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20 I SOUTH AFRICA DELUXE I BUSINESS & FINANCE
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ONE TRAVEL
The internet has given us the ability to book our own travel quickly,
and for the most part, efficiently. The downside, however, is the loss
of human interaction and the comfort that comes from working with
an agent who knows and understands your specific travel habits and
requirements. South Africa Deluxe spent time with Ute and Sasha
Fullerton from ONE Travel to learn more about how their luxury travel company combines the traditional agency role with technology to
provide a holistic and efficient travel experience.
Three years ago, Ute Fullerton, owner of South African travel agency
ONE Travel, saw the need for a travel company that would amplify the
Photos: © One Travel
Marrying traditional services with
the benefits of technology
personal, and customer-centric focus of traditional agencies, and at
the same time embrace and incorporate the digital evolution trends
in travel. Her vision was to create a company that was a hybrid of a big
company and a small company, combining large corporation resources and reach; with small company simplicity, agility and service.
“Today, we are able to offer our clients all of the amazing deals that
a bigger company would offer because of our successful partnerships with bigger tour operators, such as Tourvest, and at the same
time, offer our clients a very personalised service, whether it’s from
a conventional or traditional services standpoint or a more modern
technology based service,” says Ute.
“It is important to keep in mind that the business arena changes constantly, and we need to be flexible and evolve in order to answer the
customers’ demands,” she shares, “We need to understand where
travel as an industry is taking us, where the needs are, and how to
provide the best service offering. There are many opportunities in
South Africa and we see things in a very positive and dynamic light.
We have a formidable team who put their hearts and souls into this
business, so failure is not an option and we approach everything we
do with this positivity and enthusiasm.”
Drawing inspiration from her creative and entrepreneurially driven
father, Ute has over the years embarked on several successful ventures, ranging from property holding and development to hydronic
solutions. Her latest venture has seen her successfully grow ONE Travel into a formidable player in the travel management arena in South
Africa. The company is going through a strong growth phase as it
diversifies to include events, leisure travel, and experiential travel,
into its service offering.
Incentivising travel
Ute’s daughter Sasha works with her in the business, and tells us
more about the various subsidiaries within the group, “Won Incentives
& Events is a very fresh company, focused on creativity and aimed
at brand activations, conferences, launches and events, anything
that you need to promote your brand or your event, from A-Z. We
22 I SOUTH AFRICA DELUXE I BUSINESS & FINANCE
The socially conscious traveller
Travellers today have become a lot more socially aware, and there are
many who are no longer satisfied with a traditional holiday, they’re
looking for a more meaningful travel experience. Sasha explains how
they’ve responded to this popular request by creating Wanderlust,
the group’s leisure and experiential travel department, “We focus on
the overall experience rather than just the destination. Your experiential adventure could include a walk to Everest base camp, the Inca
Trails, white river rafting, or shark diving, as well as the much-loved
leisure trips to Mauritius and the Maldives, except that they will likely
include some kind of environmental or social aspect. So you might
go on safari, but you’ll also go into the local areas and perhaps help
to collect illegal snares from farms. Then you’ll pass those through to
the local people, who then repurpose it into a sellable item for tourists. Alternatively, people can travel to India and assist with polio
vaccinations as part of their trip. It’s no longer about just about going
overseas on holiday, it is about having a meaningful experience and
giving back.”
An exclusive club
ONE Travel’s dedicated business travel division is staffed by dedicated travel experts, available to communicate through multiple
means, 24 hours a day. They are focused on time management,
accuracy, expert advice and cost savings and work closely with their
corporate clients to identify the best booking and payment solutions.
Their online travel reporting means corporates are able to exercise
full control over travel spend, allowing accurate cost saving depictions and tracking of their chosen payment solution.
The Directors Club by ONE Travel is a new loyalty concept created for
their high net worth clients. Sasha explains, “The Directors Club aims
to provide high net worth individuals, and directors, with a VIP concierge style travel service which delivers a First Class travel experience.
Our members enjoy exclusive benefits such as a dedicated VIP travel expert, negotiated rates with luxury hotels, discounted transfers,
business class deals, leisure add on deals, luxury getaway specials,
meet and greet airport services, hand delivered travel vouchers and
documents, the ability to earn points which can be used at our exclusive online loyalty store, as well as access to exclusive events and
more. Our sales team is able to assist them with signing-up and will
take them through the initiation process. Thereafter they will have
access to their own dedicated travel desk that will assist them with
all their needs.”
Adaptability
Ute points out that travel habits have changed a lot from her early
years in the industry, when she worked for Lufthansa, “We’ve recognised and adapted to the changing needs of our customers by
improving on our turnaround times, creating efficiencies in our own
office structures and in our processes to ensure that we adhere to
very stringent turnaround times and requirements for our clients.
At the same time we’ve invested sizeably in technology for example
our ONE Travel app, which allows clients to be in touch with us at any
given time, and which gives them all the information they will need for
their trip, from their flight information, tickets, and maps, to suggestions on where to eat, etc. In doing so, we’ve managed to successfully
combine the traditional human face of the agency with always available technology-based assistance.”
Fulfilment of a vision
Ute has successfully grown the small start-up into a thriving and sustainable business through some of the most challenging years that
the South Africa travel industry has faced in the past two decades. By
keeping her eye on her original vision for ONE Travel, and by ensuring
the business remains agile, she has managed to keep the personal
touch that’s so important for frequent travellers, while offering a traditional and technologically savvy service to their clients. Photos: © One Travel
have an incredible team of passionate visionaries, strategist, planners and creators who we brought together to design, execute and
manage exceptional events, travel incentive programs and premium
conferencing within in Sub-Saharan Africa. We offer a full service
package following the "cradle-to-grave" framework, which allows us
to manage all aspects relating to the incentive or event; from consultation to the design, implementation, logistics, on-site management
through to debriefing and database management. Additionally we
work as an extension of your marketing and communications teams
to develop event strategies and increase brand awareness.”
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