Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-01
2002-11-05
Coby, Frantz (Department: 2171)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C705S005000, C705S014270, C705S026640
Reexamination Certificate
active
06477533
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present systems and methods relate to on-line booking of cruises and in particular concern applications designed to facilitate cruise price comparisons, reservations, booking, and customer management by travel agents.
BACKGROUND
The growth of the cruise industry has created an increase in the number of passenger cruise lines that sail each year. Each cruise line offers a variety of cruise packages, and the cruise packages vary depending on destination, sailing date, cruise ship, cabin category, excursions, special discounts, and so forth. While such variety offers great selection to potential customers, finding the cruise package that best fits the customer's budget and preferences is often a difficult task. As a result, travel agents spend large amounts of time and energy researching and booking cruises for customers.
Conventional approaches in the cruise industry fail to recognize the travel agent's efforts in the cruise booking process. Travel agents are actively involved in the cruise booking process beginning with the initial customer contact (e.g., by telephone conversations, personal appointments, e-mail solicitations, etc.), extending to determining what the customer wants and scouring the cruise line industry to find acceptable cruise packages. By the time the agent has booked a cruise package for the customer, the agent has spent a significant amount of time with the customer. Such service is laborious and typically compensated by sales commission. While there are a number of customer information systems which have been used by travel agents to provide and manage customer contact information, these systems fail to track the travel agents' close involvement with their customers throughout the cruise selling and booking process. By relying on such systems, travel agencies and the agents working therein encounter customer management difficulties and inaccurate tracking of sales commission figures.
An additional problem with conventional approaches is that they fail to ensure that customers will be directed to agents with whom they have previously established a relationship. It is important that the customer receives the personal attention and recognition often available only from the travel agent with whom the customer has had previous contact, as the customer/agent relationship significantly impacts repeat business rate in the cruise industry.
An further problem with conventional approaches is that travel agents spend large amounts of time determining the preferences of each individual customer, finding cruise packages that meets the customer's needs, and booking the cruise package. A travel agent spends, on average, well over one hour with each customer manually sifting through piles of paper documentation and is constantly on the phone with cruise lines to get current information, such as availability and pricing.
Thus, conventional approaches fail to provide customer/agent tracking and management thereby reducing the number of potential customer cruise bookings. Furthermore, conventional approaches do not adequately protect the agent's customer pool leading to reduced commissions through inappropriate customer switching among agents.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One embodiment of the present invention is a system for tracking agent interaction with customers implemented in a web server environment wherein a plurality of remote users utilizing web browser programs electronically communicate with the system via a data communications network. The system comprises an electronic customer database configured to store information about a plurality of customers and an electronic agent database configured to store information about a plurality of agents. The system also comprises an electronic rules database configured to store rules that define temporal relationships between the plurality of customers and the plurality of agents and an agent ownership program module in communication with the customer database, the agent database, and the rules database, wherein the agent ownership program module is configured to control agent access to information about the plurality of customers in the customer database based at least upon the temporal relationships between the plurality of customers and the plurality of agents.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a method for managing agent ownership of customers utilizing a cruise web server environment to electronically communicate via a data communications network with a plurality of remote users using web browser programs. The method comprises receiving and agent identifier that represents an agent from a remote user's web browser program, receiving a customer identifier that represents a customer from the remote user's web browser program, and verifying that the customer is available for interaction with the agent by querying an electronic database of agent and customer information. The method also comprises receiving an agent activity from the remote user's web browser program and determining a time window for agent activity based at least upon at least one agent ownership rule, wherein the at least one agent ownership rule is stored in the electronic database. The method further comprises creating an agent of record association between the agent and the customer wherein the agent is designated as the customer's agent of record for the allotted amount of time and storing the agent of record association in the electronic database.
An additional embodiment of the present invention is a method of verifying agent ownership of a customer utilizing a cruise web server environment to electronically communicate via a data communications network with a plurality of remote users using web browser programs. The method comprises receiving an agent identifier representing an agent from a remote user's web browser program, receiving a customer identifier representing a customer from the remote user's web browser program, and retrieving a customer record from an electronic customer database, wherein the customer record corresponds to the customer and the customer record includes an agent of record. The method also comprises determining whether the agent of record corresponds to the agent represented by the agent identifier and returning a message to the remote user's web browser program signifying whether the agent of record corresponds to the agent represented by the agent identifier.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a method for changing an agent of record association between an agent and a customer utilizing a cruise web server environment to electronically communicate via a data communications network with a plurality of remote users using web browser programs. The method comprises receiving an agent identifier representing an agent from a remote user's web browser, receiving a customer identifier representing a customer from the remote user's web browser, and receiving an activity that represents a communication between the agent and the customer from the remote user's web browser. The method also comprises retrieving a customer record from an electronic database, wherein the customer record corresponds to the customer and the customer record includes an agent of record association, setting the agent of record association to correspond to the agent represented by the agent identifier, and storing the agent of record association in the electronic database.
An additional embodiment of the present invention is a method for tracking and maintaining relationships among clients and agents, wherein the method uses a web browser program to electronically communicate with a remote cruise web server system via a data communications network. The method comprises submitting an agent identifier that corresponds to an agent to the remote cruise web server system, submitting a customer identifier that corresponds to a customer to the remote cruise web server system, and receiving agent ownership information from the remote cruise web s
Bastnagel Maryann
Berk Byron J.
Burkard Anne D.
Carpenter Michael A.
Christen Holley S.
Coby Frantz
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Travel Services International, Inc.
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