TRAVEL agents should stop being suspicious about new technology and use it to improve efficiency and give clients a better service, Budget Rent a Car sales and marketing director, UK operations, Roddy Graham told the Travel Direct ’99 conference.
“When I say new technologies, you’re all thinking Internet, on-line booking and e-commerce, but the Internet is not the only thing that has changed the way we work,” he said.
New technology in call centres meant companies could have a hotlink to another supplier, for instance from an airline to a car-rental company, which generated incremental business, he said.
It also allowed call-centre agents to pull up on-screen images and details of cars that could be passed onto retailers to tell their clients. “It shouldn’t be too long before we will be able to give customers visiting retail outlets a CD-Rom disk with data and maps showing the rental location, local driving regulations, even how to drive the car,” Graham added.
He emphasised that while Budget still considers travel agents to be of major importance in the sale of car hire, rental companies had to respond to public demand for new distribution methods.
He said Budget launched an on-line booking facility in the US and Canada last September and reservations made this way now account for 2% of the company’s total car-rental bookings.
“We can’t ignore the Internet, but it’s important that we have a balanced view,” he added. “It isn’t going to take over our lives but we do regard it as another important channel of distribution alongside travel agents and call centres.”
Graham said agents who embrace new technology should continue to make a profit from selling car rental. “Use it to provide experiences that customers aren’t yet able to receive in their own homes and to offer a quick, reliable method of booking rental for a customer who wouldn’t otherwise book a car through you,” he said.