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Published in Travel Weekly
June 4, 1998
How Retailers Can Use the Net to Find Business
EVANSTON, Ill -- Agents can enhance their businesses by using the Internet
to identify the smaller or hard-to-find suppliers that might offer new business
opportunities.
Historically, these suppliers have been priced out of the CRS channel
and have relied on other methods to promote themselves to travel agents.
As a result, they have not reached many agencies.
Today, the Internet makes it possible for agents to identify such suppliers
and receive detailed information about their products and in some cases
book on line.
How can you find these suppliers? The amount of information available
on the Internet is so vast it can be quite a chore to find what you're looking
for.
Search engines such as Excite (http://www.excite.com),
Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) and Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com)
can help you somewhat, but it takes time and patience to narrow the search
enough to give you usable results.
You can also consult specialized sites designed for travel agents, such
as my company's PositiveSpace site, which is effectively a directory of
sites that we have determined are usable for agents.
It costs nothing to search the directory.
Another option falls somewhere in between. I am aware of three search
engines that confine their searches to travel subjects. They are Exes (http://www.exes.com); SETII (http://www.setii.com),
and Travigator (http://www.travigator.com),
but they do not disclose the extent of their coverage of those sites.
By turning to a focused source, the information you get is more relevant
and usable than if you rely on a general-interest search engine.
Once you have found some of those little-known suppliers, you still need
to qualify them.
- How long have they been in business?
- Are they reliable in providing what they have promised?
- Do they pay commission, and if so, how much?
- Can they provide you with any references or industry affiliations?
Most suppliers have designed their Web sites without including the kind
of information travel agents need, so you will probably need to call them.
As an example of the choices available, even on rather esoteric specialties,
I have compiled a list of sites for a client who may want to live out an
"Easy Rider" fantasy: cruising the wide open spaces astride a
bone rattling "Hog."
Admittedly, that doesn't describe every client, but an average rental
rate of $135 a day with a 10% commission makes it quite an attractive product.
For each site, the name, locations, Web site address and availability
of on-line booking facilities are noted.
All of these suppliers have confirmed that they offer standard agency
commissions of 10%, and at least one supplier offers agencies the option
of net prices.
Greg Merkley, based in Evanston, Ill., is the founder and president
of Travel Technology & Magic, which owns and operates the PositiveSpace
Web site at www.positivespace.com.
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