It’s very easy to make a duplicate of a website, making websites look different by making different skins and color themes is also easy; people have been doing it for years. I’m really not sure why someone has not made a giant database of all information and let other people, customize the content and look to there specific needs. It seems so simple.

And that’s really what we are doing with FaceBook Members “Free Websites” creating a giant database of Travel information and let our FaceBook Travel Agents & Reps, customize the look and feel and choose the type of content they wish to display.

Here is the first one http://www.ExperienceAfrica.com It’s a good looking site, all be it could have been constructed better, but it was not the PHP that cost $100,000, it was the information that went into the database. Or more to the point the team of very experienced, diligent copywriters, travel writers and researchers that really spent time working out which venues represented the very best experiences available in Africa, hence the name Experience Africa.

Now I doubt we will be using this actual website, just the domain and the information, but the principal is correct, good looking site, good content.

If you remember back to the “Tutorial Game”

“In this example what we are trying to accomplish, is to get our FaceBook Travel Agent to really appreciate the Free websites technology, teaching them how to use the website building engine, which builds amazing looking, well researched, comprehensive travel websites in areas our reps wish to represent, which can be used in real life.”

As you see FaceBook Reps and Agents will have already built there own websites before they even apply to be a part of FaceBook Travel, the difference being, now they can choose there own domain.

One key to success is to make the simplest web content management system ever; really I’d like it to be used by 12 year olds. Literally 1000’s of different skins and hundreds of color variations, with logo building tools, the idea being whilst there are millions of copies, there won’t be two websites that look the same. Most will be regionalized just by the location the FaceBook Travel Rep is in. FaceBook Travel Agents however will be allowed to chooses more territories in reward for good performance.

Researching all the information is a cost however, and quite a big one, but nothing that won’t be generated by selling off trading rights. After a while, the database and research will be done by the FaceBook Travel agents & reps themselves as they will most likely wish to add personal content to there websites, such as there favorite secret beach or what events are coming up, and as for the venues, well the guests will be there ultimate judge and jury, and we cant argue with that, like trip advisor but everyone votes and its far more difficult to hack.

And now you see where the words “The Global Distribution System” start to come in, we are making it easy for our FaceBook Travel Agents and Reps to distribute our global travel database, but there’s a lot more to this. Now that we have our delivery method we need to have all the products/stock (Villas, Planes, Cars & Cruse Liners etc.) to resell to our Reps, Agents, allied Tour Operates and Travel Agents

Product is split roughly in half

Half in the hands of 4 GDS’s (Global Distribution System’s) Galileo, Amadeus, Saber and World Span, its easy to network with these companies, they take a +/-$3 per transaction fee. The venues here will mainly be sold by large Travel Agencies and big online booking travel websites like www.Expedia.com or www.Hotels.com

I don’t have much of a plan here other than to negotiate the best rate and pay the per transaction fee, I’d hope to get 1$ per transaction. However I would like someone to come up with a clever way of networking for free, The GDS’s are loosing the battle with the ADS’s and I’m sure, all of the GDS’s would like to talk.

The other half of the world’s accommodation is in the hands of the ADS’s, (Alternate Distribution Systems) small independent inventory systems, for villas, smaller hotels, and many other experiences.

I’ve got a solid plan to network into all the ADS’s. The war is on!!!

Its only been a few years since API links (Application Program Interface Links) meant travel inventory databases could easily communicate with each other, and if I’m thinking it, others are too, the way I see it, the first company or software system to network to 50% of the ADS’s will see all the rest follow suit. And once there is one all powerful network, there’s no need for another.

The advantage we have (besides 400,000,000 members) is we have something to trade, our content and inventory, for theirs, a reciprocal arrangement, we give them access to our feed in exchange for them allowing us a direct API link, so we can book directly from their inventory system.

Typically we are looking at Tour Operators Property Management & Villa Rental companies here. A good example would be to consider www.leoTrippi.com far from a high street name, but that’s kind of the point with exclusive travel, what impressed me to ask them first, is the many clients they send our way and yet if we look at there entire Safari Section http://www.leotrippi.com/en/escapes/d_208/zambia/african-safari.html there’s really nothing there, but still they have lots of clients that want to go on Safari, so we will give them access to our database, not only will that force them into booking Safari’s trough us, it also really expands there website from a token presence, to a concise, exciting, well researched portfolio , and as such, without doubt they will get far more enquiries than they do now. In this scenario we work on a split commission rule, usually 20% each.

At the same time that we customize our content to fit within their website, we will make a API link to there database and feed there collection of European Ski Chalets onto our database, asking this time, for 30% to 40% discount, then we let all of our FaceBook Reps and Agents know, if they have a client that wishes to go skiing, we have a great new batch of Ski Chalets. Our agents (if allowed) can add it to there current website, and suddenly Leo Trippi Ski Chalets are available throughout our network, including the many other tour operators we network to and whichever major Travel Agents we partner with.

So you see how we are accomplishing 2 things here, we are making money from tour operators, FaceBook Travel Agents, Reps and High Street Travel Giants that book our venues, whilst adding their exclusive venues (if they have) to our portfolio. Each partner we make, see’s our portfolio of product expand, our target is to represent all the productI can see a way to having 75% (considering we get 50% from the GDS’s) of all travel inventory in our database within a few years, and eventually taking over the entire travel inventory database network, hence the advance The Global Distribution System. Everyone is going to want to network to FaceBook Travel’s 500,000,000 members?

Networking to venues directly and how the STO (Standard Tour Operator) discount system works

I recently pulled up this page from the internet http://www.travelagentcentral.com/technology/online-agencies-in-global-battle-for-market-share-28791 which claims in 2009 supplier websites (which I take to mean the accommodation venues themselves) have 63% of the on line booking market. Which I found surprising, the reason I found this it surprising is, often, booking direct is more expensive that booking through an agency. It will certainly be more expensive than booking through FaceBook travel, and mass public awareness of this will gain many extra bookings. Before I go let me explain why it’s more expensive to book direct.

My first experience of this, and in fact the reason I got into internet travel, was my holiday to Phuket Thailand in 2001. I originally booked a hotel for 3 nights through http://www.latestays.com/ the idea being I’d look around and find the perfect place once I was in town. It so happened however that the hotel I’d booked was great, so I went to reception and asked them If I could book for the next 11 days, they said fine but quoted a price near double the price I had paid on Late Stays, I questioned them, and even took the reservations lady to the website to show her the price I paid. She simply said with a smile, I’d advise you to book through the website. So I did. This event really got me thinking….

After a little research it appears, most hotels work on a STO system, that stands for “Standard Tour Operator rate” hotels give Travel Agents and Tour Operators between 20% and 50% discount. And there contract with the Travel Agents says the hotels can not sell cheaper than what is known a “Rack Rate” (The price you see at the reception or on there website.)

What the people at http://www.latestays.com/ had done was simply slash there margin to 10% and passed the 40% on to the customer, me, there was no last minute discount, they just had permission to advertise at whatever rate they wished if it was within a month.

And that’s how most things work in travel, (Except economy air tickets) some of the smaller newer venues however don’t always play by the rules, but all the established venues do.

So in general, booking direct with a supplier is often the most expensive way to book. I guess looking at that 63% market share stats most people don’t know that.

Individual venues.

If 63% of on line bookings are made directly to venues, it makes sense to give these venues our web feed. And further give the reservation staff training on how to up sell there venue. If we take Singita http://www.singita.com Africa’s most famous Safari, and gave them the capacity to book the rest of a clients holiday, flights, other Safaris, a stay in Mauritius or Cape Town, we win and Singita wins, and we get possibly 3 or 4 bookings that would probably have gone direct to the other venues and if we further provided Singita with an on line booking facility (which they either don’t have or don’t use) then we would be the first to offer Singita to the world on line. Which does not only increase the chance of making direct FaceBook Travel bookings, it will also lead to out Tour Operator and Travel Agent network making bookings as well.

There are many advantages to making this technology.

Further reading

http://www.s-world.biz/Early_Tourism_plans/Page_3_Business_Linking_Websites.html