Safari Portal 2.0 Debuts New Features and Improved Workflow
As its name suggests, Safari Portal was originally conceptualized as a solution for the high-end safari industry.
Safari itineraries are often unlike travel itineraries for other parts of the world (except for beach holidays) because the itinerary is primarily based on where you’re staying. For example, a safari itinerary is more about the fact that you’ll be staying three nights at Lewa Wilderness, three nights at Angama Amboseli, and three nights at Angama Mara, and less about the fact that you would have breakfast at 6am, a game drive from 6:30am to 11:30am, lunch at midday, a siesta, an afternoon game drive, sundowners, dinner, and drinks by the fire; i.e., the actual daily detail is usually incredibly flexible.
By comparison, an itinerary for a trip to Italy might be very different. In this case, including the timings for restaurant reservations, private tours, spa bookings, and transfers would be extremely important. We would refer to this as an “activities-based” itinerary, in contrast to a safari which would be a “properties-based” itinerary.
Because Safari Portal is so flexible, it is possible to use the platform to create an “activities-based itinerary,” with a single page for each day of the itinerary, and to use the “Content blocks” element to easily add in each activity on any given day, very quickly.
This option works great but has some limitations. It is not so easy to reschedule an individual activity or event from one day to another. Because you are adding activities individually to each day, it doesn’t automatically generate an overview page - though you could manually create this. But, if you do that and something changes, you would need to update it in two places.
Safari Portal is extraordinarily committed to excellence, and in that spirit, we are excited to announce the release of Safari Portal 2.0.
So, what’s new?
We have incorporated all the feedback we’ve received and made some huge changes. We've introduced new features that make our itinerary builder solution easier and more flexible to use. The new features in Safari Portal 2.0 help travel agents, DMCs, and tour operators create even more efficient, user-friendly travel itineraries.
It is easier than ever to change dates, with an intuitive calendar interface that lets you simply drag an event or events to a new date or time.
Updating timings for activities - including meet-up times, check-in and check-out times, dinner reservations, and more - is managed from one central place (on the Details tab), and that tracks through on both the Overview page AND the daily itinerary page.
There is automatically one page for each day of the itinerary.
You can now include flight information from the flights search API on the itinerary level.
There is no text over the primary, left-side image anymore.
You can choose whether to show all the details for any given event by default or not; this means that all the information is always accessible, but in the case of longer itineraries, we have reduced the scroll time.
You can include Room information (including how many of each room type) and Meal basis from the Details tab with a single click, and this appears both on the Overview page and the daily itinerary page.
In conclusion, for those looking to create detail rich travel plans for “activities-based” itineraries, Safari Portal 2.0 offers improved workflow, efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction. It’s the perfect solution for travel professionals who are looking for a way to save time, money, and headaches. The best news is that Safari Portal 2.0 is available immediately. You can checkout a quick video of key highlights here (include a link?).
But wait! I LOVE Safari Portal the way it is… please don't make me switch versions!
Don't worry; you'll always be able to use Safari Portal just the way it is. Only now you can use the new "Calendar” builder mode or the Classic Safari Portal.