Featured Press Article
Holiday Taxis targets Europe - Travel Trade Gazette - 09 Feb 2007
Private taxi resort transfer specialist plans to forge closer tie-ups with European partners, agents and cruise lines. John Welsh reports.
Holiday Taxis has unveiled ambitious plans as part of its global brand.
The initiatives revealed at the transfer company's inaugural VIP ski trip to Avoriaz in France, include a drive to break into Europe, new IT systems for agents and a cruise transfer service.
Next month the airport-resort private taxi transfer firm will launch in France – its first step as it attempts to clinch deals with Germany and Austria in April, followed by Spain, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.
French agents will be able to offer the airport-hotel service following a deal with Solareva, a French holiday extras company which will now add Holiday Taxis to its portfolio. Solareva already has good relationships with agents, giving Holiday taxis immediate access to distribution.
"We will launch one, get it right, then move on to others," says chief executive Paul Stanyer.
"Holiday Taxis already has a network of relationships with transfer networks in other countries. But we also had a queue of people hoping to speak to us at last year's WTM."
Foreign partners will use Holiday Taxis technology, benefit from the company’s training, share its profits and use the Holiday Taxis name.
The company has been restructured so that Stanyer can lead the expansion overseas, with Neil Herbert, who joined Holiday Taxis as managing director at the end of last year, running the UK operation.
"Our next challenge is the world with our sights set on the USA, Australia and Asia," he revealed.
IT SYSTEMS FOR AGENTS
Meanwhile, Holiday Taxis is to introduce technology in May that will allow agents to take allocations on transfers in resorts.
Agents who book dynamically will be able to clock book a certain number of places on transfers, just as some agents already do with airlines or hotels. They could then sell a transfer as part of a dynamically packaged holiday, sold at a price se by themselves.
The new technology will allow agents to mark up – or not – certain prices. "They can become their own yield manager and decide their own margins," said Herbert.
The development comes as Holiday Taxis reports a big shift in agents booking customers on shuttle rather then private transfers.
"That is customers getting on a pre-booked seat on a bus that leaves every hour on the hour," explained Herbert.
Holiday Taxis is also talking to hire car companies about offering combined taxi transfer and rental options.
"We are not their competitors," said Herbert, suggesting that a customer picking up a car in resort on the second day of arrival is wiser than driving directly from airports after a long flight.
CRUISE AMBITION
The company is also talking to cruise lines about offering their customers transfers between airports and ships.
"Cruise is moving to be sold as components, like other parts of the industry. So cruise-only means there is still the flight and transfer to organise for customers," said Herbert.
The need for such a service was hammered home to Stanyer when he arrived at Barcelona airport recently and saw 500 people standing in a taxi queue trying to get a lift tot heir ship.
"A transfer would make it a lot smoother for those cruise passengers and give them peace of mind," Stanyer said.
Holiday Taxis predicts it will book 500,000 passengers this year, up from 250,000 in 2006. It employs 25 people
