BRIDGETravel has launched a viewdata system dedicated to hotel-only bookings to help agents access this growing market.
The operator claims its hotel-only reservations have grown by 150% over the past year due partly to the arrival of low-cost airlines.
Sales and marketing director Alan Croft said:”In the past, hotel-only bookings came from well-travelled customers who had accumulated Air Miles or were independent travellers at heart. Now, the low-cost airlines have created a new sector.”
He said the new system, codenamed BOB for Bridge On-line Booking, speeds up the booking process, giving agents more time to spend on higher value transactions.
It will run alongside the existing Bridge Travel inclusive system but agents can use the same passwords.
This means they can access the system immediately rather than wait for new passwords or for training.
The system was developed in conjunction with Delight Information Systems and features over 400 hotels in 111 countries.
It includes a list of virtual brochures offering particularly types of properties, called the Hotel Collection ’99, which were designed specifically for the system.
To start with, there will be four Hotel Collections, including a Health and Beauty Collection with hotels offering these facilities, and a Self Drive Collection, where all hotels listed are within 3hrs drive ofCalais.
More Collections will be added as the system is developed.
The system has been launched now to coincide with the post-Christmas peak booking period.