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Magellan has the HOTS for payment transparency
NEW retail travel chain, Magellan Travel Group, will use information from BSP handoff tapes (HOTS) to deliver a key facet of its business model – complete transparency in reporting the payments it makes to agents.
Andrew Jones (Andrew Jones Travel, Tasmania), Kevin Dale (National Network Travel, Melbourne) and Trevor Jones (Hawthorn Travel, Melbourne) have finally confi rmed they plan to form a new travel group, structured as a unit trust, under the Magellan banner. And Russell Carstensen, the former managing director of Concorde International Travel who has been appointed as Magellan’s general manager, is promising member agents they will get detailed breakdowns of their override payments ensuring they “will know precisely what their cheque is for and they will be able to audit that at any time”.
He has worked with consultant Rodney Robson, a former senior Qantas executive, to develop a technology platform based on soft ware developed by Sanjay Shenoy’s Ticketech Solutions. Robson says the Ticketech software uses HOTS data – essentially the same data and processes employed by the airlines for fare pro-rating – to provide an “awesome” flown revenue management system.
The technology is already in use by a number of major travel agents and consolidators but Carstensen and Robson believe Magellan is the fi rst to use it to give individual outlets a detailed breakdown of override payments. Carstensen says the system will not only supply agents with detailed information, it will provide data with which he can “go into bat” with airlines on behalf of agents who dispute the accuracy of payments they receive.
■ This month’s Inside Story reports fully on what the founding agents plan for Magellan – and why. Pages 23-25."
- from Travel Bulletin April 2008 Click here for full article (275KB)