20 TRADE TALK When
20 TRADE TALK When Expert Advice Matters Les Maisons du Voyage work to add value to customer advice At ITB Berlin to meet old contacts in Asia, and also to find new ones, the French Tour Operator Les Maisons du Voyage has a very different way of working in the market. Product Manager, Dominique Colliot, spent years living in China, and speaks fluent Mandarin. We asked her what sets her company apart. We offer tailored travel, alone or in groups, combining cultural discovery, intellectual curiosity, and passion of the country. We work to combine travel and cultural respect, both in terms of the places and the local population. The company began life as La Maison de la Chine in 1991 and then we expanded the brand across Indochina, Japan and the rest of Asia. Desiring to combine discovery and responsible tourism, at a time when China was far from what it is at present, the creators gave another image of Western tourism. We wanted to develop a new style of travel agencies based on destination experts eager to share their passion and cultural knowledge. So basically our agency is characterized by teams of experts who have themselves traveled broadly. What are you looking for at ITB Berlin? We have been excited to see a lot of new Asian destinations, hotels and infrastructure, such as the opening of new crossborder routes between Thailand and Cambodia, or Laos and Cambodia, with hotels and travel infrastructure following the building of transport infrastructure. What kind of tours are you working on at the moment? As I mentioned, we do specialised tours – most average 15 days – with a strong accent on local culture and nature, appealing to both Free Independent Travellers (FITs) and small groups WE OFFER TAILORED TRAVEL, ALONE OR IN GROUPS, COMBINING CULTURAL DISCOVERY, INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY, AND PASSION OF THE COUNTRY. from France, Belgium and Switzerland. We have a strong focus on high budget FITs. All of our employees that deal with China can speak Chinese, so we are passionate about the destination. How are tours evolving in China? In China, there are many new train routes, so a lot of new areas are more accessible now. We have developed four tours to the relatively unchartered Yunnan Province in the southwest. I think we have the most tour options in this area. We are also going to Tibet, where we run two specialised tours, and the Silk Road. Can you tell us about your entity in China, Fazhongzhijia, which brings Chinese tourists to Europe? Fazhongzhijia was launched in Beijing in April 2013 to offer trips to Chinese customers wishing to discover or rediscover France. We offer tailor-made trips, inspired by the art of living à la Française for the best quality-price ratio. Our French, bilingual and bicultural teams are present in our representative office in Beijing to meet the demands of our customers and in Paris to design and organise their travel. What are Chinese travellers who use your services looking for? Our customers are businesses, schools, sales houses and individuals looking for our recommendations as a French Agency, because constantly renew our suggestions for visits and restaurants in tune with fashion and news. Furthermore, our network throughout the French territory allows us to provide not simple travel circuits, but experiences rich in information and meetings. Our dual nationality allows us to fully adapt to the demands of our Chinese clients when it comes to their travels in France. What are the major concerns of this type of traveller? Increasingly, the authenticity of their travel, the fact of living a unique experience as opposed to standardised “fast” circuits or multi-city trips. Families in particular are looking for rewarding travel and educational for their children, groups of friends like to take autotours, which allows them to benefit from freedom. We need to be able to offer sophisticated content, with other fundamentals such as shopping and the opportunity to take good photos, because the trip abroad also serves as a social marker. How do you see the Chinese outgoing market of tourism developing in the next 5 years? With 100 million Chinese tourists planned for 2020, they will be present everywhere. The direct air links will multiply to and Dominique Colliot Product Manager, Les Maisons du Voyage from more and more cities Chinese. The individuals will become more and more self-reliant but always in demand of rare and new experiences, but also more active: winter sports and water sports (surfing, diving, sailing...) hiking and biking ... Home stays and possibilities to get close to unspoilt nature will become very attractive for the Chinese visitors in the years to come. ITB BERLIN NEWS • Tuesday 17 th March 2015 www.itb-berlin-news.com
TECHNOLOGIES 21 Turning to Technology More than ever, this year’s ITB Berlin was a tech showcase Technology is the key enabler for the growth of the industry today – and for tomorrow. We visit some of the top tech stands at ITB Berlin 2015… IDEAS ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH SONESTA IDeaS Revenue Solutions was at ITB Berlin with news that it has expanded its partnership with Sonesta International Hotels to implement IDeaS G3 Revenue Management System(RMS) across 16 Sonesta ES Suite properties, delivering powerful analytics and pricing decisions, and driving revenue opportunities in a unique market segment. “Revenue management in the extended stay category is particularly difficult because the properties have high occupancies, fixed cost structures and higher margins than traditional hotels,” said Barth Leins, vice president of revenue and distribution for Sonesta International Hotels. “IDeaS G3 RMS is great for extended stay hotels because it can generate powerful demand forecasts—by length-ofstay and by suite type—so we can make informed, strategic decisions to get the right mix of business for our hotels at the right price. IDeaS G3 RMS is a great addition to the IDeaS product portfolio.” Sonesta International Hotels currently boasts 55 properties in eight countries. Five signature brands make up the Sonesta Collection, each of which is as distinctive and individual as its guests. The company utilizes IDeaS’ flagship RMS product across its full-service portfolio. In 2013 when Sonesta began to grow into the extended stay category with Sonesta ES Suites, the company researched multiple revenue management solutions before deciding to expand its partnership with IDeaS. CELIGRA FAREPLAY – SMART TRAVEL ITINERARY SEARCH Head-quartered in Berlin, Germany, among the city’s vibrant start-up scene, Celigra is young and very ambitious software technology development company specialising in the creation, delivery and support of innovative, smart and fast software tools and solutions for the travel industry. Among its products that create smart travel itinerary searching, scheduling, routing, availability, tax and pricing solutions, Celigra’s new generation airfare search engine, FarePlay, is the “royal jewel” in its crown of products and modules. FarePlay searches through massive amounts of airfare data, flight schedules and so on that is drawn from different content sources such as ATPCO, IATA, OAG, GDS, airlines, consolidators, OTAs, airfare aggregators and so on. The FarePlay algorithms guarantee that if there is a viable match to any given search it will be delivered - and that users are given more than one solution through improved refining and filtering of travel itinerary information. Celigra is driven by a desire for perfection, and wants to also be a leader in search speeds, delivering results in faster than a tenth of a second. Established by established players in the travel industry who saw the need for smarter travel itinerary software, FarePlay can find the cheapest existing bookable fare and can guarantee that no other provider will be able to find a better option within the same content source. This guarantee comes as a result of many hours spent researching fare data, industry rules, flight schedules and so on. This is one of the key points of difference with a product that is already being used across the industry. ATCORE – LEISURE TRAVEL E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS In a highly pressurised market, fewer companies are managing more travellers and are doing so under increasing cost constraints. Atcore’s technology directly addresses the industry’s core challenges - to reduce costs and increase productivity - while, at the same time, supporting improved customer service across a broader, more flexible product range. In short, Atcore, whose slogan is Powering Travel, is the leading provider of At ITB Berlin 2015, iDeas announced a new partnership with Sonesta Caligra’s booth at ITB Berlin 2015 integrated reservation and e-commerce solutions to the leisure travel industry. Formerly Anite Travel, whose flagship @com product suite has been core to the success of many leading travel companies and was considered to be the gold standard in the industry, Atcore came into being in 2014, and refocuses 30 years of travel experience. According to Mike Kingswood, Atcore CEO, the comprehensive rebrand (@com became Atcom) created a “new visual identity ... a modern, unifying brand which differentiates Atcore in the travel market. It gives us an umbrella under which we can continue to expand our products and services during the next phase of our growth and development.” ITB BERLIN NEWS • Tuesday 17 th March 2015
