DISCOVER AUSTRALIA HOLIDAYS

Introduction

DISCOVER AUSTRALIA HOLIDAYS is fast becoming the brand of choice for Australian holidays.

It is a great Australian success story and continues to grow at a strong rate based on its core philosophies of superior service and superior value for money.

DISCOVER AUSTRALIA is a major Inbound-Wholesaler bringing people from all over the world to holiday in Australia.  It has ‘live’ instant confirmation connections with more than 1,500 accommodation providers throughout Australia.

DISCOVER AUSTRALIA produces printed holiday brochures in high volumes and operates the very popular discoverAustralia.com website

Both companies are part of the same group, which is amongst the largest of inbound-wholesale organisations in Australia.

In excess of 100,000 tourists are generated annually for Australia by the group, which continues to grow at a strong rate.

The list of travel companies around the world that make inbound bookings with the group reads like a "whos who" of key players in each market.

As The Australian Specialist, holidays are "hand made" in order to enable sophisticated travellers to break free from the ordinary travel experience.

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

The on-going training and development of staff is a key to the group's phenomenal success. A company culture is maintained that fosters excellence within each work team, and which delivers world-class business practices and professionalism.

DISCOVER AUSTRALIA 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 AUSTRALIA's own in-house team of software engineers.

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

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

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

Reservations Customer Contact Centre

Up to 2,000 customer contacts per day are handled in the cutting edge Customer Contact Centre facility.

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

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

Emailed enquiries are handled by teams of Australia 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 Operations Manager oversees all reservations Team Leaders.

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

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 AUSTRALIA 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 AUSTRALIA 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 AUSTRALIA'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 AUSTRALIA 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.

Ongoing Staff Training and Culture

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

New reservations staff must undergo DISCOVER AUSTRALIA Cadetship before they become 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 AUSTRALIA 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 AUSTRALIA 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.

Events Division

The dedicated Events Division handles the special travel, accommodation and touring needs of major events and large groups.

DISCOVER AUSTRALIA’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.
  

• Australian Surf Life Saving Championships while it was 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 carnival in the world. It attracted 10,000+ competitors, supporters, officials and media each year. See discoverwest.com/surf

• World Ultimate Championships in 2006. This fast growing event attracted 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 descend on Perth from all corners of the world for 10 days of swimming championships events. See discoverwest.com/masters

DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS

• Flight Centre
  
• Harvey World Travel
  
• STA Travel
  
• Travelscene
  
• Travelworld
  
• Jetset
  
• Qantas Travel Centres
  

More information:

DISCOVER WEST HOLIDAYS

Company Structure

• 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 a great Australian success story.

In just ten years Kalhaven Group has grown to be amongst the largest of inbound/wholesale organisations in Australia.

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

Consumer Protection

Industry Information

Member: Australian Travel Compensation Fund International Air Transport Association Pacific Asia Travel Association Perth Convention Bureau Inbound Tourism Organisation of Australia Australian Tourism Export Council Australian Tourism Owners Group Tourism Council Australia KALHAVEN GROUP KALHAVEN HOLDINGS PTY. LTD. AUSTRALIAN COMPANY No 071 663 262 GOVERNMENT LICENCE No 9TA905 More information: News Centre Career Opportunities New Suppliers Main Menu