“What we do，There are four companies doing it in China，Ctrip、Where to go、Ali and us。” 188bet’s CMO Kevin said to me at the end of the interview。

188bet is a Chinese start-up company that distributes international air tickets，Products and services are mainly aimed at B-end customers。The business shape has changed several times in the past four years，But his core competitiveness has not changed，It is a set of "Private Fare Model" developed by them themselves - this is something only four companies in the country are doing。

Product

There are three key elements in booking an international air ticket: 188bet (what are the ticket prices for different combinations of different segments，What rules to follow)、Cabin (whether there are seats) and policies (what kind of discounts are available to agents with ticket issuance qualifications，Including agency fees and back commission)。Among them，A company called ATPCO has the most complete database of published 188bet rates，GDS (Global Distribution System) masters the specific air ticket calculations under cabin class and fare rules，Agent controls the policy。

The most complicated thing is the freight price。The prices that airlines normally publish to the sales system are called public fares，At the same time, the airline will also direct some private fares to core agents。So what 188bet does is to clarify these two sets of freight rules，Establish your own freight rate database。

Disclosure of freight rates，188bet relies on cooperation with ATPCO and GDS，Collect and sort data，Find logical commonalities through data mining of search requirements and output results，Then do secondary integration，Established his own understanding of freight rules - this approach is similar to Keyfare we reported before，But 188bet started earlier。

Kevin says，188bet in this process in addition to accumulating freight rates itself，Also designed its own data usage rules based on freight pricing logic、Calculation method and storage method。This helps 188bet’s search engine improve search efficiency。188bet spent about five years accumulating and iterating this set of logic，Kevin says，The current shipping price accuracy rate of search engines can reach 99.9%。

As for private freight rates，Due to being scattered among multiple agents，Many documents are still paper documents，188bet has set up a team to collect this data，And manually enter the freight rate database。This part of the data belongs to "Privilege Price"，The proportion is very high in regions such as Southeast Asia (estimated to reach 30%)，So these databases are actually still very valuable。Kevin predicts that this privilege price will still exist in the next three to five years，So this is still a window for 188bet。

After confirming the price，188bet must consider the cabin space - whether there are seats after determining the price？The airline enters all cabin class and fare information into GDS，So 188bet must go to GDS to verify the space and real-time price。188bet has established a close cooperative relationship with TravelSky，At the same time, it also introduced many GDSs around the world，Thus hoping to get more accurate real-time booking class and price information faster。

Finally, policy，188bet built its own policy library，Invite global air ticket agents、Wholesalers and peer platforms have settled in 188bet’s backend，Mastered relatively comprehensive international air ticket policies and ticket issuance sources。

Kevin says，The above three combined form the core competitive advantage of 188bet products，Smart search engine technology + integrated global supply chain。

Value

188bet has been making this product since 2011，According to Kevin，The logic behind it is user needs。A user’s typical requirements for purchasing international air tickets include three points: full route，Accurate price，Fast speed。And 188bet connects to GDS，Establishing your own freight rate database，In order to provide users with comprehensive flight ticket results、Accurate，And the search process is fast enough。Working with a large number of agents，Can also achieve full search results；And these agents have professional service capabilities，Users have a better experience during the cancellation and change process。

From the perspective of market supply，GDS is the core 188bet entire system，Product output is mainly in two forms: black screen operating system and web page service。The former is the method used by most agents，Requires very specialized operations to retrieve and subscribe via complex DOS-like passwords，Although accurate, it relies heavily on manual labor，And the efficiency is very low；The latter requires strong technical capabilities for supporting development。

Under the trend that black screen operating systems are gradually facing elimination，Someone is needed in the market to help GDS with secondary integration and secondary development。Ctrip was the first to reach strategic cooperation with ATPCO and major GDS to develop its own system，But only used within Ctrip’s system，Exclusive。Alibaba Travel completed its layout through the acquisition of Aslan, who entered this business in the early years，Qunar has just reached a cooperation with ATPCO，The development work has just started。Kevin says，188bet does not intend to become a competitor of the three giants，But be their filler。In addition, there is room for a large number of travel service companies and personalized customized services in the market，This is also 188bet’s chance。

188bet has been working on “direct freight rate connection” since its inception，For example, provide underlying data and search structures to Skyscanner；Establishing three-party cooperation with Qunar and suppliers on the platform。Because some OTAs do not have many resources in China，There are not enough agent clients，Acquire products and customers quickly with 188bet。Wholesalers who don’t have a good grasp of technology also want 188bet to help distribute air tickets，This constitutes the current business model of 188bet。

188bet has made many attempts on the commercialization path before。
◾In the early days, 188bet was targeted at wholesalers and secondary、B2B distribution platform between three-level agents，But with the gradual disappearance of second- and third-level votes、The development of OTA，This business is no longer the focus。
◾Later, 188bet developed the business of system integration for large wholesalers - a backend with 188bet's own search engine，Embedded ERP、Secondary distribution system and other functions。But Kevin confessed，This is a market worth tens of millions at most，Lower ceiling，And each agent requires a customized platform，Marginal cost is very high，The future will not be the focus。
◾Later，188bet has established stable cooperation with a group of key enterprise customers through open API interfaces，Including large travel agencies、TMC and OTA。

Story

188bet certainly doesn’t want to just be an unknown “water deliveryman”。They hope to pass on the enterprise customers they now have，Extended to personal travel of all employees of the company。For example，188bet opens the platform to enterprise users，Business travel tickets can be booked on the platform，Private travel of all employees of the company can also be completed on the same platform。As long as 188bet can provide good enough products and services，Cooperate with promotion work，This logic makes sense。

Also，188bet will continue to provide B2B corporate services。For example, with the help of the data scale we have，188bet has plans to provide customers with data analysis through big data mining，Assist corporate customers in decision-making。Some large companies have already begun to contact 188bet，Discuss the possibility of data cooperation related to revenue management。

188bet also has plans to acquire wholesalers，Thus obtaining a stronger resource advantage，Improve control over the entire service process，Solve the current problem of poor user experience in ticket cancellation, change and rebooking services。

Actually，188bet no matter what story you tell，Essentially, they are all stories driven by technology。Kevin said that the team had the idea to do this project，I just saw the opportunity to do air ticket data and systematization after cutting into the relatively low level in China。Looking at the overall environment，Ctrip relies on the principle of local area network to replace the previous telephone and fax，Solves users’ needs for efficiency；Qunar has caught up with Ctrip by relying on search logic，Addresses users’ needs for price comparison and transparency。The interval between the two is only 5 years，From the golden age of Qunar to today，It’s almost 5 years again。Demand-side users have higher demands for information transparency and service experience，The demise of small and medium-sized ticket agents on the supply side and the transformation demands of large ticket agents，As well as airlines’ demands to “connect online” and increase the proportion of direct sales，Will this mean the emergence of new opportunities？

There is no doubt that 188bet new opportunity must be technology-driven，So Ctrip、Qunar and Alibaba Travel are also constantly improving their technical systems，Is 188bet good news for startups？