NEWS – BELMOND AND PERURAIL BRING SPECIALIST RAIL TECHNOLOGY TO PERU

Luxury travel company Belmond and its joint venture in Peru, PeruRail, have selected the Travel Studio technology platform to operate their rail and tour operator businesses in Peru. The deal involves an expansion of Belmond’s existing partnership with travel technology specialist Open Destinations, who have successfully implemented their technology across Belmond’s global network of rail, cruise and touring products, and an introduction of Open Destinations in this growing travel market for PeruRail.

Open Destinations will be replacing the legacy technology that Belmond currently use across their Peruvian operations. This includes Belmond’s luxury trains, the Belmond Hiram Bingham and Belmond Andean Explorer, as well as PeruRail’s Vistadome and Expedition tourist trains and its wider passenger network. Travel Studio will also be implemented to run the operations of Belmond’s local destination management company, Journeys in Peru.

Belmond’s Vice President of Revenue Management and Distribution, Shawn Jereb explains that the flexibility of Travel Studio was a key factor behind the decision.  ‘Open Destinations has demonstrated that they really understand how to support the complex requirements of the Belmond organisation,’ says Jereb. ‘The software is highly intuitive and caters to the needs of a specialist tour operating business and rail operation. Travel Studio gives us the best of both worlds.’

Jereb claims that the wide range of functionality available in Travel Studio will bring more efficiency and speed to Belmond’s Peruvian operations, through greater inventory flexibility and yield management. Travel Studio will also be providing a smoother reservations process for over 1m rail passengers of PeruRail, via integrations with mobile devices, station message boards and new self-serve kiosks at the rail stations.

Open Destinations’ CEO Kevin O’Sullivan thinks that tour operator technology is on the rise in the rail sector. ‘Belmond’s operations show that the rail industry is evolving. The companies in this sector are becoming specialist tour operator businesses who need yield management tools in addition to reservation technology to manage their businesses. We have demonstrated that we understand their unique needs. Our continued investment in Travel Studio means it is well positioned to keep up with the changing needs of this sector.’