Social Media and Marketing

In-Depth: Interview with Jason Hancock, senior director, Travelport GDSIt was in March this year when Travelport chose to introduce an online networking tool for the travel agent community.

Published: 19 Aug 2010

In-Depth: Interview with Jason Hancock, senior director, Travelport GDS

It was in March this year when Travelport chose to introduce an online networking tool for the travel agent community.

The new tool, Travelport Opinions, empowers agents to interact and share knowledge and reviews among peers. It is accessed online through peer invitations or by requesting an invite.

Since its launch in the UK, Travelport Opinions has benefited from a steady growth in membership, now at approximately 6,500 users around the world, says Jason Hancock, senior director, Travelport GDS.

Hancock, who is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming two-day Online Marketing and Social Media Strategies for Travel Summit Europe 2010 (5-6, October) to be held in Prague, spoke about the company’s tool, its utility and social media marketing in the B2B environment. Excerpts:

Can you provide an insight into what the GDSs are doing in order to integrate user-generated content into travel management systems?

Jason Hancock:

As user-generated content and discussions are increasingly important in the online arena, we are continually investigating avenues where we are able to integrate agents’ input.

In March this year, we launched ‘Travelport Opinions’ in the UK - an online networking tool for the travel agent community which empowers agents to interact and share knowledge and accommodation reviews among peers. Travelport Opinions provides a platform which connects travel agencies and draws on their wealth of travel knowledge and experience worldwide. Using the tool, users are able to create and search hotel reviews, pose questions to destination experts and access a wealth of hotel related media, including over 110,000 photos and 2,500 videos, all within a user-friendly, personalised interface. The tool also includes a private email system and the ability to follow and track updates on specified hotels.

Travelport Opinions is accessed online through peer invitations or by requesting an invite. Users can then set-up their profile and start interacting with fellow agents. Importantly, Travelport Opinions is not restricted to Travelport customers and is able to benefit the global travel agent community at large. To illustrate this, in France, where the website was first beta-tested, almost one third of connected agents are non-Travelport GDS users.

Since its launch in the UK, Travelport Opinions has benefited from a steady growth in membership, now at approximately 6,500 users around the world. Agents have said that Travelport Opinions is a trusted resource where they can rely on the expertise from like-minded agents, post travel experiences and where hotel reviews are likely to be more trustworthy. In this way Travelport Opinions presents a good example of how user-generated content is being used in the B2B space to enrich the service agents are able to deliver.

How can one make the best use of social media in B2B arena, be it for disseminating knowledge about trends/ relevant issues affecting the travel distribution landscape, for promoting offers etc.? Are various such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, company blogs etc being used to connect with B2B partners in a cohesive manner?

Jason Hancock:

We firmly believe that social networking channels can play a useful role in the business-to-business environment, but you have to guard against being distracted by the glamour and excitement associated with more mainstream social media. Travelport Opinions is a great example – it takes many of the capabilities and features that you might find in a consumer-focused networking environment, but tailors them to the specific needs of a discrete professional community. In this case, travel agents. So my advice would be to think carefully about the requirements of your specific audience and then build/use networking tools to address them – take the laser-focused approach rather than mass marketing.

What can one learn from B2C social media marketing in the B2B arena? Which according to you is the best approach to using social media to find and communicate with new partners/agents?

Jason Hancock:

To answer the two above questions, it is first important to make a clear distinction between the two types of ‘social’ networks. The first is the open network, examples of which include Linked-In and Facebook, which allows anybody to log on and use the site. Open networks rely on membership scale and, once registered, users create their own sub-network of contacts with similar interests within the site. The second type of networks is closed networks; these have controlled or restricted membership criteria and tend to be designed with a particular sort of user in mind.

B2C companies in recent times have tended to be focused on marketing strategies that seek to utilise open networks as a means of engaging with prospective customers. These strategies are being mirrored in the B2B marketing realm and the question now is less about whether social media is appropriate, and more about how it is appropriately used. Never underestimate the level of “ownership” and involvement that users establish with “their” social media channels. Listen to them, consult with them and adopt a policy of complete transparency and mutual respect. Just as in the B2C arena, the most successful B2B networking sites are ones that are sustained by the interest and engagement of the community of users.

Conversely, our recent launch of Travelport Opinions is an example of a closed network. Travelport Opinions brings together a captive audience of travel agents and tour operator professionals who benefit from a shared-knowledge forum in a business context.

Travelport views both open and closed social media channels as standalone and beneficial in their own right.

How have agents or travel suppliers have participated in the B2B social media marketing efforts by GDSs?

Jason Hancock:

In terms of our professional networking site, we have seen travel agents embrace Travelport Opinions in a relatively short space of time by reading and contributing towards hotel and B&B reviews; asking questions on community forums; finding destination experts by using the site’s ‘expert locator’ and accessing the rich hotel media available to agents. We are now witnessing an exponential increase in travel agent collaboration on a global scale on the site and we continually adapt the product so that it provides a truly enriching collaborative platform and database which assists travel agents in their daily jobs.

Online Marketing and Social Media Strategies for Travel Summit Europe 2010

Jason Hancock, senior director, Travelport GDS, is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming two-day Online Marketing and Social Media Strategies for Travel Summit Europe 2010 (5-6, October) to be held in Prague.

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Gina Baillie
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EyeforTravel
London, UK: +44 (0)207 375 7197
gina@eyefortravel.com