NEWS for Immediate Release
Contact: Ms. Valyn Perini
P: +1 978 263 7606
E: valyn.perini@opentravel.org
OpenTravel Member PEAK 15 Systems Connects
Tour Operators and Travel Agents
Provides Standards-Based Interoperability to Signature Travel Network
May 11, 2010 – Boxborough, MA - The OpenTravel Alliance (OpenTravel), the travel
industry’s leading distribution specification/standards development organization,
announced the successful integration between member company PEAK 15 Systems and
Signature Travel Network.
Austin-Lehman Adventures is using the PEAK 15 Tour Operator Software System and its
OpenTravel standards-enabled connection to deliver information about their award
winning trips directly to more than 6,000 Signature Travel Network Agents. The first-ofits-kind standards-based connection represents a major milestone towards integrating
tour operators into the broader online travel market.
As new trips are created by Austin-Lehman inside PEAK 15, or as trip availability or prices
change, the information is shared automatically with Signature Travel’s systems allowing
agents to confidently browse, search and match their clients’ interests to these handcrafted experiences without leaving the comfort of their own tools.
“Being named the #1 Tour Operator in the World by Travel + Leisure Magazine
dramatically increased our profile in the industry, but many potential travelers out there
rely on the advice of a local travel agent,” said Dan Austin, Director, Austin-Lehman
Adventures. “As a non ‘big-box’ tour operator, we can’t afford to drop brochures into the
office of each and every travel agent and then hope a client picks us out off a shelf. With
PEAK 15 we can do even better at essentially no incremental cost.”
The tour operator and outfitter segment of the travel industry has been dubbed the ‘longtail’ of the online travel industry because the vast majority of the more than 8,000
operators and outfitters in the U.S. and Canada have little or no ability to connect online
with other suppliers or distributors. “Within the fragmented tour operator industry the
only viable solution is open standards, so, together with a group of other like-minded
companies, we worked with the OpenTravel Alliance to develop and publish OpenTravel
messages for the tour industry in 2008,” said PEAK 15’s CEO and founder, James
O’Leonard. The standard was then built into PEAK 15’s next generation system released in
2009.
“Having a standard is incredibly important. We currently have trip information from over
30 of the largest tour operators in our system today and have created a direct connection
with 11 different systems to date,” said Karen Yeates, Vice President of Internet Business
Solutions, Signature Travel Network. “With the OpenTravel standard we can not only plug
in any other tour operator that is using PEAK 15 but also any other system that
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implements the standard in the future, which means we can start to work with more and
more of these small to mid-size companies.”
About the OpenTravel Alliance
The OpenTravel Alliance is passionate about solving the problems inherent with connecting
multiple systems within the complex travel distribution arena.
OpenTravel’s mission is to engineer specifications that make data transmission flow
smoothly throughout travel, tourism and hospitality. OpenTravel creates, expands and
drives adoption of open universal data specifications, including but not limited to the use
of XML, for the electronic exchange of business information among all sectors of the travel
industry.
With a diversified membership representing influential names in all sectors of the travel
industry, OpenTravel is comprised of representatives from airlines, car rental firms, hotels,
cruise lines, leisure suppliers, service providers, tour operators, travel agencies, and trade
associations. Thousands of message structures are in use, carrying tens of millions of
messages between travel trading partners every day. For more information, visit
www.opentravel.org.
About PEAK 15 Systems
Founded in 2005, PEAK 15 Systems, Inc. provides tour operators, outfitters and travel
suppliers with integrated trip planning, marketing, booking/reservations, operations and
accounting automation as an easy-to-use and affordable online service. PEAK 15
Systems is a Registered Microsoft Partner and member of the Microsoft Startup
Accelerator Program, which identifies high-potential startups developing software on the
Microsoft platform and fosters their success. PEAK 15 is also a founding member of the
OpenTravel Alliance Tour Operator Project Team (www.opentravel.org), which develops
technical standards to allow tour operators to participate in the online travel market.
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