http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/rss.xml Vertical Group, Travel Technology at its best. Travel Industry news and Latest Press releases from Vertical Group http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=51 06/03/2009 “We have been a user of the TARSC system for the past 12 years and have been totally satisfied with the product as it has developed through the years. We are totally dependant on TARSC for both our front and back office system and it takes us through to full P&L accounts at the end of the year, thus reducing our year end audit costs! The help-desk in Northern Ireland are fantastic, they are calm, confident and guide us through ayn errors we make!! I would highly recommend the TARSC system to any of my travel industry colleagues.” Jaqueline Steadman, Director - Travel Time World “Being a new tour operator to the UK, it’s crucial we get our product out in market place, Vertical provides us with instant access to over 10,000 desktops ensuring visibility and access to our trade partners. To date, working with Vertical has been seamless and extremely slick, we’re confident this will be the start of an excellent partnership” Jason Hilton, Sales Director – Red Sea Holidays “When you have tight deadlines and need 100% accurate data it is good to know you can rely on the Tarsc system, and it’s comforting to know that Tarsc is also backed up by an excellent help service when needed” Mark Smith, Finance and Office Manager – Club La Costa “Globe Hotels have been working with The Vertical Group since October 2008. When we contacted them initially we were in need of a quick solution for a website. What was delivered to us was more than we expected in design and functionality by a team that delivers excellent service and technology advice . We would strongly recommend Vertical for all your technology needs.” Geoff Collins, Managing Director – Globe Hotels “I think the key words to sum up Tarsc as a system and Vertical Group as a service provider is total reliability. We relocated premises in 2007 and at this point decided to do a complete upgrade of our system including all hardware. The planning and on-site management of this upgrade was seamless, and the Vertical team just blended in to the background carrying out the installation & training with minimal disruption. Since time we’ve not experienced a single problem with the system, but we also have the peace of mind of excellent technical support. I’ve always found the response and customer care standard from everybody involved at the Vertical Group exceptional” Nick Phipps Director Oak International Travel http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=52 06/03/2009 5) Respond to demand and boost sales. Use your CRM software to help you increase sales and to help you keep up with the demands of the marketplace. If you’ve just made a fantastic booking with one client and a similar deal is still available, if you haven’t done it already then use the information from that deal and post it up on websites that you advertise on – if the first customer thought it was an amazing deal then the second one is likely to also. Use CRM sales data to identify valuable areas where you can forge relationships with suppliers to help support the market opportunities you are focusing on. Analysing your CRM information can help you to tailor your products and services to meet market demand and therefore add to your turnover and profitability. Overall, the CRM software you use is a tool to help you focus your marketing activity but essentially it’s about more than just the software – CRM is about using your initiative to develop regular, timely contact and better, more valuable relationship with your clients. So look for opportunities to do so. Keep up with current trends in the market that your customers may be in to. Create a facebook page that offers advice and help to your customers, add a twitter page that you can use to update them with amazing one off holiday offers, let them know about awards that you’ve won, send them a timely birthday card with a £10 voucher off their next holiday with you, write and add a quick travel guide on your website for relevant holiday destinations for that time of year…. The list goes on. http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=53 23/03/2009 Essex based Vertical Group, ‘dressed up’ for work , to raise much needed funds for their local Basildon Hospice, St Lukes and raised over £200. The charity has been adopted by Vertical Group as their nominated charity of the year and will continue to raise funds through the course of 2009. Money was raised by the team paying to dress up in black tie, and held a raffle to win an extra days’ holiday. http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=54 21/04/2009 The Vertical Group are sponsoring the next CIMTIG seminar: Marketing Travel in Tough Times After many years of continuous growth, where travel has experienced an unparalleled boom, the cold winds of recession have taken a steely grip on the spending power and confidence of the UK consumer. This will be the first time many marketers have operated in a recessionary environment for over fifteen years. So how do you manage your campaigns in the very different world we now face? What messages are most likely to succeed? Can a brand thrive or just survive? What are the pitfalls? What are the tips, tactics and strategies that should be deployed for the future? The event takes place on the 11th May in London at the Thistle Hotel, Marble Arch, and London from 6.30-9.30 pm. The event has attracted a strong list of speakers including: Simon Hargreaves, managing director of TTA and Worldchoice Mandy Nickerson, managing director of Bales Worldwide Tom Allen, ex-managing director of Cadogan Holidays Professor Moira Clark, director, Henley Business School The Vertical Groups renowned back office system, TARSC has seen many changes since development in 1983, but the addition of the Athena platform, a fully integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system has made the task of building, maintaining a client database a straightforward task. The features of a CRM system include extensive profiling including contact details, family details, holiday and travel preferences, previous enquiries and bookings. Having this information allows you to build a rapport with your clients, thereby making the relationship more personal and interactive. A birthday or anniversary card, a quick phone call to advise of a last minute holiday which you know suits their choice of holiday or just a friendly call to catch up can support your customer database in keeping your customers for life. Another feature would be full quote creation in either a manual format or from viewdata produced in either RTF format for printing of PDF format for emailing. With the support of a CRM system, why would you invest in advertising which is not only expensive but also mainly ineffective with low return on investment, when you can build and create a database from your existing clients with whom you already have relationship at any level? Peter Healey, CEO of Vertical Group said “We are delighted to support this Cimtig event. Its relevance to our own product development and the topical nature of the subject during our currently challenging times are high priority, and foremost in everyone’s thought is getting good return on marketing investment and value for money. Our Athena platform gives agents the opportunity to be reactive to market trends using their database of clients directly from the system.” CRM systems support conversion reports, enquiry reports and marketing reports which can confirm return on investment for direct marketing activity and produce reports which support commercial negotiations with suppliers. CIMTIG is the travel industry group of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world's largest marketing organisation with some 50,000 members. CIMTIG promotes marketing excellence within travel and provides networking, career and study opportunities to marketing professionals in this exciting and vibrant industry. For more information on booking to attend this event: WWW.cimtig.org http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=55 29/04/2009 The Vertical group were joint sponsors of the Agent Achievement Awards which took place in London on the 23rd April , at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. With over 30 TARSC users amongst the 150 finalists for the awards, Vertical were delighted when the awards were announced and 7 agents came out on top walking away with top achievement awards. Peter Healey , CEO of The Vertical Group said “ The event was a great success for our customers, many who have been with us for a very long time. Winning an award is a massive achievement for anyone and these are much coveted and well deserved. We congratulate all the winners but also acknowledge our customers who reached the strong list of finalists. We are thrilled to work with you and wish you all continued success” Winners include, The Co-operative Travel, Oasis Travel, Barrhead Travel, Althams Travel, Garstang Travel plus Future Travel divisions; Personal Travel Advisors and Instant Cruise Holidays. http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=56 08/05/2009 ISSUE 5 MAY 09 home tarsc athena magic its voip news Dear Client, Welcome to the fifth issue of the Vertical Group email newsletter. In this issue we'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate our clients who recently won at the Agent Achievement Awards. In this Issue... Agent Achievement Awards Congratulations to the finalists! ........................................................ Call: 0800 983 0000 Email: enquiries@verticalgroup.co.uk Agent Achievement Awards - Congratulations! The Vertical group are proud to be the technology provider to the following Agent Achievement Award winners: Co-op Oasis Travel Barrhead Althams Garstang PTA Instant Cruise ........................................................................................................................ We would also like to congratulate our clients who reached the final stages of the award judging, you are all winners! Bryan Somers, Feherty, Knock, Kwik, Mcneil Menary, Connoisseur, Brunlea, Cockermouth, Barrow, Midlands Co-op, Reader’s Offers, Travel Lux, Cockermouth, Meon Valley If you would like to know how to be part of the winning team... Contact us Call: 0800 983 0000 Email: enquiries@verticalgroup.co.uk ........................................................................................................................ The Vertical Group can provide you with the tools and expertise to realise your business ambitions. Powering change in the travel industry, providing you with the complete package. Contact us Call: 0800 983 0000 Email: enquiries@verticalgroup.co.uk Through our diverse group of products we offer an exciting range of technology solutions to help your business succeed. Whether it's the complete package or just one of our products, you can be assured of high quality and customer service from the Vertical Group. You have been sent this email as a registered member of ABTA. If you wish to unsubscribe from Vertical Group email shots you may do so at any time by emailing unsubs@verticalgroup.co.uk with the word 'unsubscribe in the subject line. Copyright Vertical Group 2009 http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=59 03/07/2009 Press Release- Vertical Group Buys Holiday Experts 2nd July 2009 The Vertical Group have confirmed that they have purchased the trading assets of Holiday Experts including, Websites, database, bookings and intellectual property rights and have created a new trading division of Vertical Group which will trade as a Freedom Travel Group member under Miss Ellies Travel. Holiday Experts had been trading for 4 years and was based in Barrow, Cumbria. Peter Healey, CEO The Vertical Group said: “Holiday Experts has an excellent brand profile and position in the homeworking sector of the market. We are fortunate to be in a position whereby we could purchase The Holiday Experts assets and in doing so protect the 29 homeworkers and management team and more importantly the Holiday Expert clients and all of their bookings, which have been transferred to Miss Ellies Travel and are now protected under the Freedom Travels ABTA and ATOL. “ Mike Russell will remain in the business as managing director and will manage the integration of the 29 strong team of homeworkers and administration support team with the services provided by Miss Ellies and Freedom Travel. “Holiday Experts have led the way in developing a strong web presence to generate leads and adding them to our portfolio will allow us to support the continued growth of this area from within our existing businesses. “In these challenging times there is a need to lower overheads and control costs. In joining Freedom Travel, we have achieved that objective” Other Vertical Group brands include, TARSC, www.bedbank.com, www.bedbankski.com and Miss Ellies Travel. ENDS Issued by Amanda Taylor 07595 778433-PR Manager Vertical Group Follow this link for more: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/02/31348/vertical-group-buys-holiday-experts.html http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=61 16/09/2009 PRESS RELEASE 15th September 2009 Vertical Group takes a controlling stake in Villas for Travel Today Vertical Group acquired a majority share holding in Villas for Travel, the villa specialist offering over 1000 holiday properties in 14 countries for an undisclosed sum. Vertical Group recently bought the trading assets of homeworking company Holiday Experts. The deal enables Vertical Group to have a controlling stake in a growing consumer specialist villa brand and to maximise sales across the platforms developed and serviced for the UK travel trade. Peter Healey CEO of the Vertical Group said “We are delighted with this deal which enables us to provide the villa product that our customers were requesting and differentiate our accommodation service to the travel trade with a unique range of holiday accommodations worldwide”. The deal also enables the Villas for Travel product to be sold to agents and customers using bedbank.com which is operated by Vertical Group. The Vertical Group is one of the longest established and largest providers of technology to the UK travel industry providing front and back office solutions, Web services including white label and bespoke websites , and VOIP services for travel companies. Catalina Vera Pile, Sales Manager of bedbank.com commented “We had been looking for this type of high quality villa product for some time and it is very exciting to have a range of top quality villas and apartments to offer our customers”. in such a broad range of markets”. Villas for Travel was set up in 2006 by Kathryn Bullock with venture capital from the Trapezia fund set up by Stargate Capital who will continue to remain shareholders. She will work closely with the new shareholder over the next few months to deal with the integration of the business and its technology platform. Kathryn Bullock Founder and MD of Villas for Travel said “I am pleased that Vertical Group will be able to develop the Villas for Travel brand further and to take it to its next level of growth. They have the right team, resources and infrastructure in Essex to really expand the business which is very exciting. I look forward to working with the team to achieve this and to develop the many future opportunities for the business both in the UK and abroad. ENDS http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=63 09/12/2009 Miss Ellies Travel recently celebrated 25 years of service to travellers in Manchester with a party for staff and guests at the Oldham road branch, renowned for its 100ft wide office frontage. The offices were refurbished in the summer and a brand new website has been launched. Ellie Doherty established her business in 1985 and will be retiring from the business in December, though will still be involved in a consultancy capacity. For full MEN article and pictures, please click on the link below. http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=64 04/02/2010 NEWS RELEASE HOLIDAY EXPERTS ANNOUNCE RECORD START TO 2010 4th February 2010 Homeworking company, Holiday Experts have announced a record start to 2010 with sales figures increased by 25% year on year and an average booking value increased by 30% year on year as the business has focussed heavily on new marketing methods. Peter Healey, CEO of Holiday Experts said “. Following the acquisition of Holiday Experts last year, we have restructured the business and changed our routes to market with a focus less dominated by Teletext style advertising by increasing our online presence and we are absolutely thrilled with these results” Parent company, Vertical Group has created several bespoke websites working with selected business partners to generate new sales leads for homeworkers. Healey continued, “The increase of average booking values is as a direct result of our focus in selling good quality properties combined with a new marketing strategy which has bought an increased number of visitors to our websites, once engaged on the site, the customers have all the information about our key properties they could need, which is backed up by the personal knowledge and experience of our homeworkers” Holiday Experts works under the Miss Ellies Travel brand which joined the Freedom Travel Consortia in 2009. All holiday Experts bookings are centrally administered in Manchester by Miss Ellies Travel allowing the homeworkers to concentrate on sales and local marketing whilst benefiting from centrally generated leads. Mike Russell, Holiday Experts added “Our homeworkers have embraced the recent changes in our marketing strategy which has led them to be amongst the highest earners in the homeworking sector. They are all working extremely hard to maximise the enquiries, which of course will reap increased earnings in the coming months” Holiday Experts was acquired by the Vertical Group in 2009 recently launched a brand new recruitment website: http://www.homeworking-experts.co.uk to support the drive to increase the team as announced in October by Peter Healey. Russell concluded:” We have a great proposition for agents wishing to become homeworkers working with leads supplied or from their own client base with full support 24 hours a day. ENDS For further information contact: Amanda Taylor 07595 778433- PR Manager Vertical Group Editor’s notes: The Vertical Group has celebrated over 25 years service to the UK travel industry as providers of TARSC, travel agency booking system. Vertical also offers a range of software solutions, including voice and data solutions, tour operator management systems, web design and hosting, email, Magic Desktop and new CRM Platform, Athena. Miss Ellies Travel in Manchester, a travel agency and tour operator, WWW.Bedbank.com, accommodation only suppliers and Homeworking Company, Holiday Experts are also within the Vertical Group of companies. http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=65 08/02/2010 RECORD BREAKING BEDBANK SALES 8TH February 2010 Peter Healey, CEO of Bedbank described the first 4 weeks of 2010 as “The most successful start to a new year in the history of Bedbank”, following cumulative results showing that passenger numbers had more than doubled and sales had increased by over 400%. Bedbank was launched in 2001 and is now recognised as a leading supplier of accommodation only to travel agents and is proud of its association with the retail travel industry. Bedbank is a division of TARSC creator, Vertical Group. Healey said “We have a reputation as a supplier of excellent value, quality accommodation and we have worked hard to ensure we remain competitive with a great pricing structure. We have focussed heavily on contracting good quality hotels and self-catering properties but also use 3rd party suppliers to enable us to offer quality accommodation across the globe. He continued;“ We have seen an increase in sales to Spanish destinations as the Western Mediterranean resorts reduce their prices to gain market share. Consumers are not yet aware that Turkey is now a more expensive destination than in previous years whilst Spain remains easy to reach with flights to all destinations from across the UK and now represents better value than in recent years. The Tenerife Tourist board campaign has also worked hard to increase product awareness which has helped to increase bookings to their resorts.” Bedbank have their own contracted rates across the Mediterranean, Egypt, Goa and Florida. Catalina Pile, Reservation Manager added; “We have a fantastic team of knowledgeable staff who offer a flexible approach and we believe that excellent customer service has contributed to the continued success of Bedbank. January has seen new registered users to WWW.Bedbank.com rise by over 30% as many agents contact us for the first time. We strive to deliver the best accommodation at the lowest price and pride ourselves on a very low complaint ratio” Vertical Group acquired Villas for Travel in 2009 following an increase in demand for high quality villa accommodation throughout the Mediterranean and launched a dedicated ski website was launched in December 2008. ENDS For further information contact: Amanda Taylor 07595 778433- PR Manager Vertical Group Editor’s notes: The Vertical Group has celebrated over 25 years service to the UK travel industry as providers of TARSC, travel agency booking system. Vertical also offers a range of software solutions, including voice and data solutions, tour operator management systems, web design and hosting, email, Magic Desktop and new CRM Platform, Athena. Miss Ellies Travel in Manchester, a travel agency and tour operator, WWW.Bedbank.com, accommodation only suppliers and Homeworking Company, Holiday Experts are also within the Vertical Group of companies. http://www.verticalgroup.co.uk/news/News-item.aspx?id=66 03/03/2010 WWW.BEDBANK.com are delighted to announce a new commercial agreement with the Hanedan Resort and Beach Club in Foca, Turkey, with EXCLUSIVE prices. to celebrate we are offering 6 lucky agents the chance to visit this property first hand and experience the magic of Turkey This versatile property, features both hotel and villa and is set in over 5 acres of olive groves and close to the European blue flag beach. The accommodation sleeps up to 7 people and is available on Room only, BB. HB and FB basis and is just 75 KM from Izmir airport. Not only does this are offer a fantastic beach holiday experience for families and couples alike, but also variety of historical sites located nearby. Add to this the Mediterranean cllimate along with hotel facitlies which include Sports activities, evening entertainment, childrens club, Turkish bath, fitness centre and fabulous restaurants, this hotel really does have something for everyone The details: The 5 day visit will include flights and accommodation plus visits to sites of historical interest, shopping in Bodrum and plenty of time to enjoy some Turkish sunshine and enjoy the facilities this wonderful resort has to offer. How to enter: Every booking made through WWW.Bedbank.com from 1st Mar 2010 until the 5th April 2010 will be entered into a draw to take place on the 6th April 2010. Each bookings to the Hanedan will have 2 entries and the more bookings you make the more chance of winning one of 6 places on this fantastic trip. The educational will take place in May , dates to be finalised. ENDS