Journal: TWUK | Section: |
Title: | Issue Date: 28/08/00 |
Author: | Page Number: 76 |
Copyright: Other |
Business travel retailers demand cheaper Travelpoint.com system
Agents provoke Galileo U-turn on booking tool
Report by DIANESMITH
GALILEOhas given in to pressure to provide a new corporate self-booking tool after agents threatened to take their business elsewhere.
According to some business travel agents, the global distribution systems supplier’s current product, Web Traveller, is too expensive, costing thousands of pounds per agency.
A cheaper version, Travelpoint.com, is being offered to agents in the US and other European countries at a fraction of the cost – only a few hundred pounds to install.
But Galileo UK claims previous owner British Airways decided to introduce Web Traveller in favour of Travelpoint.com years ago and has said if agents now want the Travelpoint.com system, it can be arranged.
A spokesman said: “Galileo International’s purchase of Galileo UK was only completed in May this year.
“There is no reason why agents can’t have Travelpoint.com. If retailers aren’t having any joy they should speak to the sales director.”
Advantage Travel Centres business development director Norman Gage said: “Some agents recently saw the excellent system available in the US, only to find out they couldn’t have it here.”
Another agent added:”There’s a fundamental need for an e-commerce solution. Galileo is currently making that market inaccessible to independent agents. At the moment, for the current system to pay for itself, we have to generate so much business and that’s a long way off.”
Latest system: the GDS supplier has promised UK availability