working together

Welcome to TTI Europe’s leading travel technology initiatives and standards organisation

A word from the chairman

If you are anything like me you will be wondering what on earth has been going on in our world over the past couple of months given the global news events that we have all recently witnessed from political, economic and worldwide social unrest perspectives. As you know we all woke up on the morning of Friday the 24th of June to the news that the UK had voted to leave the European Union. What the true impact of the Brexit decision will be on the travel industry as well as the wider economic impact for the UK and Europe as a whole has yet to be seen, but in my mind it will take many months, if not many years for this situation to truly sort itself out. In the meantime however the country remains somewhat divided in its opinions as to what this does actually mean for us all personally and for our businesses in the long run. At present there remains some immediate “fall-out” volatility in the currency exchange and investment communities which no doubt is affecting us all. Let’s just hope that a positive outcome prevails and that confidence grows! Also, like me, I am sure that you will have been shocked by the shear amount of news that we have all been receiving of late regarding such atrocities as the recent truck incident in Nice on Bastille day, the situation in Turkey following the failed military coup, the racially motivated police shootings in America as well as the recent axe,

gun and bomb attacks in Germany. Clearly we are living in difficult and challenging times and it is events such as these that will, of course, have a knock-on impact on an industry such as our own given that it involves moving people around the world. We must therefore remain vigilant in all that we do and ensure that our people and our customers are well informed and know what to do when things go wrong especially during these extremely tough trading conditions. In terms of TTI’s most recent activities and news on our upcoming events: over the past few months quite a lot has been happening here at TTI. Firstly, on Thursday 19 May we held a very special one day meeting at the Strand Palace hotel on the subject of “Locale Codes”. This followed a call by a number of TTI members who are interested in the formation of an industry standard around resort location codes. The day was extremely well attended and I am pleased to report that this project is now really beginning to take shape. Consequently we are planning a further gathering of this working group in September to go through the group’s findings and to make recommendations accordingly. Secondly, following an RFP (Request for Proposal) process that was conducted in May, regarding the revamping of TTI’s website, I am delighted to announce that we have now appointed a website design and digital marketing

company called Melt Content who will be working on this for us during the summer months. We are all very excited about this project and hope to launch the new site in late Autumn. On 7 June, in conjunction with our partners at ETOA, we held our Summer forum at the Strand Palace Hotel on the subject of “Yield & Revenue Management”. Again this event was very well attended and we heard from a line-up of top speakers on this fascinating and rapidly developing discipline. My thanks must go to all who attended and especially to the speakers for giving up their time to explain why this subject is so important. Finally, our full day Autumn conference is planned for 20 September. See below for details. In the meantime, I trust that you are all enjoying your summer holidays with friends and family and that despite the challenging times we are all facing at present, that business is looking good and prosperous for you.

Digital Travel - State of Play

Julia Lo Bue-Said, Managing Director Advantage Travel Partnership Helene Hall, Chief Commercial Officer Melt Content Clare de Bono, Head of Product and Innovation, Amadeus UK & Ireland

Carl Michel, Chairman Veeve Catherine Fitzgerald, Client Partner Travel, Facebook Rob Wortham Artificial Intelligence Expert

Suzie Barber, co-Founder Hotel Bonanza John McQuillan, ex President OpenJaw Technologies

The quarterly TTI newsletter Issue 63 August 2016

TTI Shareholders:

by Peter Dennis, Chairman

full details & registration at www.tti.org/conference

Tuesday 20 September, Strand Palace Hotel, London, 09:30 to 17:00

Digital Travel has developed hugely since the early

pioneers such as Holiday Inn and British Midland

first offered consumers online bookability. These

first systems provided people with little more than a

really frustrating search and book experience.

Contrast this with the current customer experience

(Cx) and it is clear that digital travel has evolved; not

beyond all recognition but perhaps to a stage only

envisaged by sci-fi enthusiasts and the most forward

of thinkers.

New entrants use of customer data, electronic

connectivity with the travel industry, Cx and

business process design are ahead of the game.

So, new intermediaries such as Expedia,

Skyscanner and Airbnb have usurped the market

position of many of the old intermediaries.

With this background to digital travel, TTI has

organised this conference to place a marker in the

ground, to assess the current state of play of digital

travel. Speakers will provide their thoughts and

opinions based on their own experiences of digital

travel.

Speakers: Thanks to Melt Content

for sponsoring this event.

Money for Nothing

Forum Report

At a time when Las

Vegas hotels are

changing their room

rates up to 100 times

per day, companies

across all travel

sectors are waking up

to the potential of high

-tech yield and

revenue management

systems. Hence the

alluring theme of the

TTI Summer Forum:

‘Money for nothing’ –

or as forum moderator

Paul Richer put it,

“gaining extra profit

out of your existing

sales rather than by

creating more

product.”

Deniz Dorbek, director of revenue

management, EMEA, for Wyndham

Hotel Group, opened up by explaining

how they approach

this task at the

world’s largest hotel

company, which has

over 7,800

properties and

678,000 rooms in 72

countries. Dorbek

cited the old-school

mantra of revenue

management (RM) –

that is, selling the

right product, at the

right time, to the

right customer, at

the right price, to

achieve the best

profit – but said

there are now some

“new players” to

consider.

She noted that 30-40 per cent of hotel

revenue comes from non-rooms – i.e.

function spaces, spa and sport, and food

and beverage –

and said that,

with proper

strategy, this

percentage can be increased to 50%.

A lack of technology is not an excuse to

improve performance, she insisted: “Just

one year’s data collection from staff

members can give you some

comparable data to use to come up with

strategies and promotions.” New tech,

however, does allow managers to

monitor useful new hospitality KPIs such

as Gross Operational Profit (GOP) per

available room – “…and once you

understand the GOP, you are almost

there when it comes to understanding

yield and revenue maximisation in a

hotel.”

Dorbek explained that revenue

management is now about

understanding the costs as much as

generating revenue, and outlined the

wider skillset required by modern

managers: i.e. creative thinking; effective

sales ability; training experience;

relationship skills; and communication

skills.

Communication comes to the fore with

Dorbek’s “number one priority”

recommendation for the coming years:

“Bridge the gap between your sales and

marketing and your revenue

management departments, make them

work shoulder to shoulder. If you put the

guest analytics they have and the

demand strategy that we have together, I

think it’s the best solution to increase

yield.”

(Continued on page 3)

by Justyn Barnes

The travel industry is making two big mistakes when it comes to user experience on its websites...

Deniz Dorbek, Wyndham Hotel Group

Dorbek signed off with her advice for

‘KISS & HUGS’ – i.e. Keep It Super

Simple and Healthy Uncomplicated

Growth Strategies – adding: “We do

need a lot of analytics, but we also need

a creative approach.”

So much for the simplicity – “hoteliers

have it so easy” compared to the tour

operators, said second speaker

Dimitrios Hiotis. With multiple variables

to be managed in parallel – such as part

-committed hotels (where operators are

allocated a percentage of rooms and

pay the hotelier only if they fill them) and

tight margins of three per cent “if you’re

lucky” – the complexity ramps up a few

notches. Hiotis, a partner at Simon-

Kucher & Partners, knows this from first-

hand experience with Thomson and

First Choice at TUI UK, where he spent

a decade developing and implementing

one of the first tour-operator-specific

revenue and yield management

solutions. “We had 12 million packages

on sale at any given time, and were

changing 150,000 prices per day” he

recalled.

Hiotis explained that managing yield via

dynamic pricing is not always the best

solution, offering the example of

escorted group

tours: “People will

talk and will not be

happy if they find

out they’ve paid

more than others

on the tour.” The

answer here

instead is to adjust

capacity, by

adding a new tour

on similar dates for

popular tours or

consolidating

poorer

performance tours.

However,

customers taking

traditional tours are

more accustomed to the price

fluctuating from brochure price, and

therefore “fluid” pricing is more

acceptable. For UK customers, Hiotis

advised optimising price every day –

based on market conditions and

available capacity – in the build up to

the departure date.

Hiotis warned against instituting an

overly complex revenue management

system, admitting: “At TUI, I spent most

of my days explaining the system to

traders only to be told it still doesn’t

make sense.” It is more important that

the team adopt and understand the

system than it being

the ultimate.

“Revenue

management is also

about a culture –

that’s very important,”

he concluded.

Neil Corr, senior

advisor, EMEA, at

IDeaS Revenue

Solutions agreed,

saying: “People and

process can get

horribly neglected –

you can plug in a

Rolls Royce system,

but someone’s got to

be able to use it.

Tackle people, process and technology

together to reach revenue innovation

status.”

During his whistle-stop tour of the

revenue management and distribution

landscape, Corr also discussed the

challenge of “Big Data”

and the importance of

proportionately

integrating relevant data

to your RM system and

sifting out the “noisy”

data. For instance,

reviews for leisure

travellers paying their

own money will be

critical, whereas a

business traveller may

put up with “good

enough” for loyalty

points.

“It’s about that evolution

from spreadsheet

methods towards the

utopia that is more fully

integrated solutions, but that doesn’t

have to be a silver bullet … Start with

robust, reliable data and then start

incorporating other data sources as is

proportionate to your business.”

For Corr, “actionable insight” is key,

which comes down to not over-reporting

and visualising key data in a clear

accessible way via bubble charts,

speedometer graphs, etc.

The forum concluded with a lively Q&A.

Asked how you get the revenue

management and

other teams working

together to maximise

profit at group level,

Dorbek advocated

regular meetings (“if

not weekly, at least

monthly”) of

department heads to

share tasks and

analytics.

Pressed further on “the

people issue” with

revenue management,

Hiotis was clear that

you can't just go away

and build a new RM

system: “Whatever we do needs to

make sense to people and resonate

with their experience.”

Corr related his experience of change

management projects he’s worked on

where often the key was advising on

how to “redefine business processes to

avoid pitfalls of the system tail wagging

the process dog”.

Asked whether tour, attractions and

activity companies are ripe for yield/

revenue management, Hiotis cited Euro

Disney as an example of how a clever

promotion system to create demand –

or “shouting about your price” – is more

appropriate than a fancy RM system

that dynamically changes the price

during the day.

Summing up the morning’s debate, TTI

chairman Peter Dennis stated his belief

that “although this industry is absolutely

obsessed with price, it’s going to be

about value going forward.” He outlined

a “hook, bait and draw” concept where

consumers are hooked and baited on

price, and then offered ancillary services

at the “real-time point of sale” in return

for a value price for the whole package

– but only if they buy there and then.

“That, I think, will be the new form of

revenue management, and, as Deniz

said, it requires really creative thinking.

(Continued from page 2)

Neil Corr, IDeaS

Dimitris Hiotis, Simon-Kucher + Partners

Developing better understanding between travel companies and technology suppliers

As a consultant, I am involved in travel

tech on both sides of the equation –

splitting my time between holiday

companies and technology providers. I

should say I am not generally involved in

the procurement or selling of systems. I’m

the one who gets deep into the detail of

analysing the business requirements and

the technical possibilities to make the

solution work.

I have found that relationships between

tech suppliers and clients have a habit of

becoming quite strained once the

implementation phase starts.

I come across customers who find the

supplier slow to fix issues, displaying a

lack of understanding and interest in

helping them to resolve problems.

Conversely, I often hear suppliers

lamenting customers who raise vague

issues and poorly described

requirements, demand unreasonable

turnaround times and show a lack of

understanding of how the systems work.

No doubt the complexity of the travel

industry and the relatively low margins are

contributing factors in this, but for me it is

simply a lack of detailed understanding

between the two parties that is causing

this friction.

And the effects of this lack of

understanding reach beyond plaintive

emails and awkward conference calls. I

believe if the supplier and the customer

held deeper detailed knowledge of each

other’s operations and approaches, it

would save a great deal of time and effort

for both sides.

For example, less time wasted on

following up incorrect assumptions and

misunderstandings, and vastly reduced

feedback cycles, project updates and

reporting. It’s also likely to lead to better

designed, more successful and more

holistic solutions being generated. Too

often solutions fail not because it was the

wrong solution for the problem, but

everyone was trying to solve the wrong

problem. Better detailed understanding

and communication between the

organisations would help avoid this

happening

So what practical steps can we take to

tackle this situation?

When I am working with technology

companies, I find I spend a lot of time

explaining how tour operating works,

shedding light on why their customers are

asking for certain functionality, and

helping to design the best way to handle

these requirements.

When I work with travel companies, I

often have to explain the development

and bug-fixing processes and timelines,

challenge requirements and the perceived

‘best way’ to design processes, as well as

helping them to put more logical structure

around their specifications.

It feels like both the supplier and customer

need to immerse themselves more deeply

in the other’s business and operations to

be really successful.

I have often thought that this is easier for

an independent person like me to do,

operating at arm’s length and with a

balanced portfolio of different types of

clients, than it is for an existing employee

of either the technology supplier or

holiday company to do.

So on a small project perhaps sharing the

cost of an independent person to

understand both businesses and to liaise

and help communicate between supplier

and holiday company would help to focus

more quickly on efficient communication

and efficiency.

My concern is that this may not scale up

well for larger projects – you could end up

making things worse by introducing a third

party organisation, halving the

understanding and doubling the amount of

communication needed.

I have experienced examples of

technology suppliers having ring-fenced

teams for particular clients, and even

cases where individual developers or

analysts are located in the client’s office.

This all helps to improve knowledge and

understanding between organisations.

But perhaps the real solution for larger

projects is to create a truly collaborative,

co-located team that is joint-funded by the

supplier and holiday company. Or at least

contains representatives of both

businesses who are empowered to

prioritise the needs of the project above

the needs of the company they work for.

I suppose this is really just an extension of

the matrix model of cross-functional

teams within organisations. This way

greater efficiency, quality and success

can be achieved through a project-

focussed approach with team members

who understand both organisations and

communicate effectively.

Have you come across this way of

working in travel technology? Do you think

it works? Please share your thoughts and

experiences - you can comment on this

article online at www.2aardvarks.co.uk/

blog or email contact@2aardvarks.co.uk

or find me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

If you are reading this, it’s likely you are involved in travel technology projects of one sort or another. Maybe you work for a travel business that is implementing a piece of technology, or maybe you represent the systems supplier working on the other side of the relationship.

Ian Showell, 2 Aardvarks

Social Media Corner

Customer Service Through Social Media

The key thing to recognise is that good customer care - on social media or otherwise - doesn’t just keep one customer happy, it can build reputation and business through word of mouth recommendations.

Customer service is marketing. But where does social media fit into the milieu of customer service channels? And why should you focus your customer care efforts on Facebook and Twitter?

1) Social Media is Where Your

Customers Are

There are 38 million active users of social media in the UK alone. Let that figure sink in and process its implications. There is no other platform that unifies as many people in one place. And with most brands having a presence on Facebook and Twitter, social represents the easiest touch point for customers and brands.

If a customer has a query, they are increasingly likely to request an answer through social media. If they have a problem, they will probably seek a solution through social media. If they want to convey negative feedback, it is likely to be - publicly - through social media.

Why, then, do only 26% of companies ‘take social seriously as a customer service tool’?

You need to be where your customers are. Disgruntled customers will make complaints whether you’re there to answer them or not. But being there, and

quickly, means you can head those complaints off before they result in damage to your brand and business.

2) Good Customer Service Builds

Trust

Customer trust is an essential part of any successful business. The trust that you’ll deliver what you said you’ll deliver, when you said you’d deliver it. When a customer comes to you for a service or product they expect the transaction to occur without hassle on their part.

Of course, it’s human nature that mistakes do happen. Customers realise this and won’t blame you immediately - it’s how you handle those situations that says a lot about your business.

It’s your job to mitigate risk, to remove as many barriers to conversion - and therefore repeat conversion - as possible. The knowledge that a customer can quickly and easily return or exchange a product, for instance, builds trust in your brand. They know that they can make a repeat purchase without risk.

It’s far easier to keep a customer you’ve already won than it is to find a new one. Companies who ‘fail to respond to customers via social channels’ experience a 15% higher churn rate than those who don’t.

3) Loyal Advocates Build New

Business

This is a step many businesses don’t see. Good customer service is a building block of marketing. It is about more than

the satisfaction of one. Underestimate the power of word of mouth at your risk.

People talk - that’s a fact. Impress one customer and it’s likely they will recommend you to their friends a family, either now or further down the line. Please those connections and you’ve generated an ever-increasing net of brand advocates.

It can be difficult to invest in something so intangible as word of mouth recommendations, but you need to have faith that good business practices deliver new customers. And, at the very least, don’t damage your business in any way. The same principles apply to influencer marketing.

From one interaction you’ve not only secured repeat business from the initial customer, but potentially countless brand ambassadors. It’s the reason certain businesses, most visibly those in trade industries, can thrive on the back of loyalty and recommendations alone.

Final Thoughts

If there’s one takeaway I’d highlight, it’s that customer service is marketing. This is something that everyone in your business should understand. And the fact that customer service is increasingly shifting to social is a very clear reason for why your customer care efforts should focus there.

It’s interesting. Isn’t it? That so many companies recognise the value of effective customer service, yet so few seem to have nailed the process.

by Anthony Rawlins, Digital Visitor

TTI on Twitter

You can keep up with all the latest news from TTI by following us on Twitter.

Follow @TTI_org

TTIcodes Summer Update

Holiday Offers & TTIcodes

With the inclement British weather doing its best to spoil our lazy hazy days of summer, many people are searching for that bargain in the sun. With so many offers to compare across search sites such as Travel Supermarket, Ice Lolly, DealChecker etc., we had to adapt the way TTIcodes interacts with these offers so that holiday makers and travel agents can easily compare offers for the same hotel. One feature of this segment of the market is that many of the offers are created on behalf of ATOL holders & Travel Agencies by what we have termed “Tech” companies. They include companies such as Sunshine Technology, TTSS, Traveltek, Object Power, JHL & Complete Travel. These companies take late availability offers from the tour operators, bed banks, OTAs etc, packaging them up to the requirements of the ATOL holder / Travel Agent before distributing them onwards. The offers may include additional items such as free car hire, airport parking etc.

The challenge is therefore two- fold. One is that of time, these offers are very last minute and thus there is little time to map each product code for the ATOL holder or Travel Agency. The second challenge is that the offer name is not just the hotel name but also the offer detail e.g. “Villa Maria including 7 days free car hire”. This makes automatic mapping very difficult. In addition the Offer Codes are changing from week to week so we had to find a better way that was both timely and efficient. Working with these Tech Companies, we were able to put in place a flexible solution that enabled “Tech” companies to tag each offer with the TTIcode thus eliminating the two challenges by a little bit of out of the box creativity. It also meant that we did not need to worry if the offer codes changed or they added new ones.

by Peter Hazel

Approx. 27 million mappings

January 2016 July 2016 % Increase

No. of Properties 412,054 509,704 23.7%

No. of Suppliers (OTAs, Bed banks, Wholesalers , Tour Operators )

240

272

13.3%

No. of Mappings 19,499,319 27,077,634 38.9%

No. of Properties with Geo Codes

377,756 494,093 30.8%

No. with Addresses 253,613 337,592 33.1%

No. with Star Ratings 261,595 281,546 7.6%

Reminder of TTIcodes offering

Product Feature

Basic TTIcodes

TTIcodes Plus

Affiliate Product (NEW!!)

Access to Complete Property Portfolio √ √

Selected Suppliers Properties only (5 or 10 Supplier Licence )

√

Name & Address Information √ √ √

Contact Information √ √ √

Web Site URL √ √ √

Brand Information √ √ √

Geo Codes Additional Fee √ Additional Fee

Channel / Tour Op Cross-Ref information √ √

Mapping of Own Database √

Latest Pricing

Cost per month TTIcodes Geocodes add-on TTIcodes Plus incl. Geocodes

Full Price Member Price Member Price Member Price

Tier 1 €307 €273 +€59 €701

Tier 2 €427 €390 +€69 €868

Tier 3 €547 €468 +€79 €1036

Implementation Fees

Implementation Fee per Customer (less than 10,000 properties )

€750 per cus-tomer

one-off fee

Implementation Fee per Customer (10,000 or more properties )

€1299 per cus-tomer

one-off fee

Tier 1: Turnover < €5 million Tier 2: Turnover > €5 million < €10 million Tier 3: Turnover > €10 million

TTIcodes users MUST have TTI or ETOA Membership to qualify for discounted member prices.

TTI is associated with a number of trade organisations. Here is a round-up of their news

News from our Associations

BETA has had a record year so far for new member applications, welcoming 17 new members in the period 01 January to 30th June 2016.

Our events have also seen a rise in attendance and support from the sector, with the Youth

Travel Workshop already under our belt, along with our recent Parliamentary Reception, we are now taking registrations for our autumn Youth Industry Seminar entitled Today’s Youth Traveller – and the importance of customer engagement. During this event we will be hearing from a series of speakers who’s businesses focus on young people, getting them engaged and

keeping them engaged. Our expert panel from STA Travel, Hostelworld and The National Student will be sharing examples on influencer marketing, video marketing and the importance of customer engagement. For more details on this or any other BETA event please visit the website: www.betauk.com

As we move into the second half of 2016 and people are off on

summer breaks, we are looking further ahead to this year’s edition of Showcase Digital on the 27th September in London. Now in its third year, the event combines our trademark B2B appointments with keynote speeches from Amadeus, Airbnb and Bournemouth University and an afternoon session of ‘quick wins’, suggestions from various members of the travel tech sector as to how to deal with certain challenges that you may be facing. This event is designed to give operators, hotels, attractions and tourist boards a chance to engage with technology providers and to learn about the latest trends. More information can

be found at digital.showcase.travel Autumn is high season for ETOA when it comes to events and one that has become a regular fixture in the calendar is our annual European Tourism Summit in the Alps held in Lucerne, Switzerland. This year the spectacular surroundings of the Swiss Transport Museum by Lake Lucerne will host a day of discussion where senior industry figures look at current hot topics. There is always a technology element in the programme and perhaps nowhere more so this year than in the first session looking at the companies that have challenged the marketplace, sometimes referred to as ‘disruptors’. All of this comes with the excellent hospitality of Lucerne and Switzerland Tourism and should lead to a day full of exchange of

thoughts and ideas, as well as networking. The summit on the 11th October is free to all ETOA members and non-members should enquire via the website. ETOA has also launched in 2016 a running series of webinars covering a wide variety of topics affecting the tourism industry. These are 30 minute bites with expert presentations and Q&A and thus far have created some quite lively debates. Keep an eye out for upcoming numbers. In the meantime we wish you all a great rest of the summer and look forward to seeing you soon at an event somewhere be it in London, Lucerne or further afield.

ENTER2017 eTourism Conference: PhD Workshop. The event will take place in Rome (IT) on January 23, 2017 and will provide a forum for PhD students undertaking research related to ICT in Travel and Tourism to discuss interactively... Read more

ENTER2017 eTourism Conference: Research Track. Research articles are invited across the wide spectrum of ICT in Travel and Tourism. The Conference Proceedings will include all accepted full papers. The submission closes on August 26, 2016. Topics include... Read more ENTER2017 eTourism Conference: Industry Track. Representatives from industry, government, and other businesses are invited to submit presentation abstracts regarding the

application of ICT in Travel and Tourism by August 26, 2016. Executives, DMO managers, digital experts will be in Rome on January 24-26 (2017) for ENTER2017... Read more ICT4D Scholarship: In 2017 the scholarship consists of an assignment of a tutor, a non-cash prize for ENTER2017 eTourism Conference participation and free IFITT membership for one year... Read more

OpenTravel Alliance, the not-for-profit responsible for the non-proprietary technology that enables interoperability for disparate systems in all segments of the travel industry, continues to enjoy momentum for the 2.0 object model solution, launched earlier this year and revealed in detail at this year’s Advisory Forum, May 16-19 in Orlando. The 2.0 object model

significantly improves development, allowing travel partnerships to be more quickly created and easily maintained. The 2016 Advisory Forum announced that 2.0 reduces time-to-market, and improves consistency, simplicity, and flexibility. Both the 2.0 Golf and Hotel Projects are in full swing, with other projects teed up for launch soon. Golf Project functionality includes Facility Search, Golf Course Tee Time Availability, Tee Time Reservation, and Facility Information, and Hotel Project functionality includes Availability

and Reservation. One of the biggest benefits with both projects is that with 2.0, the messaging can automatically be generated in XML or JSON for OpenTravel members. OpenTravel recently made appearances at HiTec in New Orleans, June 20-23, and HEDNA’s 2016 European Conference in Berlin, June 14-16, sharing the 2.0 object model solution at both. For more information on latest happenings, please visit www.opentravel.org, or email info@opentravel.org

AITOs 40th Anniversary promotions continue with two special activities scheduled to take place in the second half of the year. The first promotion entitled AITO Next

Generation is aimed at encouraging fledgling companies or entrepreneurs to join the specialist tour operating world. Applicants will be invited to pitch their business plan to AITOs Council in a Dragon’s Den style

format. Successful companies have the opportunity to receive a year’s free AITO Protégé Membership and a suite of services from AITOs Affiliates, the total package valued at around £4,000. For details, please email Bharat@aito.com The second activity will provide participants with the opportunity to give something back in this 40th Anniversary year of AITO. The AITO 40 for 40 Charity Walk will take place on 1 October

on the South Downs. Participants can choose to walk 40, 20 or 10 km for the charity of their choice and the day will culminate with a BBQ get together. AITO members Discover Adventure and Dragoman will organise the weekends activities and all travel colleagues, friends and family are welcome to participate. For details, please email Helen@aito.com

Project Management Committee Discussions

New Members We discussed a drive to get more new TTI members. Janet Butler is formulating an initiative to achieve this that we will discuss at the next meeting. Badges Liz has agreed to look into a new and better badge system for the conferences TTIcodes There is now a tick box in the contract for members to join and a 30 day period for non-members to join or their charges will revert to the higher non-member fees, A join TTI form will be included in all new TTIcodes contracts. There is a shared contract licence for companies like Traveltek who have a lot of smaller customers who use a sub-set of the product. However a supplement is payable depending on their tier to actually earn commission. There is now a new and lower price for TTI members. With 5 suppliers €125 and 10 suppliers €200. Non-members will now be charged €199 for 5 suppliers and

10 suppliers €299.We have already signed 3 new members on the strength of the deal. New clients include Getabed, Digital Trip and Very Cheap Holidays. We also expect Southall Travel and GTA to upgrade to TTIcodes Plus. Our TTIcodes partner GIATA is sponsoring a dinner at Hedna Berlin. Travelport have also completed their mappings. Locale Codes There was a meeting on 19 May at the Strand Palace hotel with 17 delegates attending and 5 TTI representatives. It was very positive with a strong desire to move forward. Everyone agreed it was an issue that needs to be addressed for all travel companies as there are no set standards in place to define resorts, places, areas etc, However there would still be a need for customisation as for instance villa specialists will probably require custom views.

The focus would be on a step by step plan that focuses on the main tourist destinations. The 3 key project areas for attention are Technology, Standards and Commercial Considerations. The next steps will be planned for September when key participants will be targeted to attend. TTI Website Melt Content was chosen to redesign the website. AOB Steve Dobson suggested an extra agenda item of The EU General Data Protection Requirement which is now law and applies from May 2018. The next meeting is set for 13 September at 10:00 by conference call.

A Warm Welcome to New Members

The Holiday Place

TTI Events 2016

Project Management Meetings (All members welcome, contact Liz if you would like to take part) Tuesday 7 June - after Summer Forum Tuesday 13 September - by conference call Thursday 8 December - by conference call

Conferences & Forums Tuesday 7 June - Summer Forum in association with ETOA Tuesday 20 September - Autumn Conference Monday 10 November - WTM Travel Innovation Summit in Association with TTI

Travel Technology Initiative Ltd, Registered office: Victoria House, 51 Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6AD Company Registration Number: England 2398368

Published on behalf of TTI by Genesys - The Travel Technology Consultancy - www.genesys.net

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If your company wishes to place an advert or an advertorial article in this newsletter, please contact liz.rylance@tti.org

Our last project meeting took place following the Summer Forum on 7 June.

by Tim Wright, Codegen