A new content management system has been launched for the experiences sector, a sector that has been hoarding the headlines of late.
San Francisco-based tour operator Magpie Travel launched Magpie and simultaneously announced that Viator founder Rod Cuthbert, and the founders of Tokyo-based Venture Republic, had participated in an initial round of funding.
Founder Christian Watts said the system is addressing an issue for tour and activity operators who devote significant resources to loading and maintaining product descriptions and images with their distribution partners.
“It’s not uncommon for an operator to have 20 or more – sometimes many more – channel partners; all of them need up-to-date information, so managing product descriptions and images for everyone becomes a major task. While having a diverse and broad distribution channel is a good thing, it also means allocating an enormous amount of staff time to ensuring each partner has the content they need, and that they keep it up to date,” said Watts.
Watts said Magpie brings the key elements of Product Information Management (PIM) – manage content, enrich it, distribute it efficiently – to the experiences sector.
Rod Cuthbert, one of the company’s seed investors and a pioneer in the OTA space, said content-related issues are just as severe for distributors. “The channel will certainly benefit from a content repository that can map to each reseller’s format. And frankly, even the biggest resellers have limited resources; most have significant backlogs before they can get new products up and bookable online. A system that saves time and resources on the initial product load is going to be instantly popular; if it can also help with updates and maintenance, it will quickly become a must-have on both sides of the industry,” he said.
Watts said that the first release of Magpie also features an extensive Style Guide, and an interface to a translation service, both developed specifically for the experience sector.
Former Lonely Planet digital editor John Ryan has been roped in to develop a style guide with guidelines that cover not just the basics like tone and grammar, but also very specific issues like the difference between a short and long product description, digital reading habits, and how to write in the ‘active voice’ to inspire readers to become buyers.
To help operators who are getting into international markets, Magpie worked with a translation agency to develop a simple workflow that allows an operator to select the products they want translated, the languages they require, and with the press of a button will have appropriate translations loaded back into Magpie for use on the operator’s own site, and by any resellers they choose.
Magpie pricing starts with a free service for a basic range of functionality, and $99 per month for access to enhanced features. Enterprise pricing for global operators is also available. Translations and other ancillary services are priced separately. Resellers do not pay to access Magpie.
Featured image credit: Magpie Travel website
