HOLIDAY Autos has reported high demand from agents requesting passwords to access the booking facility at its new Internet site.
The site was unveiled at World Travel Market and went live to the trade at the end of November.
Group marketing director Sara Zimmerman said:”We took it slowly and did not send out passwords to all agents because it is such a new thing for us but we have been amazed at the huge level of interest. There hasn’t been enough time to gauge how many agents are going to use it to make on-line bookings, but the long-term aim is for Internet reservations to replace viewdata,” she added.
The Internet-booking system is quicker, cheaper and more user friendly than using viewdata, according to Zimmerman.
Agents have to input a date and destination, then they pick a car type, confirm availability, select any extras and book.
Zimmerman admitted it would take some time for Internet reservations to grow as few agents have PCs or access to the Web.
“My feeling is that 20% of retailers have PCs now but I think that number will grow fast over the next year.”