Thomas Cook has launched a directory aimed at exploiting the destination and resort knowledge of its 30,000 staff.
Resort Advisor, which went live in May, enables a customer who walks into a store to find the best in-house expert from within Cook for whichever destination they are interested in.
John Straw, head of digital at Cook, told the Institute of Travel and Tourism conference in Malta that this was the latest initiative to mould the best of e-tail with retail.
It comes after the launch of Dreamcatcher last year, a customer wishlist which Thomas Cook has been using as part of the research phase of its customers’ buying process.
Straw said that although this had raised conversions online by just 1%, it had seen a 15% uplift in the number of customers who went into a store to book having received an email from Cook inspired by their wishlist.
Straw said Resort Advisor had been influenced by Apple’s Genius Bars in its retail outlets.
“We are going to give agents the facility to call up a company directory and list employees by their destination experience,” he said.
Straw said customers would then be put in direct contact with that individual by Skype or Google Hang Out.
“We then combine the knowledge of our 30,000 employees to one specific customer,” Straw added.