Worldia, which has traded for 10 years in Europe and has just launched in the US, allows agents to package tailor-made trips together with extras and ancillaries.
The Paris-based brand, which has 200 staff including a Berlin call centre, already works with some 5,000 agents in mainland Europe. Its UK entry comes after it was granted an Atol, which will be a September renewal.
Worldia’s UK business development manager Dave Pope, previously head of sales and training at Not Just Travel, said the expansion followed a €25 million fundraising effort last year.
“We’re demonstrating our platform to all the major players in the UK,” he told TTG. “Now we have an Atol, we can get people registered and trained. We’ll be doing a series of webinars once commercial deals are done.”
He said Worldia’s aim was to remove some of the “pain points” agents can typically encounter when they are assembling a tailor-made trip.
“Usually that involves ringing a tour operator, which can take days or weeks," said Pope. "Our platform does all that. It will make a travel agent look like a tour operator.”
Pope said Worldia’s inventory boasted 800,000 products across 85 destinations, including “rail, ferries, car hire and day tours”.
Among these are 20,000 hotels and 5,000 activities, plus flight options from a variety of airlines – including low-cost carriers.
Worldia uses bed banks but also has direct contracts with some hotels, with properties from three stars upwards, as well as real-time availability and pricing.
“There are other tech companies that do something similar, but the level of detail and flexibility with Worldia is unique,” he said. “It’s also 24-hour, so for someone working at home in the evening, it’s there for them.”
Pope added any agency or network wanting to work with Worldia could have a fully branded interface “within 24 hours”.
