Amadeus first to launch “fare families”, a merchandising solution for online travel agencies and online sites of travel agencies
New merchandising solution now available to help travel agents improve customer satisfaction, profit margins and supplier relationships
Like the world-class Master Pricer shopping solution it is based on, Agent Fare Families gives results of up to 200 domestic or international fare recommendations from more than 500 airlines. However, Master Pricer Agent Fare Families goes one step further, enabling travel agencies to group together fares with similar conditions, but offered by different airlines, into categories or fare families. For instance, non-refundable fares can be grouped together in one family; fares which are refundable but with a penalty can be grouped into a different family and fully flexible fares can be displayed in a third family. And so on and so forth up to 6 categories. This can improve customer satisfaction by correctly setting the expectation about the conditions attached to certain fares. Travel agencies decide and design how the fare families are constructed and can give more visibility to specific air content. This latest characteristic makes Master Pricer Agent Fare Families a powerful merchandising tool. By adding upselling functionalities, Master Pricer Fare Families helps travel agencies create a similar booking environment as offered by airlines, increasing customers’ choice and transparency of product features and improving the shopping experience. “The launch of Master Pricer Fare Families shows Amadeus’ commitment to develop innovative tools that serve both online travel agencies and online sites of travel agencies to increase their merchandise and upselling opportunities, and thus, improve their cash flow. When airlines have displayed fare families in this way, within three months they have seen online revenues increase by 30% and online yields increase by 8% on average. In the case of travel agencies, this means, first, more revenue and improved cash flow and ultimately, higher yields” explains Stephane Durand, Director, Online and Leisure, Amadeus, “Travel agencies should be able to translate similar upsell performance into a significant improvement in their supplier relationships.” Amadeus Master Pricer Fare Families is available now for online travel agencies and for travel agencies with online presence. The offline version of this solution will be made available by the end of 2010. - Ends - Notes to the editors Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting. Amadeus has central sites in The company is majority owned by WAM Acquisition, whose shareholders are BC Partners, Cinven, Air More information about Amadeus is available at: http://www.amadeus.com Contact details Amadeus Corporate Communication / Corporate Marketing tel: +34 91 582 0160 fax : +34 91 582 0188 e-mail : mediarelations@amadeus.com
