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David meets Goliath
Monday, July 1, 2002
NEED TO CATCH THE next flight into Bangalore or Bombay? With a dizzying array of online travel sites from which to choose, it has become increasingly difficult to find the site which can offer the cheapest fares. Everyone is familiar with the heavy-hitters in the online travel industry like Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity. However, Sudhan Thomas, President and CEO of the online travel site, Travelinterface.com, is boldly taking on these travel giants in what is shaping up to be a classic tale of David and Goliath.


Sudhan, with a degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Madras, originally ran the brick-and-mortar travel agency, Around the World Travel, which currently boasts ten locations in India. In 1999, however, he decided that the future of the travel industry would lie in cyberspace, consequently founding the Manhattan-based spin-off of Around the World Travel: Travelinterface.com.


Sudhan points out that many of the top online travel sites have interests in a particular airline. "Orbitz is owned by four airlines. Travelocity is owned by Sabre, which was originally owned by American Airlines. Cheaptickets is affiliated with United Airlines." By contrast, Travelinterface is entirely privately-owned.


Of course, he realizes that this fact alone is not enough to steal customers away from other online travel sites. Sudhan is the first to point out that in order to compete with the industry giants, Travelinterface must offer a host of tangible, value-added services to the consumer.


According to Sudhan, what primarily distinguishes Travelinterface from its competition is that it is one of the first online travel sites to offer not only the traditional, published fares but also the special, non-published fares commonly referred to as "deep discounted fares."


"At the beginning of every year," Sudhan explains, "the airline decides how much of sales will be marketed outside the system. These fares are called non-published fares. They are available only through contact agents or travel agents, and they account for a significant chunk of ticket sales. We are one of the first guys to have actually brought onto the table both contact fares as well as published fares in one go. The bottom line is: we're giving a single point of visibility to the customer."


But how is it that Travelinterface is able to publish these deep discounted fares? Sudhan cautiously chalks it up to his extensive "travel industry know-how." According to Sudhan, other online travel sites, like Expedia, rely on a single "global distribution system" (GDS), which provides access to airline inventories. Travelinterface, on the other hand, utilizes multiple global distribution systems, resulting in a wider array of airfare choices for the customer.


In fact, Sudhan proudly notes that Travelinterface is "the first company to have more than one GDS on a fare-search engine." Why are multiple GDSs so beneficial? Sudhan explains, "If we look at 3 GDSs for information on a particular flight, there's a good possibility that one of the systems will say seats are available while another will say that seats are not available."


Thus, a fare-search engine based on multiple GDSs "gives larger depth to the whole fare-search process," he concludes. Sudhan is also quick to emphasize that Travelinterface is much more than a place to purchase airline tickets: it strives to be a comprehensive travel website. "What we realized is that there is a whole range of information in addition to just buying the ticket that the customer is looking for—whether it is wanting to know where an embassy is, or what the airline baggage regulation is, or what today's dollar is against the Canadian dollar. So we compiled all of this data and this is what Travelinterface.com is," he explains.


How does Travelinterface stack up against other online travel sites with respect to the bottom line? siliconindia decided to put Travelinterface to the test. We compared the lowest prices for flights to various destinations. The results of our study are mixed. For a flight from San Francisco to Bangalore, Travelinterface is the clear winner (nearly $1,200 cheaper than Expedia's lowest fare). Travelocity, meanwhile, returned the following disheartening message: "The specific itinerary you asked for is not available. Try making your search broader." However, when we compared the lowest offered airfares for a flight from San Francisco to New York, the results were less promising.


Whereas both Expedia and Travelocity's lowest advertised fare was $305, Travelinterface's lowest fare was $340. When we compared fares for a flight from San Francisco to London, while Travelocity's and Expedia's prices were about the same, Travelinterface was unable to offer any flights at all (although Sudhan assures us that his company will soon be offering flights to Europe). Finally, for a flight from Bangalore to San Francisco, the lowest fares offered by Travelinterface and Travelocity were competitive (with Travelocity's fare being $45 cheaper than that of Travelinterface), while Expedia failed to offer any flights at all.


Travelinterface seems to win out in the airfare battle when it comes to flights to India, while the industry giants, Expedia and Travelocity, seem to outperform Travelinterface on the domestic and European fronts.


Unless Travelinterface soon expands its reach to European destinations and makes its domestic prices more competitive, it is unlikely to topple the Goliaths of the online travel industry.



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