Announcements

TourConnect is excited to announce our newest feature aimed at making it easier for group tour operators to manage rates for their groups.  Following the success of our rate management tool for static rates, our Group Quoting Tool provides a streamlined process for getting quotes/bids from hotels and day tours for group travel.

As the first release of this tool, our goal was to provide 4 specific capabilities:

1. Clear, concise tracking of every request sent to suppliers for rates
2. The ability to capture all conversations/negotiations for each request/quote/bid
3. Consistent format and data for every quote/bid
4. Easy access to the final rates and history of a quote/bid for an entire team

The capabilities we focused on have 3 key benefits:

1. Cut down on general inefficient communications/processes that drive up costs
2. Minimize errors that cut into profits
3. Give the power to get additional quotes for more competitive offerings

We are excited about the opportunity to help transform the group touring portion of the tourism industry.

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In our continued mission to change the travel industry, we’ve received the support of many key Inbound Tour Operators for New Zealand. They’ve come together in support of TourConnect’s effort to standardize rate exchanges between suppliers and buyers. We greatly appreciate the support and are humbled by the value they see in what we have created. This is their letter to their suppliers –

To Our New Zealand Suppliers —

We are the inbound tour operators that sell your products, and this year, we are joining together to ask that all 2018-2019 rates be sent to us using TourConnect.

Among other things, TourConnect is a service that will allow you to enter your rates in a universal format that everyone in the travel industry can use. Using TourConnect for your rates will ensure that your rates are complete, and in a format that makes it easy for your products to be loaded, and ultimately sold.

You will still have control over the commissions you wish to give, and there is a free option to send your rates to all of your partners. TourConnect can even store your rates from year to year, so you’ll never have to load them from scratch again.

While your 2018-2019 rates may not be ready yet, we recommend creating a free account now. If you have any questions, TourConnect will be happy to assist.

We believe that TourConnect is beneficial to all of us in the industry. We understand that sending rates in a new method may have some challenges, but we’re trying to improve the way we all communicate and do business so we can all forever get rid of lengthy, manual contract forms.

We appreciate you joining the effort and look forward to selling your great products in the future.

Your product managers,

– Scott Mehrtens – General Manager, Leisure Time Travel
– Katie Hill – Rates/FX Strategist, Australia One
– Graziella Caruso – Product & Business Development Manager, Goway Travel
– Kumar Swaminathan – Managing Director, XperieNZ
– Alberto Rezende – Director, OPS Travel
– Ezequiel Nunez – Director, Pacific Travel Planners

You’ll have a role in shaping the future of TourConnect.
We’re a young start-up with a team of 9, including 3 engineers, so we’re not looking for a big-company engineering manager. We need someone that’s passionate about solving complex problems, and fired up to design, build, and deploy great solutions. You should be ready to roll up your sleeves and provide technical leadership to a small engineering team. Read More