Quadlabs launches unified mobile distribution platform for travel products

KAHINI CHAKRABORTY - Mumbai

Quadlabs Technologies has launched a mobile application called BOOKQ in the travel space. The application is nomenclature as BOOKQ and is available for travel intermediaries, travel management companies, suppliers, distributors, travel agencies and tour management setups on a commercial paradigm to scale up and extend their business over the mobile channel. The application is a unified mobile distribution platform to distribute travel products seamlessly through the mobile channel. This standard mobile application is available on android platform and can be downloaded from the company's corporate website. The other mobile platforms on which the application will be soon available are blackberry, apple ios and windows mobile.

Talking to ExpressTravelWorld on the travel products being offered on BOOKQ, Gaurav Chiripal, CEO, Quadlabs Technologies said, “While the effort is revolving around the best in class product for the travel industry, the core focus is to provide a seamless experience in booking flights and hotels as of now. Once the demand picks up and there is a required push from customers, more functionalities will be introduced like sightseeing, packages, cars, insurance, etc. With many analysts tipping the operating system to become market leader within the next year, now is the time to consider using this emerging new platform to promote your brand, products and services to a wider audience in the form of an application.”

As per the functions of the application, this platform connects to the central booking engine to search travel content from third party connectors and passes it on to the mobile interface via encrypted protocols. Once the application is downloaded and installed, the user can search, book and pay for his travel itinerary. BOOKQ can be represented as per the requirement of the travel intermediary. The product features include availability on multiple platforms, live search for flights, centralised connectivity with the booking engines, low bandwidth usage, interactive user interface, encrypted data communication and integration with payment mechanism. “BOOKQ has been designed to offer a seamless experience to the end user and also ensures that the financial transaction is carried through a secure channel and a real time confirmation is displayed,” added Chiripal.

When asked about the trends seen in the travel technology and mobile booking segment, Chiripal informed, “We see that the use of technology has changed through the medium it is put to use. Telecom has played a major role in being the backbone for wireless data services and we find travel companies offering product and support to the end traveller while on the go. From GPRS to 3G services the speed of data transfer has enabled technology companies to offer products and services with seamless connectivity to execute even financial transactions. The ease of use has eventually made the customer move from the PC to the smartphone to a larger extend. The adaptability is high and we acknowledge the way people make instant bookings from their mobile devices like smart phones and tablets, make instant itineraries and change plans. Going forward the pie for smartphone initiated transactions will see a phenomenal growth rate. A recent survey revealed from an international chain of hotels, said that 70 per cent of bookings made via mobiles were for the same day check-ins.”