HLO tech double-down

HELLOWORLD has confirmed the Oct rollout of new technology platforms in its retail, corporate and wholesale operations, with the company’s annual report detailing ongoing investment in IT systems despite the pandemic.

The ResWorld mid-office system is now in place in almost half of the company’s Helloworld branded outlets in Australia, while the corporate version of the platform is in beta testing with deployment starting next month.

The new Mango wholesale platform, based on a custom front-end for Tourplan NX, will roll out in Oct too, with the company saying “this is a very significant shift for our wholesale business and will provide much greater functionality, ease of loading and a wider array of product for all our retail agents throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Helloworld’s cruise division has now rolled out a unified version of Odysseus, while the Air Tickets platform is undergoing ongoing enhancement to accommodate NDC functionality and reintroducing automation around cancellations and refunds.

Another significant innovation within the company is the new ReadyRooms platform, based on the former Excite Holidays software acquired by Helloworld from the collapsed firm’s administrators (TD 14 Feb 2020).

Now called Athena, the system has been transformed by HLO’s team in Greece and will be launched later this month.

Finally, the Skiddoo online travel agency operation acquired three years ago (TD 20 Mar 2018) will be relaunched in Oct with an updated platform.

Temporarily closed due to the “complete lack of international travel at present,” Skiddoo will go live in anticipation of the reopening of Australia’s borders.