Innovation Row Spotlight: Tramada Systems

As part of the Innovation Series, GBTA wants to draw attention to innovation in the marketplace.  Tramada Systems, a travel technology company that began in Australia 18 years ago, launched its operations in North America two years ago and was featured on GBTA’s Innovation Row at Convention 2019 in Chicago.

Since launching, the company has been providing a post-booking management system that helps travel agencies become more efficient and increase productivity.

The company’s cloud-based agency automation software is designed to free agents from manual tasks so they can spend more time focusing on customer service. It also provides real-time data from the beginning to the end of the post-booking process to help the agencies improve their operations.

With the travel industry evolving faster than ever, travel management companies are still saddled with legacy systems, Tramada says.

“The main thing that we replace is the back office. We then complement and take mid-office and value add solutions to the next level,” said Mary Ellen George, head of North America for Tramada Systems.

In 2017, Tramada launched in the United States with Tower Travel Management, which was founded in 1979 to serve the business travel market. It now provides travel programs for clients ranging from single person offices to Fortune 1000 companies.

With Tramada, agents have more visibility into client and trip data so they can manage their client’s bookings with more transparency.

An agent “can view past, present and future bookings,” George said. “In today’s world, they really don’t have that kind of 360-degree view.”

Agents also have more flexibility and can, for example, work in their native GDS systems to complete transactions with suppliers such as airlines, hotels and car rental agencies. But Tramada is a system that brings content together regardless of the booking channel.

The system is also New Distribution Capability-ready. NDC, as it is commonly known, allows airlines and travel agents to make the booking process easier and offer clients more options. It was developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2012 and has been rolling out since then, with many still wondering how it will impact the travel buying community.

George said Tramada can help agents deal with NDC bookings and process other hybrid content. “We think our timing is good,” she said. “We can help agencies not go backwards with their post-booking automation and workflows.”