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The costs of being on the Web can mount up quickly and as yet there seems to be no perfect and prudent way of getting it right

Noel Josephides

Hardly a day goes by when we do not receive a fax or e-mail from a dot com company asking us to provide content for their site.

Before, it was just dot com entrepreneurs. Now it’s travel agents as well. At the same time as the Internet boys are moving into setting up their own travel agencies and call centres (realising they cannot generate enough business from the ether) travel agents are looking at developing Web sites.

What all of us tour operators are realising is that none of this is very cheap. We have all been sold a pup. The more you delve into what has to be done, the more expensive you realise it will all be.

Our problem (Sunvil’s) is that we are physically incapable of handling stock on a multitude of sites. It’s almost impossible for us to keep our own site up to date, let alone maintain stock on a variety of other sites.

I am sure that those setting up sites just do not realise what complexities there are in producing holiday packages.

Some accommodation is on commitment, some on allotment and some on request.

The same applies to flights – some accommodation is linked to particular flights and for specific durations and other accommodation can be sold freely.

So, what can one allocate to a site? Especially a site that wants something to offer which is not available through any other Web pages? The answer is very little in the way of capacity which will be of any value to that site by actually being unique.

There really is only one answer and that is to have a truly bookable site which can be accessed (without us having to lift a finger) by our clients, other Web sites and travel agents.

To do this is not cheap and to do it well is even more expensive. The more we look at what has to be done the more complicated it looks, even though we get countless faxes and e-mails promising simple, low-cost solutions which, on examination, prove to be non-starters.

However, the hype and the pressure to do something intensifies by the day.

I have realised that fancy Web sites are not necessarily effective booking machines.

In fact, some sites now offer the useful option of skipping the all-singing, all-dancing introductions.

Much of what we do can be made to be bookable via our Web pages.

There is a lot, however, which would be impossible to book because of its complexity. As a specialist we have to offer flexibility and variety and these do not sit easily with bookable Web sites.

I think it’s all a shocking waste of money, even though I’m resigned to having to do something to prove that Sunvil does not live in the dark ages.

Above all, I do not want to be rushed because I don’t want to make the wrong choice of Web technologies.

It’s so easy to spend thousands going down one path only to discover, a year later, that it was all a big mistake.

What none of us have is accurate information as to how the consumer is interacting with our own tour operating sector on the Internet.

Do we really need sophisticated bookable sites or will simple virtual brochures suffice?

“I think it’s all a shocking waste of money even though I’m resigned to having to do something”