Products

NAVIGAtour

Local Booking Database

Introduction and Overview 

Damarel provides business solutions for Tour Operators.

Years of experience in the supply and support of systems for the Travel Industry have led to the development of NAVIGAtour, an integrated front and back office system for tour operators and travel agencies.

The system features full support for the consultant at point of sale and complete integration with ticketing and accounts. Access to airline CRS systems is provided to all users and is fully integrated with the software.

Facilities include client database management, brochure request, sale from flight allocation, interactive access to CRS systems (such as Galileo and Amadeus), booking management, client invoice, word processing, consultant commission calculation, IATA ticketing, BSP reconciliation and accounts.

NAVIGAtour has been developed by Damarel from industry standard software components and is designed to run on industry standard hardware. This makes it extremely cost effective with low incremental costs associated with system growth and ensures a future upgrade path in line with technological advancements in PC technology.

NAVIGAtour was developed in close association with Journey Latin America, one of Europe's foremost providers of bespoke journeys, tours and flights to and from Latin America. This relationship has allowed the product to be closely tailored to the requirements of a travel agent and tour operator.

Automation

The primary goal of NAVIGAtour is to automate routine operations and thereby reduce the errors caused by re-keying. For example:

• Itineraries and names held in CRS system bookings are automatically captured and integrated with locally held information. Client documentation such as quotation and invoice are produced from locally held data showing complete itinerary details names, costs etc.
• Ticket details are automatically captured, and reconciled on a monthly basis either for BSP or for direct settlement with airlines. Similar facilities are provided for payments to other suppliers for ground services etc.
• Booking profit is automatically calculated based on sale price and service costs. Funds actually received from the client or agency and those paid out to suppliers are recorded on a booking-by-booking basis allowing instant financial analysis.
• Bookings, electronic mail and word processing documents can be shared between all users. These documents can be sent from one user to another, integrated with a booking diary mechanism.

NAVIGAtour is a fully automated travel agency office automation system supporting all aspects of the operation, not just the making of bookings.

Functional Highlights

Clients and Bookings

• NAVIGAtour holds all files on a centralised database. Bookings are located quickly and easily and may be retrieved by a number of different selection criteria including:
  • Booking reference
  • Invoice/main contact name
  • Passenger name
  • CRS booking locator
  • Ticket number
  • Flight number
  • Postcode
  • ABTA number (where client is a travel agent)
• Name search using "Sound alike" algorithms can be applied, so that a booking for Mr Boult can still be found even though the name was entered as Mr Bolt or Mr Bould.
• Bookings may be made for individual clients, corporate clients and "agent" clients. For "agent" clients, the ABTA number is recorded for subsequent retrieval.
• Corporate clients and "agent" clients can have an unlimited number of contact records, with individual addresses and contact numbers.
• Booking facilities include:
  • Passenger profile
  • Booking Notes - Unlimited amount of free format notes.
  • Itinerary Checks - Automatic notification of schedule conflicts within client itinerary, detection of gaps etc.
  • Services - Up to 99 user-definable itinerary and service types including Flight, ground transport, transfer, hotel, car hire, insurance, assistance at airports and many more.
  • Itinerary Construction - Fast and efficient itinerary construction using a number of tools (such as FIT frameworks, tour macros, city files, fare sheets), all designed to speed up the process.
  • Service Class - Multiple user-definable classes of service (such as double room, single room, economy class, Seat-in-bus etc.) and associated options.
  • Auto-pricing on service backed itinerary
  • External CRSs - Booking from CRS systems, operated tours, consolidators, seat allocation, bespoke products, seat allocation and one-off suppliers.
  • Booking diary
  • Travel documents - Including: airline tickets (BSP and non-BSP), Vouchers for ground services, Insurance certificates and others.
  • Refunds - Travel Document refunds (to client and from supplier).
  • History - Full log of all booking events
  • Client and consultant display modes.

Electronic Mail and Office

NAVIGAtour provides each consultant with an in-tray. This is a collection of important events relating to bookings, tours and clients. Entries in the in-tray can be forwarded to and from other consultants, as well as the consultant's own diary. The in-tray is sorted by date and priority order (which is user definable). Items requiring action automatically appear on the appropriate consultant's in tray on the pre-arranged action date.

Departmental in-trays are also provided. The numbers of departments, as well as the staff that belong to them, are fully user configurable.

If a consultant is absent or on holiday then another consultant, subject to authorisation level, can deal with their in-tray to ensure that outstanding actions are acted upon.

Additionally, users can send, receive, reply and redirect electronic mail using a built in text editor. Messages can be directed to individuals or groups (such as logged-in users, ticketing department staff, managers etc.). Messages can be received outside the basic system, while in word processing for example.

Fare Quotations

Specialist travel companies benefit from the flexibility to offer special fares to their client base. These fares are often subject to a variety of non-standard arrangements with suppliers. Calculating these special fares requires considerable training for all staff - from the consultant who provides a quotation through to the ticketing staff who needs to check that a fare has been correctly calculated prior to committing the company to expenditure by printing the ticket.

NAVIGAtour provides support for this calculation process in two ways. Firstly, it allows consultants to enter their calculations into the system, and have the system calculate the results. Both the calculation and result are presented at ticketing time allowing for easy checking and correction.

Secondly, the system provides a fare-rules database allowing common calculation rules to be built up. This means that the system can calculate many fares automatically, thereby increasing the accuracy of quotation and reducing the need to double-check at ticketing time.

Integrated Accounting

• Sophisticated funds handling is incorporated in the system:
  • Receipting and refunding using user defined payment methods, acceptable credit/debit/charge cards and their commissions.
  • Allocation of receipted funds to individual items of the booking, thus providing accurate figures for ABTA and ATOL bonding.
  • Multi-currency invoicing.
  • Agent commission calculations including VAT.
  • Multi-invoicing (agent copy, client copy).
  • Till and Credit Card daily lodgement reports.
  • Supplier accounts management (multi-currency).
  • Instant identification of booking profit.
  • Instant reporting on balance of payment outstanding from clients and to suppliers on booking, client or supplier basis.
  • Consultant commission calculation and payment.
  • Full BSP accounting including CRS reporting.
• The system can link into most commercially available, 3rd party accounting packages. Up to date company accounts are available at all times. The package may, of course, also be used for any other company accounting transactions such as payroll, financial planning and in maintaining multiple sets of accounts relating to different aspects of the business.

Access to Reservations Systems

• NAVIGAtour provides integrated on-line access to:
  • Galileo
  • Amadeus
• With Galileo, the CRS PNR can be captured and automatically integrated into the locally held booking.

Client Documentation

• The system generates most of the client documentation associated with the travel arrangements automatically. Invoices, detailed itineraries, tickets, vouchers, and address labels are generated from booking details held in the system. This removes the need for manual preparation of client documentation and eliminates the possibility of errors.
• Brochure ordering, label printing and general mailshot capabilities driven by the client database are also provided.

Tour Management

Facilities include:

• Sale of predefined packaged products such as flights, cruises, hotels, inclusive tours and insurance.
• Sale of complex bespoke products, customised to the client's requirements such as tours or multi centre holidays with options.
• Tour operation.
• Tour leader support.
• Local inventory construction and maintenance for flights, hotels, tours etc.

Seat Allocation

The system maintains seat allocation on selected flights. Consultants can book seats from the allocation database in the same way as they would from a CRS host. Seat counts, seat blocking (for inclusive tours) as well as travel manifest is provided.

Management Information

The system provides comprehensive management information and reports. Such reports include assessment of profitability of routes, destinations, products, consultants and advertising media. Popularity of different destinations and suppliers can be assessed, and quarterly ground service figures can be produced for ABTA.

Other Services And Options

Software Installation

Damarel will provide a complete onsite installation service to suit the needs of the client. This ranges from the installation of the NAVIGAtour software system on an existing network to the supply and installation of a complete turnkey system - hardware and network as well as NAVIGAtour itself.

Training

Training is tailored to suit specific requirements and will be organised in consultation with the customer. Training is provided on "train the trainer" basis.

Remote Support

System support and management can be performed remotely over a dial-up link. This is a recommended option. Using the remote support facility, Damarel can gain immediate on-line access to the customer's system, saving time and cost in diagnosing and resolving system issues as they occur.

Customisation

NAVIGAtour can be tailored to suit customers' requirements. Please feel free to call us to discuss specific modifications.

Architecture

Technical Information:

• Communicates across standard local area networks
• Uses commodity hardware.
• Modular construction that can be tailored for a precise business fit.
• Comprehensive system management functions.
• Supported and diagnosed remotely.
• Databases are maintained in industry standard format

To discuss how Damarel products can help your operation, please phone +44 (0)1252  783787 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .