Utess Voyages is located in the stunning and diverse region of Marrakesh, Morocco. They offer a wide variety of tours for travellers from all over the world, both groups and FIT (flexible, independent travellers). “Depending on where they are coming from, everyone is looking for a unique experience. Some travellers don’t care to go to the beach, and some you have to offer 2 or 3 days on the beach,” explains Salh Raffali, General Manager of Utess Voyages. “We also have historical tours and some that are just for fun. We have everything.”
In 2016, they decided to attract more FIT bookings to help mitigate the volatility of the group booking market. They needed to partner with someone who could help them seamlessly connect with strategic booking channels to add more sales opportunities. That is when Utess Voyages partnered with TourCMS, allowing them to integrate with several OTAs (online travel agencies) and other booking platforms.
With TourCMS connecting them to more OTAs and booking channels than ever, Utess Voyages has been able to book about 50% of their business, on average, as FITs, with travellers coming from all over the world. While this gives Utess Voyages great opportunities to expand revenue and reduce uncertainty, FITs are also much more labour-intensive than group bookings. “FIT is quite complicated. When you have a group of, say, 45 people, you do the work for the entire group at the same time. In FIT, each one has to be dealt with individually, so it’s a lot more work. The major reason we looked for a partner was to move from the group charter operations to more added value operations.”
Speaking with Salh, he says what they appreciate the most about TourCMS is its complexity in providing a wide range of services.
“The great thing about TourCMS is, it has so many different parameters that can be turned on and off that allow us to do a lot of connectivity that others could not.”
On the other hand, the system is still simple, which allows him to manage the system easily. While the Palisis team is responsive and available for troubleshooting, Salh says, the configuration is so open and flexible, that with a minimal amount of technical knowledge, he is able to do basic troubleshooting on his own.
“What I always love about TourCMS is the flexibility and being open, because everything is visible, especially on the API side. Any operator who is a little bit literate in technology can figure out what’s going on and how to do things,”
“TourCMS does troubleshooting very well, but there is no need for TourCMS to be in the middle if I can explain it myself.”
After seven years of working together, the Palisis team inquired with Salh and Utess Voyages to plan our global team gathering. During our holiday celebration in December 2023, the Palasis team embarked on a remarkable trip to Morocco. The Utess Voyages designed an itinerary offering our team an array of memorable experiences during the two-day adventure in Marrakesh. This included exploring markets, visiting historical sites on foot, quad biking in the desert, and savouring authentic cuisine in a picturesque oasis. Our team bonded and experienced new cultures together, creating lasting memories.
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