TRAVELMANAGERS (TM) is rolling out Fastbook, its own in-house cruise wholesaler, House of Travel General Manager Cruise, Jeff Leckey, has told CW.
Fastbook represents TravelManagers’ expanding cruise offering, underpinned by technology, with 32 live APIs hosted on the platform.
The new wholesaler features live 24/7 availability, and is also integrated with Tramada, meaning a seamless back office experience for TravelManagers’ personal travel managers (PTMs).
Fastbook was tested with a pilot group of travel advisors in Jun, and it has since been rolled out to the wider network, with all PTMs now able to access the software.
Leckey, who spoke to CW on the sidelines of this year’s annual TravelManagers conference, said the uptake of Fastbook has far exceeded in-house expectations.
The wholesaler aims to help the company’s PTMs “work smarter” rather than harder – the theme for this year’s conference.
“As a group, we love technology, so finding a way to work smarter with tech is always a good thing for us,” he said.
“We were able to reduce the amount of clicks required to get from availability to booking – that sort of stuff, the PTMs have told us is important.”
Fastbook is now in the hands of TravelManagers Cruise Product Manager, Lia Malone, who has completed state-by-state training of the system, and will help PTMs with its implementation.
“[We have] our own wholesale cruise operation our own PTMs are using, that’s all recognised as TravelManagers volume, as opposed to buying it over the market,” Leckey added. MS