ADVANTAGE Travel Centres has been forced to delay the introduction of the multimedia reservation system Matchmaker to its members because supplier Going Places has been unable to tailor it to independent agents.
The graphics-based system, which uses techniques such as video footage to help agents sell holidays, was to have been rolled out over the next few months to Advantage members which had signed a franchise deal with Going Places’ parent Airtours. But the implementation has been put back by at least a year.
The state-of-the-art system was a key selling point when Airtours and Advantage signed a franchise agreement at the end of last year. At the time Advantage managing director Ron Muir said the system would be ‘specifically tailored’ to members.
Going Places admitted Matchmaker is not suited to the needs of Advantage franchise agents which signed up for the system because it is more geared towards selling the Airtours product range.
Going Places franchise development director Andrew Williams said: “It was felt the system was too directional-led. The last thing we wanted to do was dictate to the independent travel agent.”
Advantage president Roger Smith said it was no longer a priority to develop Matchmaker. He said Matchmaker was an excellent selling tool but needed to be properly adapted for Advantage members before they can discuss installing it in their branches. Although Advantage members have been impressed with the system, only about 120 of the 333 franchise members had signed up to it.
“Matchmaker will be an on-going development but we felt it was not appropriate to put in all the resources into this product right now when less than half the Advantage members wanted it,” said Smith.
Advantage commercial director Neil Armorgie added that Going Places had not realised the complexities involved in developing a system specifically for independent agents.
Armorgie said that development work on Matchmaker will now be put off until after January 2000 to ensure there is no risk of falling victim to potential problems which could be caused by the millennium bug.
Instead, Advantage is to proceed with the rolling out of a new in-store system, Web to Windows, which constantly updates late-availability deals from a number of suppliers and which will be available to all members by the end of the year. Smith has written to members saying they will also require a back office management system to work alongside Web to Windows.
Travel agency system suppliers ICC and Tarsc are both vying for business from Advantage members and have written to them to advertise their back office systems.