Company type:Tour Operator
Company location:Australia, New Zealand
Simple things like creating an invoice or a rooming list were not automated. For bigger tours, we could spend up to half an hour just to prepare one rooming list. From the start we were working together with Lemax as partners with the same goal. Now we have a reservation system that we can trust again!
Challenge: connecting all aspects of their travel business to improve their processes
Albatross Tours has been creating remarkable memories for Australian and New Zealand travelers for 25 years. We talked with Hannah-Jane Ellery, Group Project Manager. With her strong expertise in the tourism industry, she explained how important it was to simplify and improve the collaboration between their teams and have a reliable system supporting their entire travel business to deliver a better experience to their clients and partners.
- They needed an error-free and stable solution to connect all aspects of their travel business to improve their processes.
- They wanted to manage their inventory easily and have a clear overview of the stock. They had to make sure that there were no over-selling risks.
- On the operations side, working on rooming lists was also time-consuming. They were prepared and updated manually.
- A significant amount of time was spent combining data from multiple spreadsheets. Preparing invoices took a lot of time and effort since it couldn’t be done automatically. They needed a better approach when it came to generating documentation.
Solution: building a partnership – getting a new solution that connected all the dots of their business
When Albatross Tours started looking for a partner in the travel technology area, they established a criteria list that focused on the essential things they were seeking. Lemax was shortlisted in the final round with one other vendor.
They had demo presentations and discussions with Sales and what amazed them was the responsiveness and relationship-building approach. This gave them the confidence to move on with Lemax software.
“From the start we were working together as partners with the same goal. We were open and honest so it often felt as if we were working for the same company. This partnership enabled us to go live with Lemax within 6 months.”
They wanted to improve their customer journey and increase direct sales. They needed to sound professional and reliable when someone called them. Their representatives needed to have a clear overview of all the available and necessary information. Their clients had to be able to easily make a booking. Hannah-Jane emphasizes that now they have a reservation system they can trust again! The system also brought them flexibility and eliminated a lot of manual work.
“I am so relieved to have been managing the Covid-19 crisis using Lemax. The ability for us to customize areas of the system ourselves allowed us to adapt as things changed and to manage the process eniterely in the system on both sides of the world, removing the need for countless spreadsheets and emails bouncing back and forth.”
Impact: got a flexible reservation system they can trust, eliminated countless spreadsheets, and easily managed Covid-19 related situations
Hannah-Jane stated that they are excited to start using Lemax fully to operate tours moving forward!
Albatross Tours implemented Lemax in Australia in February 2020, and a lot has changed in the world since then. Due to that, they couldn’t focus on using the software’s full potential at that very moment. But what was emphasized is that they finally have a reservation system they can trust again.
Hannah-Jane also added that you could find many nice functionalities that maybe weren’t seen right away like copying the whole tour for the next year with one click of a button, including all the information you put inside.
What helped them a lot is the flexibility of the software and the fact that they could add their own product types and custom fields without asking the product team to do it. This proved especially useful during the Covid-19 pandemic, as they could better monitor the refund process. Both sides of the world were connected removing the need for countless spreadsheets and emails bouncing back and forth.
We have a reservation system that we can trust again!
Group Project Manager
The Albatross Group, UK, AU