TravTalk India Online Magazine
Turpal is a post-reservation solution for travel professionals to manage their operation and increase per passenger profit, says Farshid Rahimkhani, CEO & Co-founder, Turpal. He shares how the technology will offer tour operators and customers ease in managing a trip after a person reaches the destination.
TT Bureau
Tour-activity-attraction is the third largest component of the tour industry, claims Farshid Rahimkhani, CEO & Co-Founder, Turpal. This is from where, the idea to develop Turpal platform came into being, he says. “Majorly 70-80 per cent of this segment is handled by local travel agencies and online operators. At the same time, travel professionals are also facing some challenges. Turpal is the post reservation solution for travel professionals to manage their operation and increase per passenger profit,” he informs.
Know Turpal
Explaining how Turpal works, he says, “When a passenger books a service from a travel professional, they will provide a real time dynamic itinerary for the services that have been sold to the passenger. This is in the form of app or web app, which means that every communication with the passengers, including pick up time, transfers, get updated to this platform. Thus, passenger receives, all the itineraries they purchased including hotel details, flight details and vouchers of any services through this platform from the service provider. Turpal has its combination of user interface of the app, which is the app or web app. It’s an application that has all the itineraries of the passengers’ purchase as well as some recommendations. That’s why we call it Turpal because it’s a pal for the customer when they are travelling.”
Rahimkhani also informs that to feed this smart application, Turpal has another component called Turpal Connect. “It is the channel manager of tour activity and attractions and any services that passenger might need in the destination. It is a part of the products that we have, to make sure we integrated all the services available and local service providers can also present their services. Thus, travel professionals can offer their own products, or can source it from their network,” he adds.
Helping the trade
When asked the benefit for trade with Turpal, Rahimkhani elaborates, “Travel agencies majorly have two challenges every day—low sales conversion, which because of the rate competition is very hard with the services that they usually provide like hotel, flights, etc. Another challenge is customer retention after they are buying services from them. Turpal helps them for these two concerns by providing them opportunity to increase that profit per passenger and by providing other services while the passengers are at the destination. That’s how they can overcome competition challenges as well. Also, Turpal connects them to the passengers during and after their trip and they can have customer feedback for every service that they are providing on the spot. They can make sure to keep their customer satisfied and even run campaign for their next trip after getting feedback.”
Customer benefit
He elucidated that for customers, having an expert pal during their trip, instead of a tour guide will be great. “They will have an online guide or application guide with them, which will offer them exactly what they desire. Turpal is a smart app and it tries to understand more customers and design a way that makes recommendations to the customers based on the itinerary they have purchased before. Being connected to the operators is another advantage for customers as they can receive all the notifications on pick up times or any changes on services that they want. They will also have access to online customer service, which is like a private concierge service. Thus, at any time they can ask questions and this way travel professionals can also remain connected to customers.
