Journey Mentor restores the profitable relationships travel agents once enjoyed with customers at no upfront cost. We spoke to Chief Commercial Officer Fadi Fahes.
In pre-digital days when travellers booked by phone, fax or face-to-face, and ‘connectivity’ was a term used in cold blood only by tech geeks, travel agents were king.
They were the essential port of call for most prospective travellers.
“Agents provided strong value and advice. They were the link between the industry and customers, the experts – the people’s people,” Fadi says.
Over the years, the link broke.
“To compete and expand to meet increased numbers, airlines had to cut costs – shrinking seat sizes, cutting meals, who knows – they may eventually charge us to use the toilets,” says Fadi, who spent 25 years as a commercial executive for airlines, airline solution providers, and regional organisations.
“The cost of distribution for airlines is significant including the IT connecting them to agents, and airlines tried to move away from intermediaries to save money.
Journey Mentor Benefits for Agents
- No implementation fee
- Low operational costs
- Unique eCommerce platform
- New revenue streams
- Sub agency network management
- Unlimited integrations
- Proprietary bundling capabilities
- Loyalty management
- Supplier inventory management
- Personalisation
- Parallel search
- SWAPR technology
- Unique decision support tool
“At the same time, passengers became more tech and product savvy. People required more personalised services. Whatever they want now, they perceive someone out there will supply it.”
This left agents out in the cold, and hard-pressed to compete.
The roster of bankruptcies in the UK alone is sobering, Thomas Cook1 (on the British high street for 178 years) in 2019, Shearings Holidays, Monarch and other big names included2.
The biggest were bought out and became online-only. Thousands of smaller agencies around the world continue to struggle, without that luxury.
“I know of one European agency that spent €200,000 building an agency and then abandoned it – it was all too much to keep up and manage,” Fadi says.
“We don’t do websites”
Journey Mentor is the leading Software as a Service (SaaS) travel technology company dedicated to empowering providers within the travel industry – travel agents, in this case – to upgrade their legacy systems and adapt to changing consumer preferences.
“We don’t design websites,” Fadi says, clarifying a misconception. “Agents often think we do but that’s not what we’re about.”
Instead, Journey Mentor’s tailored products for agents – Trip Mentor, Agent Mentor, Loyalty Mentor and Supplier Mentor – enable agents to compete better and to offer the sort of deals that build customer loyalty.
Fully-integrable with agents’ own systems, the products don’t rely on GDS or other expensive networks.
A unique eCommerce platform enables proprietary bundling, and all-under-one-roof booking, for improved customer (and agent!) satisfaction.
“Agents no longer have to juggle between different sites to book flights, hotels and other services. It’s more convenient for travellers and less time-consuming for agents,” Fadi says.
“Our integrable loyalty system rewards customers for every single purchase, fostering loyalty to the agent not individual brands.”
Journey Mentor continues to search deals even after a customer has booked and paid. If a customer chooses to swap to a better deal, both they and the agent are rewarded.
Personalisation lets agents craft better customer deals offering not just the cheapest but the best-matched all-round to an individual.
The ability to suggest additional services based on a customer’s weighted preferences can also generate extra revenue.
Agents have access to Journey Mentor’s unlimited inventory of suppliers for wider choices for customers. Smaller, local suppliers, maybe offering experiences trends indicate today’s customers want, aren’t squeezed out by high commission and won’t need to pass the cost on to consumers.
Journey Mentor also features a decision-support tool based on dynamic availability that determines the prices to beat, for improved decision-making.
‘Like trying to boil the ocean’
“Many travel agents are limited by technology and lack of access to be able to personalise experiences,” says Fadi. “Some agents try to build their own online tech platforms bringing together content and aggregators.
“It’s like trying to boil the ocean. It requires time, knowledge and investment. You’re an agent trying to become an IT, connectivity and tech expert.”
There’s a kind of Bermuda triangle – agents who do not always understand IT trying to explain to IT people who do not understand travel, while the customer may be lost without trace.
Normally, he says, agents see three big problems: cost, outreach and need for more content. “They see three blocks of separate solutions.”
Journey Mentor sees one solution, supplying the time, the know-how and the investment.
“Instead of bringing you the phone, fax and answering machine, we bring you the metaphorical smartphone,” he says.
‘Instead of the phone, fax and answering machine, we bring you the metaphorical smartphone’
IT doesn’t have to cost the earth
“I met an agent in the EMEA region. He told me they were due to launch their site at the beginning of the following year. I said: “Do you realise we could have done it for you in nine to 12 weeks?” His face changed,” Fadi says.
“Then I explained we could still help – even with what he had already done, Journey Mentor could still do it quicker and cheaper.”
Journey Mentor’s business is building the technology around the agent.
“If you have the skin already, we’ll be your glove. If you don’t yet have the skin, we’ll be your skin.”
Journey Mentor provides the software, the content and the investment. Its flexible, three-tier payment model means agents only start paying when they start making money.
Not only does Journey Mentor save agents money, and facilitates positive relationships with customers, it helps open new sources of revenue. What’s not to like?
It all sounds incredibly simple compared to how the industry usually does business – but ever so slightly mind-blowing!
1 The History Of Thomas Cook – 178 Years Of Travel (simpleflying.com)
2 List of Holiday Companies that have gone Bust: 2019 – Present – Start Travel
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