The travel industry is going through a transformation. Holidaymakers are looking for quick, efficient ways to book their next getaway and it’s never been more important for travel companies’ technology to be up to scratch.
Flashback to January 2020, and Ocean Holidays’ peak period is fast approaching. Following the collapse of Thomas Cook, tens of thousands of holidaymakers were looking to rebook their holidays. But if Ocean Holidays continued to use its old-fashioned telephony system, much of this extra demand would go unmet.
The company didn’t have an online booking function due to the high value and complex nature of its service. Instead, the website was set up to collect customers’ contact details so that an agent could then pick up the phone and discuss details with the interested customer, offering that all-important personal service. However, for a business relying on phone calls, Ocean Holidays was being let down by its unreliable telephony solution, which simply wasn’t fit for purpose as it couldn’t fully support the highly specialised CRM system in place.
The Ocean Holidays team had lost trust in technology providers thanks to potential vendors making big promises they just couldn’t keep. Finding a provider that would deliver a telephony solution that would fit with their CRM system was proving tricky, and when they spoke to us, we were tasked with creating a solution that would enable them to install an upgraded system that was fast, problem-free and would result in no downtime. In addition, the system had to be completely customisable and fit with their CRM system, resulting in:
- Increased efficiency
- Improved customer experience
- Greater productivity
Upgraded installation in no time, without downtime
As Ocean Holidays is four businesses in one, the system would have to be customised in four different ways. It was our goal to mix and blend services to create a bespoke, scalable service solution.
We conducted an onsite audit before implementing a two-phase approach. Phase one migrated Ocean Holidays to a reliable hosted telephony system. During phase two, we mirrored the travel company’s CRM function with a blend of technology, providing the customisation that the businesses needed to succeed. This included comprehensive reporting, analytics, live wallboards, always-on call recording and desktop performance enhancers such as click-to-dial.
Record-breaking results
Following the upgrade, Ocean Holidays reported its best January sales to date. The new system also resulted in higher conversion rates and customer retention through improved customer experience.
The journey out of lockdown is in full swing and summer is just around the corner; now is the time to get your travel business ready for the impending bookings boom.
