicly
detailed the new features.
With Home and
Abroad's Virtual Concierge functionality, Worldspan-connected
agencies can send clients suggested itineraries based on client
preferences.
This service from
agents provides clients with information about destinations and
local activities. It also displays numerous books, DVDs and
software that can be purchased from Amazon.com.
Mark Schroeder, CEO
of Boulder, Colo.-based Home and Abroad, said he wasn't able to
discuss the Worldspan partnership, but he provided information
about his privately held company.
Home and Abroad's
Virtual Concierge, Schroeder said, can be customized as a
direct-to-consumer or travel agent application. He said it was
"most powerful" when travel agents used it because they could
insert their own notes about destinations and personalize suggested
itineraries with photos and enhance their agencies'
brands.
Home and Abroad has
distribution partnerships with Hawaiian Airlines and Expedia and
supplier partnerships with Viator, SpaFinder, TicketsNow,
Tourcaster and GoCardUSA.
Amadeus taps Unaira
Meanwhile, Amadeus,
too, is enhancing agents' abilities to offer sightseeing tours and
shows, in a partnership with Unaira, an aggregator of destination
activities based in Zug, Switzerland.
The partnership
enables Amadeus to expand the roster of excursions, attractions and
airport transfers that can be booked via the Amadeus Selling
Platform. Amadeus said that these new features would be introduced
in North America in the next six months.
Theater and concert
tickets, city tours, attractions, restaurant reservations and
airport transfers are at the heart of Amadeus' partnership with
Unaira.
Amadeus plans, in
partnership with Unaira, to introduce Amadeus Activities &
Entertainment, a destination services feature, to online and
traditional agencies in North America, the U.K. and Spain in the
next six months. Agents in France, Germany and Italy will get the
new platform over the next year, Amadeus said.
The new
functionality, with much of the inventory commissionable, expands
on a partnership that Amadeus reached with 10Best, a Greenville,
S.C.-base travel guide provider, in March 2006.
"For Amadeus users,
10Best will continue to deliver travel guide content including all
of the city recommendations such as restaurants and shopping, while
Unaira will manage the destination-services platform, which
includes all the bookable content and the processing of those
bookings," said Debbie Iannaci, Amadeus' North America
spokeswoman.
To
contact reporter Dennis Schaal, send e-mail to [email protected].