It believes it is one of the first nationally to offer two desktop systems, Quality Agent and Voyager, for its clients to book flights, hotel rooms and rental cars from their PCs. Quality Agent, which operates via e-mail, enables travelers to check for the lowest obtainable airfares to match their itineraries, and to submit detailed travel plans to agents for processing. Virtually eliminated are the numerous phone calls between traveler and agent to discuss options. Voyager, an Internet software product from TravelNet, is a fairly sophisticated travel management system that bypasses travel agents. It allows corporate travel managers direct access to airline schedules and reservation systems, as well as to a selection of hotels and cars from the clients' own preferred suppliers.
Agents then review the tentative arrangements for accuracy and quality control.
As this is written, the Seattle-based company's reservation homepage is still under construction. Beyond Quality Agent and Voyager are numerous self-service travel programs, such as Microsoft's Expedia, that are available through the Internet but have yet to be widely utilized. But I'm bullish about our agency's role in the future. Its clients include Nintendo, Starwave and Asymetrix. We have them available to us, we just don't have them deployed. . . .