event in Tel Aviv took time out to update Lee Hayhurst and Amie Keeley on developments
Comtec and Eysys combine to update Travelink
Sister travel technology firms Comtec and Eysys have been brought together to transform legacy tour-operating system Travelink.
Comtec founder Simon Powell,
who co-founded Eysys with chief executive Humphrey Sheil, said tour operating technology is in need of modernisation. “The selling experience has not
advanced very much in the last five years,” he said. “The way search works on
current systems is very limited. “I see this coming together of
two technologies as harmonising the customer experience. We are prone to leaving legacy technology in place for too long in travel.” The partnership has seen Powell
take over day-to-day running of Comtec as executive chairman. Eysys and Comtec remain
separate businesses but now have a single support desk, a single sales and account management team and single service level agreement
“If you look at search, at social media, at the knowledge we have about clients, it’s frightening”
(SLA). They are based in the same headquarters in Cardiff. Eysys’s Holistic technology
allows firms to use the data on clients to personalise the browsing and shopping experience. Not all Comtec customers will also use Holistic and vice versa but the firm will promote the advantages of using both. Powell added: “I see this as
leapfrogging us above potential new entrants into our market. “I’m thinking of the kind of people who come in and try to reinvent the model. These are totally disruptive. “If you look at search, at social media, at the knowledge we have
POWELL: ‘We will deliver a new selling experience in the UK’
about clients and what that can offer, it’s frightening. In many cases our industry isn’t thinking along those lines.” A third plank of Comtec’s
technology is Highway, updated aggregating technology for travel components.
A combined Comtec, Eysys and
Highway platform, “never before seen in the industry”, is being built for a Canadian client and will be rolled out in the UK. Powell said: “We will use what
we learn in Canada to deliver a brand new selling experience
in the UK.” › Technology: News You Can Use, page 32
Intuitive trumpets Low Cost licensing deal
A new software licensing deal between Intuitive and the Low Cost Travel Group reflects the changing nature of the specialist travel technology developer’s business. Croydon-based Intuitive was previously owned by
Low Cost, which had a majority stake until it sold it to private equity firm NVM in 2012. Andy Keeley, Intuitive’s commercial director, said the software licensing part of its business was becoming increasingly important. “As well as Low Cost we have 35 other customers on the system and a healthy mix of business,” he said.
“Alongside that we have spent the last two years
investing in a sector where we can be more off the shelf, offering more licensable software. “Also, we have to regain some of our reputation for
innovation as well. We have new customers and the breathing space to execute that strategy.” Recent new clients added to Intuitive’s iVector system include Discover The World, Travel Nation and Secret Escapes, and others are in the pipeline, said Keeley. He added Low Cost wanted more inhouse control of
its technology. “We are still providing some services but they have effectively licensed the underlining code.”
16 June 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 71
Euro 2016 football ‘less likely to dent booking patterns’
The Euro 2016 football championship is not expected to have as big an impact on travel bookings as previous major tournaments. John Sullivan, Advantage head of commercial and marketing, said: “The impact is hard to substantiate. There are two trains of thought. One, [tournaments] are a distraction. The other is that people will take time off work to watch the football and might actually take the opportunity to go on holiday and watch it on the television rather than at home.” However, he said the trend of
previous football tournaments is that when England go out there is a spike in holiday demand. Teletext Holidays chairman
Steve Endacott agreed, saying call centres should manage their rosters according to England games to anticipate any spikes following elimination. He claimed that due to the wide
availability of games on TV in destinations, the impact of such tournaments on holiday bookings was waning. However, he said tournaments held in countries that are easily accessible pose an issue. “We saw that when the World
Cup was held in Germany,” said Endacott. “The males of the household go, and it’s not just the financial cost, it’s the time they take out of their annual leave.”
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