Malvern Group MTT meets the needs of customers and t


The Malvern Group, part of the Cox & Kings Group, comprises the newly launched B2B brand Malvern Travel Technology (MTT) along with well-established consumer brands LateRooms.com and Super Break. Malvern has undertaken extensive


research into the needs of short-break travellers to inform delivery of a groundbreaking travel platform. The research indicated an increasing customer frustration with the complexity of planning and self-booking a short trip with multiple components. Malvern could see from its own brands the steadily increasing cost of customer acquisition since 2015 and lower levels of loyalty in commodity- only purchasing compared with traditional short breaks delivered as a package. The study confirmed the company’s


understanding that demand for ‘tech-flexi itineraries’, where travellers can book and adapt journey plans in one place online or via an app, would improve commercial performance by giving the customer what they are asking for, not what the industry is generally prepared to give them. Instead of exploring countless


different sites for inspiration, planning and experiences, a growing number of travellers want to be able to plan using technology available to them elsewhere in their daily life. Malvern was able to harness the latest technology in a single platform that allows customers to integrate all these requirements in one place. Demand for such technology has


been increasing among businesses keen to capture a wider market and Malvern has developed the platform not as an exclusive in-house product but for use as a software product by partners. Industry demand has been increased


by new Package Travel Regulations which require commodity providers like airlines and hotels to take more responsibility for Linked Travel Arrangements. This requires management of transactions through technology and militates in favour of more integrated platform provision of services.


| Travel Weekly Europe Report 2018


Group’s new technology platform fulfils the flexible booking requirements of corporate partners and customers


Malvern Travel Technology The group launched Malvern Travel Technology in direct response to this market demand and has positioned MTT as a specialist, B2B travel technology provider. Powered by Wizian, MTT’s own


groundbreaking technology platform, it provides a unique and highly innovative web-based solution for corporate partners and their customers. Malvern executive chairman Hugo Kimber says: “We identified in late 2015 the direction the market was travelling in and validated this through extensive research in 2016. “Delivering a solution capable of meeting the planning, inspiration and flexible-booking requirements of customers pre-trip and in-trip offers the capacity to increase conversion and loyalty and reduce acquisition costs. “The platform is designed to meet the needs of travellers and their providers. Its launch marks a departure in travel technology that traditionally supports the traveller or the supplier, but not generally both.


“Our use of the UK as a launch market


for the platform reflects the strength of our brands in this market and our ability to support existing partners with improved functionality and a wide range of supply options. “The scale of our customer base in the


Report by Collette Walsh, on behalf of Malvern Group


UK, through LateRooms and Super Break, provided us with insights into consumer behaviour that research alone may not have helped to validate. It was also important to begin with a national rollout, rather than a capital city and a few other major cities, as national capability is key to being able to replicate the model internationally.” Kimber says: “Wizian is driven by a combination of the IT expertise at LateRooms and the marketing, commercial and product expertise of two of the UK’s leading travel brands.


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