Last week, Travel Leaders Network (TLN) began rolling out Internova SNAP to its members in the U.S. SNAP is a co-branded version of Sabre Red Launchpad, which Sabre developed with TLN parent company Internova Travel Group (No. 11 on Travel Weekly's Power List). The product is designed to give advisors a GDS interface that is easier to use than Sabre Red 360, enabling newer advisors and non-GDS users to make basic air, car and hotel bookings. Internova is especially targeting advisors who don't currently book air, positioning SNAP as a booking engine that can open a new revenue stream and clearly labeling air options that pay commission. Senior editor Jamie Biesiada spoke with Lindsay Pearlman, senior vice president at TLN, and Seth Burton, Internova's vice president of distribution and advisor workflow, about the program.
Q: Who is the ideal user you're targeting with SNAP?
LP: I guess a lot of that answer depends on what day it is, because things are changing so rapidly. I think in general terms, for the way it's set up and it looks today, this is perfect for the independent contractor who doesn't do air bookings, who really wants to look for additional revenue streams and is looking for a way to make a better percentage commission. It's great for leisure agencies that don't really like to dabble in air very much because of the fear of debit memos, the complexity of air bookings, all of that stuff.
"Easy" is time consuming and expensive to create; we've spent a lot of time and money making this easy for agents to use.
Lindsay Pearlman
Q: What agencies aren't really within SNAP's target market?
LP: Probably the sophisticated corporate agency that really needs a lot more. They're already working off of the GDS. They are comfortable with native GDS. This is great for those new to the business, so they don't have to learn native GDS. It gives them a comprehensive tool. And the neat thing about SNAP for us is that this system is not just a tool. This system is fully integrated into Travel Leaders. It's our product services, it supports our preferred partners, it adds another distribution channel for them -- and it's easy to use for the end user.
Seth Burton
Q: You mentioned debit memos. Does SNAP help reduce an agency's risk of getting hit with one?
SB: It sure does, just because of our sophisticated midoffice solution. We do fraud checks. We do duplication checks. We have the ability to see, for instance, is this a scenario where they could be getting a debit memo? And we're able to greatly reduce the chance of a debit memo.
Most debit memos in my experience are due to some kind of a ticketing-related error or claiming the wrong commission; things like that. We've taken all of that off of the advisors.
An example of possible debit memos would be more about the same thing being booked over and over again, for the same person. That scenario is hard to catch, although we try to catch that and things like that. There are still slim risks of that kind of a scenario happening, but the vast majority of those scenarios are just completely off the table now.
Q: You worked with a group of agents when you were developing this iteration of SNAP. What kind of feedback did you get?
SB: "This is my go-to. I will not use another tool. I will not use X tool that I'm using now because of this tool." That feedback has been really encouraging; having that open channel of communication during this time, they've really helped us prepare to go to market with this product in the vast network that we have.