Joystar's new VacationCompare also serves as a customer acquisition tool

BY KATE RICE

Joystar's VacationCompare.com consumer website might look like some-thing that commoditizes complex leisure travel. Consumers go to the website and request bids for vacations, and agents compete for those customers. But it's re­ally a low-cost customer acquisition tool and a travel marketplace that matches consumers and travel agents, accord­ing to Joystar CEO William Alverson. who compares it to LendingTree,com, .t we kite for consumers shopping for home loans.

VacationCompare.com also is open not just to Joystar agents hut to all travel agents. Alverson points out that more than 60 million Americans use the Internet to research travel. While online bookings for simple products such as air, car rental and hotel are growing, only 10 to 15 percent of com­plex travel—cruises, vacation packag­es and group travel—is hooked online. Consumers initiate that shopping pro­cess online but complete it offline.

VacationCompare is designed to capture consumers when they begin that process. When they reach the point where they need to talk to human be­ings, it delivers them into the hands of professional agents. In turn, those agents get pre-qualified clients who have done much of their initial shopping online and therefore are somewhat more knowl­edgeable about the vacations they want. Customers also get the speed and vast resources of the Internet during their initial travel search and the advice of a professional as they fine-tune the details, according to Alverson.

Agents pay for the service only when they land customers. They pay a VacationCompare "success" fee of 2.5 percent of the commissionable volume of the trip. Akerson says that offers a much better return on agents' invest­ments, compared with the cost of print advertising or cost-per-click Internet ad­vertising—money agents lay out before ever getting a hooking.

During VacationCompare's beta testing, top Joystar agents answered as many as 100 leads a day. Responding im­mediately to a lead is important. accord­ing to Akerson. Agencies that are prof­iting with the service are focusing on it, essentially keeping the VacationCompare screen open all day with assistants re­sponding to leads and agents taking the customer service calls.

It's a self-filtering process. Agents respond to leads for the suppliers or des­tinations that are their specialties. Their knowledge of such specialties allows them to deliver quotes quickly.

Joystar's VacationCompare also acts as a lead generator for agents.   "Our top agents are responding to a lead in two to three minutes." - WILLIAM ALVERSON

 A consumer can leave a request for quotes open for as long as he or she wants. When the customer accepts a quote and the agent makes the booking, the lead is closed.

Joystar enhanced the site in late February, adopting the Revelex shopping tour to create a better user experience for consumers and better leads for agents. Agents can see exactly what customers are shopping for in a glance, rather than spending hours on the phone with them while they figure out what they want.

For example, Alverson says, "They know it's the Carnival Conquest sailing June 6, with two adults and two kids, one kid is an infant, and one of the adults is over 55." If there's a past passenger number. the agent has it. he adds.

"So, not only do you not have to pay the incredible cost associated with advertising, you don't have to do any of the research," he says. "You have the perfect lead handed to you on a gold platter. Our top agents are responding to a lead in two to three minutes. It's a very efficient customer acquisition tool."

There are also upselling and cross-selling opportunities, and there may well be other travelers interested in joining the initial traveler on the trip. "You might build a lifetime customer," Alverson says, adding that agents who don't want to discount don't have to use the program.

VacationCompare won't allow agents to violate any supplier rules. If a cruise line forbids discounting, agents cannot use VacationCompare to (dodge that rule, for example.

Future plans include matching agents who are qualified by training, experience or other criteria to handle certain bookings. "Say we have a Mexico cruise and scuba request, but the person speaks Russian," Alverson says. "We're literally going to he in the position to match that consumer to a Mexico cruise agent with a scuba niche who speaks Russian."

VacationCompare.com also plans to launch an affiliate program to help drive qualified traffic to its marketplace. And it will also offer private-label and co-branded versions of its leisure travel comparison tool to super affiliate, and other high-traffic websites.