It's a Wide World

From American Executive May 2010


By Meghan Flynn

`

It’ a Wide World. The business of travel has changed a lot in the last 25 years, but for Hariworld Travel, a New York-based giant of the sector, the best is yet to come. Kamini Cohly explains.

Founded by the Cohly family 42 years ago to meet the needs of a growing Indian population in Canada, Hariworld Travel was one of the first agencies to adopt the concept of consolidation. Through its offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and New Delhi, Hariworld and its member travel agencies will generate more than $120 million in ticket sales this year by negotiating volume based contracts with airline carriers and supporting retail agencies in the fields to meet those volumes. President Kamini Cohly said the most important part of this business is relationships.

“We work closely with the carriers, have a 24/7 support network for the travel agents we serve, and maintain an active presence in the industry through participation of trade shows and constant communication with our partners,” she said. “Our management team has more than 130 years of combined experience, and we’ve gain a reputation for integrity, excellent service, and support even under the most challenging conditions.”

Hariworld does a significant amount of work with host agencies, which serve as a community hub for travel agents throughout North America. Cohly explained that in the last 10 years, the mid-sized travel agencies with brick and mortar offices have been replaced by independent travel agents operating out of the homes or small offices (which make up the membership of the host agencies Hariworld work with), giant travel corporations, and the Web-based, self-service booking engines.

Cohly said young people today are used to searching for everything online, so they naturally prefer the online booking engine. But, she said, anyone who’s tried to travel internationally on their own can appreciate the benefits of working with a travel agent who knows the market and can help a traveler prepare for any eventuality. Furthermore, travel agents understand the nuances of restrictions and complicated rules some carriers have for international flights and can help travelers leverage those to get the most out of their money.

Even with these advantages, however, travel agencies are coping with huge shift in the market. Cohly said her goal is to help one man operations in home offices across the country compete with the Internet giants and national conglomerates.

For example, the company has a call center that’s open 24 hours per day to support the travel agents in the field. “This is a very dynamic industry, and it’s crucial that we have a team in place to keep our agents as informed as possible, “Cohly said.

And Ron Mastrangelo, vice president, said Hariworld shines under emergency situations or irregular booking challenges.

“Anyone can book you flight from point A to point B for X amount of money, but when we you have a family emergency in Beijing and you need the next flight out of Toronto, our travel agent representatives can support your agent in getting where you need to be right up to the last minute. “ he said. “We don’t sell agent flights that will make their customers unhappy, and if there is an issue on the desk of someone at Hariworld at 6:00 p.m., that associate sticks with the issue until it’s resolved.”

Cohly added that since the beginning of the company, the Cohly family, which still operates Hariworld, has understood that employees who feel valued and appreciated for their contributions to the company’s goals deliver the best work.

“We have many people who have been with us for 10 years or more because they know their contributions to the company’s goals are valued by the way of both monetary incentives and perks like tickets to big game, but also by a culture the management perpetuates of teamwork,” she said.” Our people are our great assets.”

Travel tech of the future to compliment that asset, Hariworld has made huge investments in technology in the last six years, blazing the way for the future of travel booking.

Hariworld is one of the first consolidators to have an online booking engine. Not only that, its systems was developed inhouse with the close cooperation of travel agents; it was designed to compliment a travel agent’s workflow and process in dealing with clients. Today, the company also has a booking engine for its agents, which is can reserve bookings for up to 48 hours while a client makes up his or her mind.

Josanne Swain, vice president of marketing and business development, said the company is constantly updating its site, and to make sure its agent understand all the new features at their disposal, her office creates regular training webinar. She said all new agents who sign up on the site get a phone call from the Hariworld call center offering to walk them through a booking to make sure they are comfortable with the system.

Hariworld sends email newsletters to its agents once or twice a week but can get information to them at a moments notice; Mastrangelo said if a carrier tells Hariworld about a new promotion at 3:00 p.m., the company can push that information out to the 20,000 agents in its database by 5:00 that evening.

“For us, it’s all about making business easier for the travel agent in the field. If their lives are easier, they’re able to spend more time with clients and get more people on our carrier partner’s flights,” Swain said.

This spring, Hariworld launched a Web-based back office accounting system for travel agent managers that Cohly said can help them track each agent’s bookings, make payments, and more in sync with the Hariworld system. In addition, the company will be bringing its cruise and hotel booking and travel insurance services online, so agents can book everything in one place.

Mastrangelo said the company already has the contracts in place, and with this addition, the Hariworld site will be a non-stop shop for travel agents.

“The future of travel is booking online, and we’re excited to offer our agent tools to help them compete against the giants in this industry,” Cohly said. “The commitment to serving our agents, and our unrivaled expertise, is what enables us to provide the high quality service that will bring Hariworld success for another 40 years.”