PRODUCTS & SERVICES

LUTE for Leisure Travel

Tour Operators, Consolidators and Wholesalers, Agency Networks and Franchises
The search for the best value and lowest cost has driven the consumer to increasing the level of competition. The traditional notion of a travel agent as a passive sales channel is now but a distant memory. Today’s smart Leisure intermediary is embarking on a role that has rarely been seen in Travel – he is becoming a true marketer and merchandising expert. No matter where you sit in the distribution value chain – the ability to merchandise and differentiate the product has never been more necessary.
Leisure providers have seen their market radically change from a simplistic reseller to a highly sophisticated provider of different content types – bundled (packaged) and unbundled.
The breadth of products and services available has now changed the way Leisure products are provided. The high quality of content and the use of Social Media in the searching and buying process is almost ubiquitous. LUTE’s platform enables the seller to create their own products which are unique. Bundling the traditional air, sleep or package components with specific services unique to that seller. With the growth of Ancillary Services from airlines and now other travel providers, supply chain management tools are critical to the success of a company.
Unlike TMCs and CTDs the Leisure distributers have not developed as many tools to their customers. As a result the big OTAs have captured a very large slice of the distribution pie. Today’s advanced Leisure companies have to develop and deploy a wide range of solutions with unique access to private content – fares as well as availability. LUTE is a provider of low-cost distribution technology with which provides access to superior content from multiple sources.

Total Content Access
The LUTE Open Office Platform is a middleware solution that enables Leisure distributers to access content from virtually any travel data source, including:

• Farelogix direct connections to supplier host reservation systems
• Multiple GDS systems
• Private fare databases
• LCC hosts
• Independent pricing engines including SITA and ITA QPX
• Supplier websites
• Online inventory

All content is normalized and standardized, simplifying the process of dynamic multi-source management. Individual service providers can chose to take the complete platform or access only specific LUTE provided content. LUTE users and customers have full control over which content sources they elect to use, as well as how the data is presented at the point of sale.
Reservations booked through the LUTE platform are stored within the respective source system, as well as within the FLX Master Itinerary PNR database. The data is subsequently available for back office reporting using the Farelogix back office interface (MIR-FLX).

Sourcing & Channel Optimization
LUTE provides a master tool to manage distribution. Using our DM – Distribution Manager tool, Intermediaries have full control over which content sources are accessed for searching, shopping and booking, as well as what other customer-defined rules should be applied and under what conditions. With the explosion of Low Cost and Hybrid airlines access to multiple sources is not a luxury or an option – it is a must have.
There is no limit to the amount of user-defined rules (XML and server-side java script) that can be used to preference or otherwise customize requests to/responses and from travel sources.

The Intermediary determines which sources and rules are applied and under what conditions, and/or for which customer segments, channels or corporate clients. Sourcing and business logic may even be defined for multiple relationships such as individual agencies and indeed non-IATA sub agent level if needed. In this way, DM not only facilitates management of contractual relationships for the Leisure distributer, but also allows for unprecedented levels of content and channel optimization.

Access from anywhere
LUTE provides a family of Leisure distribution tools. With many wholesalers and aggregators now offering unique contracts to selected groups, extranets and closed user groups are now critically important to differentiate one’s products and services.  Innovative distributors of the Leisure products can choose which reservation and productivity tool sits ‘on top’ of the underlying platform. The data processed through the middleware solution are normalized and standardized, allowing for a uniform and consistent display at the point of sale. This eliminates the need for agents to search multiple sources to obtain a full spectrum of travel results, and compiles all needed data within one consistent user interface.
Multiple booking options for B2B or B2C users are available. Indeed it is also possible to connect to more than one channel and provide consistency throughout the life cycle of the trip. Users of the platform can use their own booking tools integrated with independent fare sources. The user community can select a LUTE version of the Farelogix Web Services API to easily integrate their POS with the platform. A sample of some fully integrated solutions is noted below:

• LUTE SPRK™ Model Office Platform
SPRK is a turnkey travel agency solution designed specifically for global multi-source direct channel distribution. The SPRK platform provides travel agencies with a best of breed point of sale solution inclusive of web-based (Hawkeye) and native command line based (FLX Commando) user interfaces, complemented by a multi-source PNR and integrated back-office reporting (MIR-FLX).

• Project Hawkeye™ (Open Source Development Platform)
Hawkeye is the travel industry’s first open-source, web-based travel management point of sale application. Built using Microsoft .NET and C# technology, Hawkeye supports a rich (and constantly growing!) set of functionality for shopping, booking, ticketing, PNR servicing, profile management, exchange, refund…and more. Users are able to build their own OpenSource applications.

• LUTE CommandPRO(sm)
CommandPRO is a new user interface solution that looks and acts like the GDS cryptic entries…but that is where the similarities end! Designed to handle multiple reservations format options, CommandPRO simulates cryptic GDS command line functions, allowing the seasoned travel agent to continue using these commands while behind the user interface, any type of content source is accessed through the LUTE platform set.

• Third Party UI/UE interfaces
LUTE supports a number of different third party user interfaces. For example VTO is a powerful agent user interface available from PASS Consulting. VTO supports a wide range of air, car, and hotel shopping, booking and ticketing capabilities for the corporate or leisure travel management company. In addition, the LUTE platform is also integrated (via web services API) with a number of proprietary travel agent, corporate, and consumer point-of-sale (POS) applications. Already certified are applications from Maxviva and Ypsilon. For back and mid office several different applications have already been certified including Softconex.

In addition to those listed above, the FLX platform is also integrated (via web services API) with a number of proprietary travel agent, corporate, and consumer point-of-sale (POS) applications.
Implementation of the platform in a multi-source environment provides a significant opportunity to lower total cost per transaction. Agent search (and total call) time is dramatically reduced simply by consolidating all source data into one environment and user interface. Utilization of business rules to automate travel policy enforcement and file finishing activities, as well as to optimize sourcing and channel management, combine to deliver even more minutes and dollars saved in the life of a transaction.

User Services
LUTE Technologies will also be deploying private label solutions for Customers to interact with their reservations. Coming soon are www.DisplayItin.com and the iWok applications for mobile users.