OTA: Customer Service Is Our Competitive Edge

Fareportal, the travel technology company behind CheapOair.com and OneTravel.com, is hyping its personal service for travelers as part of a bid to beat out its big name online competitors.

“We believe in customer interaction. We can’t hide behind the website,” said Werner Georg Kunz, Fareportal’s chief operating officer.

Kunz said the firm’s customer service focus differentiates it from competing OTAs, although in recent years all the major OTAs have expanded their customer service and support options.

Kunz spoke at a press briefing in New York where the firm announced a marketing campaign designed to improve awareness of its two brands and compete more effectively against the giant OTAs – Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline. The marketing campaign will include a coordinated effort to establish brand identity through partnerships, promotions and media outreach.

Fifth-largest OTA
Launched in 2006, Fareportal’s flagship brand CheapOair focuses on low-price air travel, although it also books hotels, car rentals and vacation packages.

OneTravel books “value-driven deals” for discounted flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals and vacation packages.

According to Fareportal, CheapOAir’s $2.7 billion in annual bookings make it the fifth-largest OTA.  

Complex travel
Kunz said that Fareportal’s OTAs have a stronger focus on their call centers than the competition.

“The majority of bookings are for complex, multi-carrier international travel. We provide specially crafted itineraries.”

He noted that the firms’ phone numbers are prominently displayed on every web page of their sites, adding, “Those are hard to find on our competitors’ sites.” Both CheapOair.com and OneTravel.com are adding more live agents.

About one-quarter of CheapOair bookings are made through its call center, while more than two-thirds of bookings are made online, according to the firm.

Multiplatform approach
Fareportal also seeks to differentiate itself by servicing travelers across communications platforms, including online, phone, mobile, text, email and chat.

That makes its sites unique in their approach to online booking, Kunz said.

Mobile is the firm’s fastest-growing booking channel, and developing its mobile options is a priority, executives said. In 2011, Fareportal launched the CheapOair mobile app.

In two to three years, mobile will be the predominant way bookings are made, Kunz predicted.

Global expansion
Fareportal is also focused on expanding internationally. In 2011, it launched CheapOAir.ca in Canada and CheapOair.co.uk in the U.K.

It has launched a Spanish-language version of the U.S. site, both for the Hispanic market here and for the Mexico market. The firm is considering expanding to Spain next.

In response to a reporter’s question about Fareportal and travel agents, an executive said that it might someday work directly with traditional travel sellers.

“As some agents’ business gets bigger, there might be an intersection where we provide some of our services to them in the future,” said chief supplier relations officer Mark Drusch. “But that’s not a significant part of our plan now.”

About Fareportal
Headquartered in New York, Fareportal has more than 2,000 employees, with offices in Las Vegas, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, London and New Dehli. The company is privately held. It does not outsource any of its operations, executives noted.

Fareportal deals with 450 airlines and has contracts with 290 of them. The contracts include negotiated fares often targeted to specific time frames and available only through Fareportal, Drusch said.