As part of its ongoing strategy to dramatically reduce the number of
holidays it has left to sell in the lates market,  MyTravel

has joined forces
with Comtec

to roll out its leading agency management system TravelCat and
leading agency selling system EasySell across its entire UK agency network.

The company`s call centres will go live with the systems in December, with
the rest of its agency chain switching over in spring 2003.

The agreement between MyTravel and Comtec - the retail travel industry`s
leading software provider - will see the group`s call centres and 648 retail
stores adopt TravelCat as its agency management system. TravelCat is the
UK`s top agency management solution with now over 14,000 agency-users
connected.

In addition, MyTravel has chosen Comtec`s EasySell, the multi tour operator
search and booking system which dramatically reduces holiday booking times
by enabling agents to make simultaneous searches of stored and live holiday
data from tour operator reservations systems, based on criteria including
destination, price and supplier.

The decision to take both systems means bookings made through EasySell will
automatically pass to TravelCat, significantly reducing administration times
by removing the need for re-keying reservations data between systems.

EasySell, which searches both late and full-season holiday availability,
will be integrated within MyTravel`s new point of sale system, used by over
6000 users across the group`s retail network.

Steve Endacott, MyTravel`s managing director of distribution and charter
tour operating, said: “TravelCat and EasySell have a proven track record of
success. By allowing all our availability to be summarised in an easily
accessible format, we expect this latest technology to give us a strong
commercial advantage in the price-conscious early booking market and improve
flexibility as we enter the lates market.

“We intend to work closely with Comtec on a number of exclusive projects to
further enhance the system and tailor it to our long term requirements.”

Simon Powell, chief executive at Comtec commented: “MyTravel has decided to
take EasySell and TravelCat because they are at the leading-edge of agency
technology and are shaping the entire retail travel industry.

“For us, taking both EasySell and TravelCat right across MyTravel`s entire
retail base and into its call centres is a great double for Comtec, and it
will add thousands of customers to our installed base. In the last year
alone, several top groups have embraced our integrated booking and
management solutions. We are now seeing significant further new business
prospects with the independent agency segment and additional opportunities
at the top end of the retail sector. MyTravel`s decision confirms our
position as the industry`s leading one-stop technology shop for agents of
all sizes.”

According to MyTravel, a key factor behind its decision to adopt TravelCat
was its ability to reduce administration times by streamlining processes
across the group. The company says it chose EasySell for the system`s
productivity-enhancing functionality and customer service focus, its ability
to integrate the solution within its existing point of sale system, and the
system`s proven ability to handle high volumes of transactions.

Related stories on ITN:

(10/12/2002) Comtec Launches Money Saving System for Agents

(30/10/2002) Comtec and Datalex Join Forces to Revolutionise Flight Sales

(25/09/2002) First Choice Signs Irish Deal with Comtec

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