Internetrix is proud to announce the launch of one of our largest and most advanced website development projects to date – Odyssey Travel.

Established in 1983, Odyssey Travel is a not-for-profit organisation that provides international, educational travel programs to the over 45 market. With its head office in Wollongong and three branches in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, Odyssey offers a wide range of travel experiences, including its “Ed-Ventures” that are fully escorted tours throughout the world, with lectures and field trips conducted by local experts.

With a rapid increase in customers, strong inbound business and a new range of offerings on the market Odyssey realized that it needed to examine new information and communications technologies to improve current processes.

Enlisting Internetrix to help through a consulting process, Odyssey realised that its website represented the best opportunity to achieve efficiency, and service improvements.

But there was a problem. The Odyssey website was outdated.

“The old Odyssey website really needed an overhaul,” said Sandy Rae, Odyssey Travel’s Marketing Coordinator. “It needed to be updated, freshened up and given a new look. Advances in technology meant that the old site was not capable of providing optimum functionality to either staff or client users.”

So Internetrix was commissioned to create an advanced and functional website that Odyssey could use as a marketing tool – and more.

The Odyssey Travel website now has everything the old site didn’t: colourful photos, simple navigation, fresh content, search features, a content management system and even an online booking facility. With well over 1,000 pages, the new website even enhances the educational process by allowing customers to further research their trips.

Internetrix Freestyle has made updating the Odyssey site a breeze. “Currently 10 staff members maintain the site. Previously one staff member had complete control of the site,” said Sandy. “The Freestyle implementation means that making content changes is no longer a one person sensitive role. We most value the ability to make changes immediately when inaccuracies or errors are identified or urgent updates are required.”

With the travel world moving more and more online, the Odyssey site has another cool feature—an online booking engine. Odyssey members can research tours and when they find the one they want, they can actually purchase the package and pay for it with their credit card then and there.

“We have had a handful of bookings so far using the online booking engine,” Sandy said. “We’re really working on educating our clients about both the availability and functionality of the website.”

The new website represents a major step forward in the use of the internet as a business tool at Odyssey Travel, by giving the business an international context that only the internet can do.

From the sales, marketing and internal efficiencies perspective, that is a major feat! Ultimately, the new website was a powerful and wise investment into the future, which supports the needs of the operation from both the marketing and ordering perspectives well into the foreseeable future.

To visit the site yourself, go to www.odysseytravel.com.au