Trinatours Ltd: smaller egos bring great results

Despite initial reservations over the wisdom of a post-boom investment in e-business, Trinatours site shows how successfully customer-focused values can be transposed into the virtual world. Incredibly content-rich, this site puts all Trinatour's large database of rapidly changing information at the fingertips of its B2B partners worldwide.

Cautious investment
Established over 30 years with an international presence, Trinatours was a successful and popular company in its market, notable for its refusal to jump on the internet bandwagon during the early boom.

Consequently, at our first meeting, still in the aftermath of the internet bubble bursting, we met with a very sceptical prospective client:

"We have a passionate approach and forthright management style. What we liked most about Sodabyte was that they listened to our needs and were down to earth. One of the biggest issues with web agencies is that they are too egotistical - we didn't ever feel that with Sodabyte."

- comments Brendan Rayment, Marketing Director.

Heavy duty database with great ease-of-use
Our initial meeting immediately showed Trinatours required a heavy-duty 'back-end' - the site would depend on the successful deployment of a large database to provide the plethora of information on package holidays, hotel rates, car hire, flights and other travel services Trinatours provides to tour operators, travel agents, cruise operators and subsidiaries.

Reviewing the amount and quality of information to be provided by the site, we saw it would not be a 'quick kill' project, and proposed a two-phased longer-term implementation.

Phase I was the public-access part of the site, which marketed Trinatours services but still relied on the existing back office infrastructure for distributing product and price information. The look and feel was designed to dovetail with the new brochure, and also to be extended in Phase II.

Phase II included extensive scoping and database design, with the implementation of a content management system, which enables Trinatours to insert all their information in one unified format into the site's database.

Successful implementation reinforces brick and mortar core values
Completed in March 2004, Trinatour's constituent partners can now login for information they would previously have needed to call or email for. A newsletter and contact management system provide a cost-effective marketing channel for Trinatours to distribute agent-specific news and product information, replacing more costly paper and post distribution.

An effective Information Architecture with clear and easy-to-use navigation and interaction sequencing ensures that Trinatours e-business extension retains all its user-friendly and customer-focused off-line values.

"The results were fantastic - we achieved everything that we set out to in terms of an effective sales and marketing tool that is accessible to our partners" adds Brendan Rayment. "Our clients use the website and really love it. We would have no hesitation in recommending Sodabyte to others."

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