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Online Agents? Hah!
Kirby's Korner · June 18, 1999

"If you have a computer and can fog a mirror, you can post anything on the Internet," Encyclopedia Britannica senior researcher Lars Mahinske told the Wall Street Journal this week.

If so, why haven't travel agents flocked to this medium?

As a group, and with notable exceptions, agents were -- and remain -- late seeing the potential of the Internet.

That's a shame not just for them. It also limits the power you and I have as we move to the Web to search for information or make reservations.

A show of hands at a travel technology conference four years ago revealed that few travel agents then had access to e-mail and many had no idea what those "www." thingies are that were beginning to appear in virtually all advertising.

Not much has changed since then for the typical storefront travel agency. This week in Denver, before and during the school shootings in neighboring Littleton, Colo., hundreds of agents, consultants, and technology companies gathered to talk about travel and technology in a conference sponsored by Travel Weekly, the oddly-named twice-weekly trade magazine aimed at the agency community.

Based on the level of discussions spearheaded at the conference by travel industry leaders and consultants, most travel agents still don't have much of a clue about the Web and other electronic communications tools.

Even though Internet accessibility is available through the global distribution systems all agencies connect to, about half the agencies don't yet have Web pages and nearly half don't use e-mail.

That hurts consumers.

Instead of relying on the expertise of local agents, we're virtually forced to rely on information -- and reservations -- from giant online services like Travelocity.com, MSN Expedia, and Preview Travel.

In the current climate of consolidating travel agencies, I've long believed the Internet can be the best friend of mom-and-pop agencies.

Remember the caption of the well known New Yorker cartoon: "On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog"? Done right, on the Internet, no one knows you're a two-person travel agency.

Agencies should take advantage of the plethora of easy-to-lease online reservations possibilities available from their global distribution systems and from independent suppliers such as Internet Travel Network.

Getting a reservations system connected to the Internet is easy and usually costs only a small part of each reservation processed -- certainly less than the agency would pay to process the reservation over the telephone.

Once connected, though, agencies need to give travelers some reason to come to their Web sites to make reservations.

Here's where the benefit to consumers comes in. Picture a world where you can turn to the Web for systematic, consolidated information on your dream vacation -- anything from fly-fishing on a mountain stream to avoiding traffic while visiting Washington, D.C., during the current NATO conference.

If a specialized travel agency could give me the information I want -- and if I can learn to trust that agency through efforts such as the Better Business Bureau's certification program -- I'd certainly send business its way as I make travel plans.

Some industry insiders have it right. David Wardell of Technical Reality, who's usually cool to the effects of technology on the travel industry, told the Travel Weekly group, "You can't be Travelocity" when setting up a commercial online enterprise. But, he said, you can rely on your expert knowledge as a way to deal with customers and increase market strength.

If only the rest of the industry could be that responsive.

David Kirby is the editor of the Interactive Travel Report. You can reach him at dbkirby@pressroom.com.