New features added to the Tratok Project following community feedback.

The team behind the Tratok Project genuinely believe in our product’s ability to revolutionize the travel and tourism industry. Our goal is to build a needed service that addresses the requirements of all industry stakeholders. We understand that in order to realise the project’s objectives, the end product and service needs to add value to the industry.  Therefore it is of paramount importance to our vision that every stakeholder has the best possible user experience.

While we have assembled a highly experienced and competent team, we understand that nothing is perfect and there are always ways to improve and therefore we place great emphasis on listening to constructive feedback from the community and implementing changes if we feel that they add value.

One of our focuses has been the elimination of “inefficient middlemen” from the reservation equation. This has been interpreted in different ways by the public. Our intention was to prevent excessive fees charged by travel agents in order to reduce costs for consumers and profits for suppliers. We do not in anyway question the validity of a travel agent’s knowledge and we are sure that they add valuable suggestions to clients. Earlier this week, management became aware of a publication written by Janeen Christoff on Travel Pulse which highlights a very valid point. She states “there is no way that it can provide the sophisticated, customized, knowledge-based advice that a travel adviser can give.” (Source). A short read of Janeen’s bio and her blog shows that beyond a doubt, she is a passionate traveller and the sort of stakeholder that Tratok was envisioned for.

While our technology uses Machine learning, history, prices and reviews to match consumers to suitable services, the personal touch of a travel adviser can add value and we agree with her point. Therefore we believe the addition of travel advisers to the application will offer a superior product. As a result, our developers in London are conducting a further iteration of the software to accommodate this feature and add travel advisers are a stakeholder, alongside hotels and airlines. However, in the spirit of the project, there will be full transparency on all fees so that clients are aware of how much they are paying each relevant party in a transaction.

The team would like to take this opportunity to thank the community for this feedback and helping us add a valuable feature to the application. We are delighted that interest in the project continues to grow and that constructive discussion of features is taking place. Such feedback means the future looks most promising.