Travelport GDS is devising a new tool that will help car rental firms present their products and services to the trade in a brand new format.
The ‘Universal Desktop’ is a platform that allows car rental firms — as well as hotels and other non-air products — to better merchandise their wares in a format not dissimilar to their own consumer-facing websites.
Primarily, it allows them to merchandise their content in a way that promotes up-selling and cross-selling and to “drive brand awareness through targeted advertising and promotions”, according to Travelport.
Advertisement
Search capabilities are customisable and therefore agents can search for car rental solutions prioritising their own corporate agreements with particular firms.
Importantly, the system shows images of the car product, while alongside, up-selling and cross-selling options will be listed to help agents make the most of the booking.
Travelport believes merchandising ‘add-ons’ to allow product differentiation and value-based comparisons while building in targeted advertising alongside this, is the way forward for the distribution of travel products.
As a result, agents receive full content, rich product information and can offer relevant product offers and promotions according to the journey made and the type of traveller they are serving. The end result, hopes Travelport, is a surge in car rental and hotel attachment rates on the GDS, which until now, have been low.
Car rental and hotel representatives were asked for their feedback on Universal Desktop tool at a conference in London last month. See the November edition of ATN.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
