TMCnet News
Enhanced version of Travelport Smartpoint launched; Latest version of the agency desktop now incorporates leading-edge air merchandising solution(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Langley, UK. - Travelport (NYSE:TVPT), a leading Travel Commerce Platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the $7 trillion global travel and tourism industry, has today launched a new version of Travelport Smartpoint, its industry-leading agency desktop technology. The latest version marks the global roll-out of Travelport's industry-leading Rich Content and Branding merchandising solution alongside numerous other new features aimed at making booking travel easier and more profitable for travel agencies. The new version will be introduced to travel agencies around the world over the next few weeks. Since its launch, Travelport Smartpoint has been redefining how travel agencies sell to their customers. Specifically, it has enabled travel consultants to sell a wider range of air, hotel and car content, reduce training time, improve sales productivity, earn new revenues and provide higher levels of service to their customers. Significantly, the new version of the desktop facilitates improved upselling and cross selling opportunities through the integration of Travelport's game-changing Rich Content and Branding merchandising solution for airlines. This industry-leading solution gives travel agents unique access to rich visual imagery and more detailed product information from participating airlines. It matches the content and brand experience on the airline's own website and makes the comparison and selling of airlines' products and services easier and more effective by allowing the agent to better understand the airline's offering such as what's included in the price and what upgrades and ancillaries are available. Travelport already has more than 70 carriers signed up to Travelport's Rich Content and Branding solution and the number of carriers wanting to participate continues to grow on a weekly basis. Other key benefits of the latest Travelport Smartpoint version include: o Improved navigation, graphical mapping and interactive screens to make selling additional services such as hotel rooms and car hire, easier and quicker; o Enhanced features including new, interactive graphical airline seat maps and ancillary services such as bags and lounge access which airlines are able to market to different customers at different prices in line with their loyalty schemes, thereby providing travel agencies with significant new upsell and cross sell opportunities; o The continuing ability to shop and book full service and low cost airlines side by side within the existing agent workflow, a major boost to agent efficiency. The latest version of the desktop also continues to offer a virtual account number (VAN) payment solution, which integrates a safe, secure and fully integrated payment solution directly in their desktop environment. This solution is provided by eNett, in which Travelport owns a majority stake. Simon Ferguson, Travelport's Managing Director, UK & Ireland, says: "Agency adoption of Smartpoint in the UK has been extremely rapid with nearly 90% of our customers now using it. This indicates the UK agency community's desire to be in the forefront of new technology adoption and will ensure the leading-edge content and functionality Smartpoint offers enhances the travel booking experience for both agents and travellers alike." Jason Clarke, Travelport's Managing Director, Global Sales, says: "We've spent a lot of time listening to our customers and assessing their unmet needs when it comes to making and paying for air, hotel and car bookings. This latest version of Smartpoint is truly ground-breaking in integrating a very sophisticated airline merchandising proposition. This, along with the many other enhancements we have introduced in this latest version, will make booking travel even more efficient and profitable for our agency customers. We've had excellent feedback from both travel agency and airline customers on our Smartpoint technology and their insights have continued to help us improve our offering. It very much forms part of our ongoing commitment to provide our customers worldwide with the most relevant travel content, and the very best tools in the industry." For more information about Travelport Smartpoint please visit: http://www.travelportsmartpoint.com/ Notes to editors: About Travelport (www.travelport.com) Travelport is a Travel Commerce Platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the $7 trillion global travel and tourism industry. With a presence in over 170 countries, approximately 3,400 employees and 2013 net revenue of $2.1 billion, Travelport is comprised of: - A Travel Commerce Platform through which it facilitates travel commerce by connecting the world's leading travel providers with online and offline travel buyers in a proprietary business to business ("B2B") travel marketplace. In addition, Travelport has leveraged its domain expertise in the travel industry to design a pioneering B2B payment solution that addresses the needs of travel intermediaries to efficiently and securely settle travel transactions. - Technology Services through which it provides critical IT services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control and other solutions, enabling them to focus on their core business competencies and reduce costs. Travelport is headquartered in Langley, UK. The company recently completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol "TVPT". Media Contact: Kate Aldridge - tel: +44 (0)1753 288720; mob: +44 (0)7921 698757; email: [email protected] . (c) 2014 M2 COMMUNICATIONS |