One of the things that many of our users have been telling us is the inability to communicate with experts on the ground before booking a package such as safari. Many websites waste a lot of time by creating a back and forth system starting with a “request quote” and then confirming payment details over some other manner- this helps tailor the safari but the process is just too cumbersome. We’d rather create the widest range of packages through itineraries and then sell, price them competitively and allow a faster and more convenient payment process directly on our site. We want to bring transparency and efficiency to the East Africa travel booking process without compromising customer service- after all a Serengeti safari is not the same as a flight ticket .
We understand that when a traveller has never been to Tanzania and is confronted with making a complex and large booking package, they may want to communicate with our team to ask questions and further refine, customize and validate their booking before clicking the “submit”button.
We have listened and responded to this important feedback early- we have tested and will be integrating a chat window on each package, so that when you want to ask any questions with a Yellow Masai agent you can using the chat window at the bottom hand corner. Below we have tested it on the recently uploaded Tarangire Safari, but will roll out across all and future packages as well as in the final checkout screen.
Yellow Masai customer service chat
The chat service is powered by Olark. It allows us to deploy this service across the site reliably and access on our phone or computer.
It is like having your very own travel agent to discuss your options except with the convenience and interactivity of the internet. And because the Yellow Masai team is distributed in USA and Tanzania, 11-12 hour time difference, there is a very good chance you will encounter a member of the team no matter where you happen to be booking from. We strive for the best customer services as we realize how important it is to get your trip just right- enjoy!
Happy New year to all our partners and the world of travelers!
Below are our commission rates for partners signing up on Yellow Masai travel portal. The rates are applicable until June 2011.
Just wanted to provide an update to our plans here at YellowMasai. We are (still) nearing launch and have been working around the clock to get content ready on various destinations and get some of our partner packages ready for launch- we had planned on being ready in November, but the difficulties is setting up the ecommerce infrastructure to take credit cards has delayed us somewhat. Meanwhile we have continued to sign up great partners including some hotels in Zanzibar where we were also having difficulty. Whilst delayed, we wanted to reassure you all that we are getting closer to Launch with now over 200 partners.
Wanted to wish all of our partners and supporters a Happy Christmas whilst we could not help you with your travel plans across Tanzania and East Africa this time- we wish you safe travels and in the new year we hope to see your research and bookings begin here from next year
We wanted to take the time to plug one of our partners in Zanzibar who would appreciate our x-mas image below. Congrats to the team at MamboMagazine, a site dedicated to Zanzibar, for launching their site last month- which looks fantastic.
We are busy doing final integrations and testing before we launch- you will begin to see more areas of the site open up over the next few weeks. The team is working flat out doing final integrations on ecommerce.
I also wanted to bring attention to our Dar Guide article and the beginning of our marketing promotions over the next 3 months.
It has been a very busy last few weeks for the Yellow Masai team. Our partners have heard our call for registration and we are only a few more signups away from hitting a big milestone 100 partners.We have also heard that some of our partners have had some difficulty signing up and appreciate that the form being long is probably a barrier to easy and seamless registration- so we will shorten the form considerably to quickly sign up and then partners can manage and complete their profile later- watch for the updates later this week.
Of all the signed up partners, I am very happy to announce that we are working with Coastal Aviation- Tanzania Flying Safari, the most reliable and popular flight charter in Tanzania covering the northern circuit, Zanzibar and the emerging southern circuit including Selous and Ruaha parks. They also own adventure camp properties in the south which we can add to our hotel section. Coastal Aviation operates a fleet of Cessna Caravans that are perfect for landing in grass runways all across the country- they are also extremely driven to integrate technology and become more efficient- for instance, they allow customers to pay by Vodacom’s M-Pesa which as a technology driven travel agent we are very excited that they are as forward thinking as we are.
Coastal's fleet of Cessna Caravans can land on almost any runway- perfect for Africa
We will work closely to integrate our systems with Coastal to allow fully automated bookings by the end of the year.
Another partner that we have been in talks with inc. Hilton Double tree group- who have now opened a couple of hotels in Tanzania, inc. Dar es Salaam. We are are very excited on the momentum- most of our registrations have been in The northern main safari district, soon we will focus our attention to Zanzibar to further increase our reach.
At this stage we are also been talking to other key partners inc. mobile banking side to ensure we set up a great solution that allows seamless bookings Tanzania and Kenya visitors of the site- these inc. the iPay solution out of Kenya and Efulusi in Tanzania. Tanzania alone has now 4 mobile banking solutions after the introduction of TigoPesa last week in addition to Zain ZAP and Zantel’s Z-Pesa and Yellow Masai is committed to working with all these.
We are on track to launch by the end of the month or maybe slightly into October- a big product update is expected in the next week. We will keep you all posted.
Yellow Masai finally made it to the local Tanzania news! Woohoo! The meeting that happened on 18th August between our friends at Rasello and I/O ventures when we approached President Kikwete about helping to set up an ICT incubator in Tanzania made it to the Sunday Guardian today. We are thrilled and look forward to this being one of many as we roll out our platform in the next few months- and remember if you are a hotel, tour company operating in Tanzania- please sign up here.
Yellow Masai is a travel company utilizing technologies to solve some key East Africa travel problems. I wanted to briefly outline the technology investment we are betting on that will benefit East African market.
A Reservation System that anyone can use: The global travel industry continues to use an antiquated & complicated Global Distribution System (GDS) built before the internet that is guarded by western airlines and travel agents. It is not well tapped into and utilized by the emerging market hotel and even domestic airlines. The rise of southwest airlines in the US and Ryanair in Europe was powered in part by these companies building their own internet reservation systems that served their destinations and customers rather than connect up to a global legacy network. Yellow Masai will build an East Africa travel specific travel reservation system that will power the booking system exclusively online and add more destinations and options than a traditional GDS- this will bring efficiencies and open up tourism potential to more travel services. We take inspiration from two companies- AirBnB and Keepmebooked for the simplicity of their applications.
Mobile SMS Gateway & Payment Integration:
The only technology that is robust enough to withstand the frequent infrastructure problems such as power blackouts and is accessible across east african is mobile technology and associated services, affordable handsets. Even the west is finally starting recognize such innovations in a recent New York Times article.
We have witnessed the rise of sms as a key communication medium. Frontline SMS is one such leader, allowing NGOs to communicate and currently working to integrate Microfinance as well later this year.
The most exciting area within mobile technology that relates to africa are the mobile payment and bankings services such as Vodacom/Safaricom’s M-Pesa (currently at 9 million users in Kenya) and Zain’s Zap that have grown extremely fast in recent years allowing ordinary citizens to pay bills and access new generation services-my current favourite is the pesahewa.com music download site that was launched this year. Yellow Masai will employ these same technologies to bring efficiencies in travel market to allow secure and convenient payments and distributing funds with our travel service partners. SMS gateway will also allow for partners to receive booking confirmations and manage their bookings whilst focusing on their business and not have to rely on unreliable power or access to computers, but the handset in their pocket. Travelers can also enjoy travel updates and make queries using the same service-the mobile side will be integrated with the reservation system.
Internet is now the lifeblood of the travel industry and rest of economy- and this post would not be complete without mentioning the undersea fibre cable backbones that were laid in the last year from Seacom and Eassy- connecting East Africa to the rest of the world, expanding connectivity bandwidth and lowering prices to make it more useable and available to the region.
We welcome partners (hotels, airlines, tour companies) interested in taking this revolutionary journey with us to sign up as we aim to roll out our system in the next few months
East Africa offers amazing travel and leisure activities for those who seek out adventures, natural wonder and friendly people. Whilst political stability, poverty remain key challenges to helping to realize the full potential of the region. Deep in Yellow Masai’s mission is a commitment to supporting and growing the masses of emerging small and medium tourism operators that lack the ICT systems and marketing skills to maintain a presence online and capture global demand for tourists in the region. A search on Expedia for Zanzibar hotels reveals no more than 30 hotels, most part of global brands or sophisticated investors who understand the importance of the internet and related booking and reservations systems to attract guests. Tripadvisor, an expedia owned company, displays many more providers and offers ratings and reviews proving that there is a demand for travelers to smaller/medium sized, local and boutique operations. However, it does not solve the booking, payment and reservation problems for this bigger selection, there is a noticeable gap for any potential traveller who reaches the buying and fulfillment stage that acts as a barrier.
The hundreds of smaller providers simply rely on word of mouth, maintain websites that are not Google “Search Engine Optimized (SEO)”, nor the proper e-commerce systems to allow easy payment of prospective guests. To their credit, what these smaller operations excel at is actually running their hotels and tours in to delight customers. If only more potential tourists could get a better glimpse at the selection and depth- then they would have more choice, be able to better plan their trips and may even push more visitors choose the region for vacations. At the core of Yellow Masai’s operation is building out a useable and affordable IT and communications infrastructure to effectively service the “long tail” or niche providers and expose them onto the internet with a great experience for visitors interested in travel in the region.
Yellow Masai will also focus the services and activities tourists expect and want that is genuinely african, above and beyond individual properties – a complete tailored package (domestic flights/ferry/bus transfers, accommodation and a seamless payment experience).
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