TCpro, developed in close cooperation with travel IT specialist Peakwork, enables search and booking of both holiday packages and hotel-only offers across all Thomas Cook Group tour operators.
OBERURSEL / DUSSELDORF – Thomas Cook is bringing an innovative new distribution system for travel agents, "TCpro", to German travel agencies. TCpro, developed in close cooperation with travel IT specialist Peakwork, enables search and booking of both holiday packages and hotel-only offers across all Thomas Cook Group tour operators. Following the successful introduction of the solution in Eastern Europe, tests are now being rolled out to the Group’s own travel agencies as well as franchise offices in Germany.
TCpro is optimized as a B2B consulting and booking solution for the sale of Thomas Cook products in travel agencies. While customers already visit travel websites and agencies online, travel agents have access to a high-performance B2B solution to remain the experts in the vacation booking consultation process. Therefore, the tour operator provides points of sales with the best possible features so travel agents can optimally advise, focus on and present the exclusive advantages of Thomas Cook products. The fundamental element of this powerful solution is the mapping and search capability across the entire Group’s product range, using product properties that are extensively maintained as GlobalTypes. Thomas Cook has spent years collecting and expanding product data and global types. For the first time, these can be completely mapped and displayed in the new distribution system. Search functionalities are considerably improved and the order of displayed offers, which correspond to the customer’s search criteria, is significantly optimized with regard to the customer's request. In addition, there is a focus on up- and cros-sell functionalities. Parameters such as departure airport, room type, meals and more can be easily adjusted. This new solution clearly pursues a value-oriented approach in contrast to often price-oriented approaches of multi-operator advisory systems.
Carlton Woestmann, Head of IT Data Management & Dynamic Packaging and Product Owner of TCpro at Thomas Cook GmbH, explained: "TCpro uses the Peakwork Player technology in the search process. With this, we are able to present our constantly growing product portfolio, which is completely, up-to-date and with excellent search options. It is crucial that TCpro is completely geared towards the specifics of Thomas Cook products, which means we can offer completely new services that are not available in any other distribution system today; whether in the selection of alternative flights, room types or meals."
Jan Gerlach, CEO of Peakwork, confirmed: "Thomas Cook was extremely committed to maintaining the product data and the criteria of GlobalTypes at a very early stage. TCpro is based on this and offers new functionalities that make the solution extremely valuable in daily use. Thomas Cook is clearly positioning itself as a quality tour operator in all continental markets."
Via an interface to the internal reservation system, Nurvis, Thomas Cook offers can be booked directly with the tour operator. Other price comparison tools for travel agents will also be able to use the booking functionality for Thomas Cook products via TCpro in the future.
In addition to package tours and hotel offers, travel insurance can also be booked directly. Selected offers can be placed in a notepad and sent to end customers in different languages where optional bookings and cancellations are possible. The Travel Package Directive compliant consultation process is fully supported and the booking can be easily managed.
The software has already been successfully used and tested internationally: In the Czech Republic about 800 Thomas Cook travel agencies have been using TCpro for about a year, and in Hungary the software has been in travel agencies for around 6 months. After the German market, the other distribution markets of Thomas Cook will deploy the new solution, including Switzerland, Austria, France, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Peakwork recognised both the the long-term and strategically planned use of resources at both companies to develop this innovative international solution. As a result, it honored this successful project at Peakwork Partner Connect in May 2019 with the Peakwork Best Practice Award. Peakwork Partner Connect is a Peakwork Networking event, where worldwide travel experts meet annually in Dusseldorf.
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