| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 17/04/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 4 |
| Copyright: Other |
Five operators join dreamticket.com
Report by Liz Bird
First Choice, Unijet, Virgin, Cosmos and Kuoni sign up to on-line travel agency
FIVE major operators have been signed up by 21st Century Travel for its new on-line travel agency dreamticket.com which is set to go live at the end of the month.First Choice, Unijet, Virgin, Cosmos and Kuoni are the launch partners for the site which will go on sale with summer 2001 holidays by the end of next month.
Chief executive Lawrence Hunt said further operators are set to sign up within the next few weeks. The company plans to work with around three suppliers in different sectors. City breaks, ski and cruise products will come on-line within the third quarter.
Hunt predicted around 10% of the £5bn travel market will book on-line within three years. “Around 50% of that will go to the independent travel agent and we expect to take around 10%-20% of that,” he said.
Hunt, who was responsible for developing Going Places’ Matchmaker system, claimed its advanced technology along with a strong management team differentiated it from rivals.
“We have sophisticated matching technology which will match the right holiday to the right client. We want to be a one-stop shop for travel.
“There are a lot of on-line flight-only specialists such as Expedia and Travelocity and package-holiday sites dominated by the big tour operators but we will be the first company to offer both,” said Hunt.
Commercial director Jo Rzymowska said the system will be able to handle bookings for 2m-3m passengers and have direct links to tour operators’ booking systems.
The whole site has been designed around three types of customers: the Martini client who can go anywhere, anytime; the Beatles Help customer who needs guidance and the Spice Girls customer ‘who knows what they really really want’. Hunt recognised some operators may pull their product from the site in the future as they launch their own on-line services.
Rzymowska, left, and Hunt: want to make dreamticket.com a one-stop shop
dreamticket.com
Name: dreamticket.comUK launch partners: Virgin, Kuoni, First Choice, Unijet and Cosmos.
Other suppliers: Holiday Autos will be one of two car-rental suppliers. Unijet for consolidated flights; Worldspan for published fares; Voyager for travel insurance. Also in negotiations with two hotel suppliers.
Other features: OAG will be used for ‘tell it like it is’ independent resort advice.