Background
Voyages Jules Verne (VJV) is a specialist holiday company providing a diverse range of classic journeys throughout the world by air, sea, river and rail. The company was founded in 1978 to operate luxury trains from London to Peking (Beijing) and thence to Hong Kong, and was at the forefront of introducing holiday itineraries to China to the western market. Further innovative train journeys were soon introduced and today Voyages Jules Verne’s holidays encompass long haul and short haul, weekends and expeditions, and cover a variety of themes and special interests.
In 1998 Voyages Jules Verne was acquired by Kuoni Travel, but it still retains its independent and innovative approach to a comprehensive list of destinations and themes while gleaning the benefits of Kuoni's financial security and expertise.
The Challenge
Today most travel companies have a web site where customers can check availability, book holidays and often book other services such as holiday insurance. But back in 2000, VJV had no system in place that was able to take bookings online. Moreover, its web presence was minimal in comparison to its well established retail and telephone-based businesses. Because of increasing competition from web-based travel companies, VJV took a decision to enter the online travel marketplace and upgrade the company’s information-only website to a commercial one.
The challenge was to avoid the frustration felt by customers who tried to book a holiday on the web when the holiday was actually fully booked, or no longer available. This situation can occur when the web site is not directly connected to the call centre-based reservation system. VJV therefore took the decision to link the reservation system directly to the web site. Because of this, web site customers and call centre agents have the same up-to-date view of availability of holidays thus avoiding potential customer dissatisfaction. This was important for VJV as its reputation was based on excellent customer service and it had established a base of customers who regularly rebook with Voyages Jules Verne.
The Solution
Modcomp was approached to tender for a contract to develop the online booking application. Modcomp won the contract because it could offer a simple and cost effective technique for connecting the VJV reservation system with the web. Using the ViewMax integration server Modcomp, within just three months, had established for VJV an integrated system that was able to take online bookings, be updated in real time, and required minimal hardware and training cost outlay from VJV.
In time, Modcomp assisted VJV in upgrading the site to reflect changes in the business and to keep ahead of travel market trends. A credit card booking system was installed on the site, as well as functionality for secondary revenue streams such as travel insurance.
Conclusion
The main testament of a good eCommerce web site is the amount of business that is contributed by the site. Since Modcomp developed the online booking application for VJV, the online business has grown considerably and now contributes a significant proportion of overall bookings.
John Dawson, General Manager of VJV, said: "We are pleased with the results from the work that Modcomp has undertaken for us. From the initial project, through to more recent development work this year, we have found Modcomp very approachable, capable and professional".
About Modcomp
Modcomp is a Microsoft Certified Systems Integrator with over 25 year's experience of building software solutions. It was one of the first systems integrators to help holiday companies get on the web and has worked with Hoseasons, Inghams, Sunsail and Citalia amongst others.
The travel industry relies heavily on technology. But many travel companies have back-office systems which were developed over 10 years ago and more. While continuing to do the job, such systems restrict the drive to modernise and develop new channels to market, such as the internet. Modcomp provides the technology to rapidly build online booking solutions which are fully integrated with a company’s back-office systems.
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