Interview with Zuji's Roshan MendisThe focus of dynamic packages is shifting from selling distressed inventory to augmenting RevPar during foreseeable periods of low occupancy.

Published: 11 Jun 2008

Interview with Zuji's Roshan Mendis

The focus of dynamic packages is shifting from selling distressed inventory to augmenting RevPar during foreseeable periods of low occupancy.

By pre-empting lack of occupancy in periods of low demand via dynamic packaging, hotels have less of distressed inventory to worry about closer to the date of arrival.

From an online travel agency's perspective, Zuji's Director of Supplier Relations and Partnerships Roshan Mendis says OTAs like Zuji, and the net rate hotel programme its hotel partners use, is helping to redefine the way hotels manage their inventory – in a similar way to how the airline industry embraced inventory systems some years back.

"No longer does the industry rely on distressed inventory – which is really a phenomena created as a result of poor marketing, poor planning or a post-crisis vacancy problem," Mendis told EyeforTravel.com's Ritesh Gupta.

"The fundamentals of protecting the brand and price the airline or hotel offers an online travel agent disappears in an opaque pricing model (i.e.: dynamic packaging or for that matter fixed packaging). Dynamic packaging does not rely on distressed inventory, but it certainly remains useful for distressed inventory. The technology is absolutely ideal to help hotels and airlines manage off-peak, early bird and low season travel," he added.

Mendis also spoke about system requirements or technology due to which there is a striking change in the manner in which travel is distributed and dynamic packaging functionality. Excerpts:

Ritesh Gupta: Dynamic packaging has empowered the customers to make well researched and personalised choices by matching multiple product types such as air travel, hotel stay, car rental etc and determine which combination suits them best. Could you share info on what sort of improvements have you witnessed in system requirements or technology due to which there is a striking change in the manner in which travel is distributed?

Roshan Mendis: The technology and logic systems allowing dynamic packaging functionality, which offers many different airline choices and hotel choices, is incredibly complex.

It represents and evolution and innovation in online travel whereby people can control their travel planning and budgets, choose the right schedules, hotel types and locations for their needs. And there are often great savings to be gained by booking a hotel and airline together. From a logistics point of view, dynamic packaging offers a single check-out path flow, which is also good news for customers. This approach replaces the need for a shopping basket, or multiple bookings.

One technological advance we offer in Australia is that, due to enhanced cross-sell features throughout a booking, we can move a customer seamlessly from an individual product purchase (say an airline ticket) into a dynamic packaging environment if they opt to add in a hotel booking.

Ritesh Gupta: Last year an OTA executive told me technology enabling dynamic packaging may be developed by an increasingly broad range of online travel vendors, differentiation over and above this leading to a strong competitive position has to be built and protected. He mentioned that travel players need to become expert in both the transactional and media businesses. How do you think OTAs have progressed in this regard?

Roshan Mendis: It's a big question. At Zuji was are focused first and foremost on developing tools for customers which inspire travel and champion great customer experiences on our sites in Asia Pacific.

In a competitive and evolving online travel landscape, dynamic packaging functionality has become an essential development of the services to customers. Above and beyond the technical level, trust and confidence in the brand people trust to book their trip is arguably the most important element in a high value, emotional travel decision.

Zuji is at the forefront of evolving the online travel model in Asia Pacific. Since start up, we have continually seen the value of being a highly automated online travel agent, with huge scale across the region, but with local teams and sites creating the type of travel choices that locals look for.

Apart from our B2C business, we have a thriving B2B business through our travel partner network division, which allows third party sites to access our tools and inventory for hotels, airfare, and even dynamic packaging.

We certainly see advertising and creative media and other partnerships (such as the Zuji prefers Visa) as an important revenue stream. Ahead, who knows..? We are always open to ideas, and to reinventing and innovating our business and sites to meet a fast changing and highly competitive online travel landscape, and meet and exceed the needs of an incredibly net savvy and well travelled audiences