DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS

Introduction

DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS is the Number One provider of holidays into West Australia both internationally and domestically.

It currently generates 100,000 tourists annually for Western Australia and continues to grow at a strong rate.

DISCOVER WEST operates a highly effective multi-channel distribrution network.

This includes:

• Wholesale


• Inbound


• Online/Internet


• Major event management

DISCOVER WEST brings people from all over the world to holiday in West Australia.

DISCOVER WEST provides more business to Western Australian tourism operators (hotels, coach operators etc.) than any other organisation, and represents around 500 individual tourism operators located throughout the State.

DISCOVER WEST operates the State Wholesale Programme for Western Australia.

It is responsible for marketing Western Australia's tourism products and packages to all 4,000 retail travel agents throughout Australia, and a further 1,000 agencies around the world.

In recognition of DISCOVER WEST's phenomenal success at marketing Western Australian tourism, in 1998, the Western Australian Tourism Commission appointed the company to operate the State Government Wholesale Programme on its behalf.

DISCOVER WEST now operates the largest wholesale programme for West Australia in its own right.

DISCOVER WEST works closely with many house-hold-name retail travel organisations around the world. This includes the following Australian icons:

• Flight Centre


• Harvey World Travel


• STA Travel


• Travelscene


• Travelworld


• Jetset


• Qantas Travel Centres

DISCOVER WEST conducts major consumer advertising campaigns throughout the Eastern States and overseas.

The cutting-edge technology Customer Contact Centre is located in Perth and services consumers and agents from around the world.

DISCOVER WEST has developed a world first Online Booking/Marketing System.

It enables any combination of accommodation, vehicle hire, tours and packages within the same itinerary with a single payment. The system has been developed by DISCOVER WEST’s own in-house team of software engineers.

The discoverWest.com internet facility is the most popular and comprehensive website on West Australia.

The 138 page full colour DISCOVER WEST Book is the most comprehensive holiday brochure on West Australia. 

It is distribruted in great numbers throughout Australia and around the world. It has become known as the "bible" on West Australia thoughout the industry.

As DISCOVER WEST grows, it continues to invest-back in promoting sustainable Western Australian tourism and the economic, social and employment benefits it brings many communities.

DISCOVER WEST recognises and actively encourages the role of Quality Assurance in West Australian tourism.

DISCOVER WEST is a part of the Harding family's Kahaven Group.

Ongoing Staff Training and Culture

The on-going training and development of staff is a key to DISCOVER WEST's success.

New reservations staff must undergo DISCOVER WEST Cadetship before they become West Australian Specialist Consultants. Ongoing staff training is at least a weekly occurrence for all people - from continued professional development to product training to specific computer systems training.

Training is conducted in-house, using the dedicated Training Room facilities and through site and destination visits. DISCOVER WEST maintains a company culture that fosters excellence within each work team, and which delivers world-class business practices and professionalism.

For example, it does not reward people for selling particular products; instead the consumer is matched with the most appropriate product for their individual requirements. This ensures that the consumer is totally satisfied which in turn reflects well back onto the brand of DISCOVER WEST for future business referrals. It is also more satisfying for our people to see the fruits of their labour.

Formal systems and procedures are fundamental to the smooth operation of the Company, particularly at peak busy times. Each functional area and job has a specific written Standard Operating Procedure manual.

The total business and management system of the company from the top down is subject to external Quality Assurance audits and has received full QA accreditation.

Next Generation Wholesaler

In handling such a large number of wholesale holiday bookings, it is vital that the company's core Computer Reservations System is efficient and accurate. After conducting a worldwide study of existing Computer Reservations Systems, it was deemed that no "off the shelf" solution would be truly suitable. A standard wholesale computer system would simply not 'hand-hold' each booking well enough.

DISCOVER WEST developed its own cutting-edge-technology Computer Reservations System in order to handle the peculiarities of each individual booking effectively and accurately.

A dedicated team of computer software engineers (programmers) are directly employed to develop and maintain the Computer Reservations System.

In 2004, DISCOVER WEST developed and released a world first Online Booking/Marketing System.

It enables any combination of accommodation, vehicle hire, tours and packages within the same itinerary with a single payment.

The Online Booking System enables reservations to be taken and confirmed instantly; the bookings being automatically passed onto the suppliers; payment taken; and for Travel Documentation electronically issued - all within a split second and without a single person from DISCOVER WEST's offices being involved.

Consumers and agents can now 'hand make' their own bookings directly into the sophisticated, but simple to use system.

Ongoing development of the Online Booking System will ensure that it maintains its industry leading position, with some exciting new functionality about to be released.

DISCOVER WEST is confident that no other inbound wholesaler would be more efficient and accurate.

A perfect balance has been struck between electronic efficiency and the need to "hand make" each person's holiday.

Reservations Customer Contact Centre

DISCOVER WEST handles up to 2,000 customer contacts in a single day in its cutting edge facility.

A state-of-the-art telephone system is fully integrated with the proprietry computer system.

A unique call cascading system ensures that calls are answered very quickly.

Emailed enquiries are handled by teams of Specialist Consultants who concentrate mostly on responding to emails.

This division also provides telephone support to users that have booked “live” via the Online Booking System.

Each of the reservations teams has a Team Leader who is the supervisor and able to provide full back-up for the team members. The Head of Reservations oversees all Team Leaders.

The Customer Contact Centre enjoys great team morale and high job satisfaction.

Events Division

DISCOVER WEST established its dedicated events division around a year ago in order to handle the special travel, accommodation and touring needs of major events and large groups.

DISCOVER WEST’s Events Division has been appointed as the official Travel, Accommodation and Touring Manager for the following events:

• Darts World Cup, Pacific Masters and Australian Championships.  This internationally televised world championships brought hundreds of people from around 70 countries in spring last year.
  
  

• Australian Surf Life Saving Championships while it is in Perth for 2007, 2008 and 2009.  This annual event has twice the number of competitors as the Commonwealth Games and is the largest and most spectacular surf sports carnaval in the world. It will attract many 10,000+ competitors, supporters, officials and media each year. See discoverWest.com/surf.
  
  

• World Ultimate Championships in 2006.  This fast growing event will attract 2,000+ people from more than 40 countries. See discoverWest.com/ultimate.

• 12th FINA World Masters Swimming Championships in 2008.  More than 8,000 people are expected to descend on Perth from all corners of the world for 10 days of swimming championships events. See discoverWest.com/masters.

We look forward to making further exciting major event announcements over the coming year.

Company Structure

Following are the main departments and divisions within DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS:

• Product Marketing Department


• Reservations Division


• Information Technology Department


• Events Division


• Documentation and Systems Department


• Graphic Design Department


• Accounts & HR Department

Kalhaven Group

Kalhaven Group is amongst the largest of inbound/wholesale organisations in Australia.

The Group handle swell in excess of 100,000 passengers a year and continues to grow at a very strong rate.

DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS was acquired by Kalhaven Group in January 1996, and had just one employee at that time. In just a few years it grew to be the market leader.

Kalhaven Group has just recently established a sister company DISCOVER AUSTRALIA HOLIDAYS which markets all of Australia.

DISCOVER AUSTRALIA HOLIDAYS is The Australian Specialist.

It has engaged in contracts with more than 1,000 accommodation providers, tour operators and vehicle hire companies in the eastern states. It has secured excellent rates.


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