The best thing about shopping on the Web is that you have access to global e-markets and are free to switch from one e-shop to another to strike the best deal. Farepool.com offers the travel industry a single platform where the big ’n’ small of the travel world converge to create a unique marketplace!

There is a strange paradox that currently prevails in the travel industry. While on the one hand, the industry is facing the heat because of reduced commissions and dropping fares, on the other, the total number of transactions are increasing every year, with statistics on flight bookings, hotel occupancy and travel itineraries showing an upward trend. This has led to every individual travel agent and supplier needing to do more business with limited resources in order to survive in the market. FarePool.com, an innovative online service from QuadLabs (based in Noida in UP) could help them do just that.

The portal allows travel suppliers to host their content on the platform and allows agents—small and big—from across the world to find the best products with maximum commissions and discounts. The platform empowers the travel suppliers and agents alike to make the most of the Web and earn like never before.

A unique marketplace

Gaurav Chiripal, CEO and founder, QuadLabs, says: “One of {quotes}the most important aspects of the platform is the diverse and comprehensive content on Farepool. It is the first service to offer multiple products through multiple suppliers, besides being the first supplier-neutral marketplace of its kind!{/quotes} We have some of the best deals and deep discounted inventory on multiple products like air tickets, hotels and package holidays, through the best suppliers from across the world.”

Another USP is the advanced automation technology being employed to provide ‘handsfree’ end-to-end processing of complex travel inventory. Farepool runs on a distributed operational model where all booking fulfillment and operational activities are carried out by the suppliers, and all marketing and sales activities are carried out by the agents themselves. Farepool as a central platform provides free technology access to all suppliers and agents.

The site applies a standard transaction charge on every reservation created though the platform. Though the unit charge is not a big amount, it adds up as the volumes grow.

Making tech accessible to the travel industry

With the exposure gained from forming QuadLabs—a travel technology company—Chiripal observed the progress of the electronic travel distribution landscape in the world. “One trend was worryingly similar across the globe—most of the online ‘shops’ were selling their own deals and there was no real ‘marketplace’ for travel buyers to purchase content.

“The reason was obvious, travel technology was expensive and it made sense for the big players to use their online systems to push their own content. This presented an exciting opportunity for a company like QuadLabs to come up with a neutral and honest marketplace where agents and suppliers could all come together and trade travel inventory, sort of like an ‘eBay for Travel’,” says Chiripal.

Farepool is a Web application and most of the processing happens at the QuadLabs servers. “To ensure a seamless uninterrupted service, we have ensured that we have an extremely resilient infrastructure. Farepool server farms are located at state-of-the art data centres in India. All customer data is secured through advanced firewalls and encryption algorithms at the application level,” reveals Faraz Khalid, director and VP, Products, Quadlabs.