Systems, methods and computer program products for receiving and responding to customer requests for travel related information

• US 7,383,190 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2000
• Issued: 06/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Zoob, Jessica, Scharankov, Julia, Petruccelli, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): OUELLETTE, JONATHAN P
• Application Number:
  US09/662,463
• Time in Patent Office: 2,818 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1
• US Class Current: 705/346
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer program products enabling customers to communicate requests to travel experts located in a cities around the globe. A particular customer'"'"'s request is received by one or more experts located in a city to which the consumer has expressed interest in travelling. The one or more experts respond to the customer request by providing the customer information or offering to help the customer with travel arrangements. Because the experts are located in travel destinations the experts have special knowledge regarding travel inquiries related to the city to which the customer wishes to travel. Communication between the customers and experts may be facilitated, coordinated and monitored through the use of a destination expert server in communication with the customers and experts via the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating the distribution of travel-related information, comprising:

communicating with a customer over a computer network having a destination expert server, wherein the destination expert server includes an answer database;

determining a destination expert to which a plurality of requests from a plurality of customers are forwarded by the destination expert server, wherein the destination expert is knowledgeable of a particular destination;

presenting an offer related to the particular destination to the customer;

identifying a plurality of experts, wherein the plurality of experts are in selective communication with the destination expert server;

receiving, from the customer, a request comprising at least one of;

customer data and destination question data, wherein the request is received by the destination expert server and, wherein the request is related to a desire of the customer to create travel plans;

associating the customer data with the destination question data and storing the association in the answer database, wherein said answer database includes a plurality of travel answers previously provided by said plurality of experts;

parsing the request to determine when the request includes destination question data;

determining whether the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

when the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

automatically retrieving an answer database response to the request from the answer database, wherein the retrieving step is performed automatically by said destination expert server without intervention by the destination expert and the customer, such that the answer database response includes a retrieved answer and a proposed itinerary;

when the request is not formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

facilitating a selection, based on the request, of the destination expert from the plurality of experts, wherein the destination expert has particular knowledge about the destination city;

forwarding, by the destination expert server, the request to the destination expert to facilitate the destination expert to communicate with the customer to provide a response to the request;

sending the request to the destination expert to obtain a destination expert response including a proposed itinerary, wherein the proposed itinerary is based upon the particular knowledge of the destination expert related to the destination city, and wherein the destination expert response further includes an offer to book reservations for the proposed itinerary;

providing at least one of;

the answer database response and the destination expert response to the customer;

enabling an interactive session between the destination expert and the customer to facilitate the destination expert interactively processing travel reservation requests from the customer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein facilitating selection of a destination expert comprises selecting a destination expert from among the plurality of experts, wherein the destination expert is located in the destination city.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein communicating with the customer over the computer network includes receiving a credit card number from the customer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the destination expert response from the destination expert and forwarding the destination expert response to the customer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring communications of the destination expert server.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the step of transmitting the automatically retrieved answer to the customer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer is a new customer such that the destination expert server did not previously include new customer information, and the database relating to the subset of customers includes answers previously provided to pre-existing customers.

8. A system for accepting and responding to a customer request for travel information relating to a destination city, comprising:

a destination expert server configured to determine a destination expert to which a plurality of requests from a plurality of customers are forwarded by the destination expert server, wherein the destination expert is knowledgeable of a particular destination;

the destination expert server configured to presenting an offer related to the particular destination to the customer;

the destination expert server configured to receive a request comprising at least one of;

customer data and destination question data from a customer for information relating to the destination city, to associate the customer data with the destination question data, and to store the association in the answer database;

the destination expert server configured to parse said request to determine when the request includes destination question data;

the destination expert server configured to determine whether the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

when the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

the destination expert server configured to automatically retrieve an answer database response to the request from the answer database, wherein the retrieving step is performed automatically by said destination expert server without intervention by the destination expert and the customer, such that the answer database response includes a retrieved answer and a proposed itinerary;

when the request is not formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

the destination expert server configured to facilitate a selection, based on the request, of the destination expert from the plurality of experts, wherein the destination expert has particular knowledge about the destination city;

the destination expert server configured to forward the request to the destination expert to facilitate the destination expert to communicate with the customer to provide a response to the request;

the destination expert server configured to send the request to the destination expert to obtain a destination expert response including a proposed itinerary, wherein the proposed itinerary is based upon the particular knowledge of the destination expert related to the destination city, and wherein the destination expert response further includes an offer to book reservations for the proposed itinerary;

the destination expert server configured to provide at least one of;

the answer database response and the destination expert response to the customer; and

,

wherein the destination expert server enables an interactive session between the destination expert and the customer to facilitate the destination expert interactively processing travel reservation requests from the customer.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the customer provides the destination expert server with customer contact information, and wherein the customer contact information is forwarded by the destination expert server to the destination expert.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the destination expert is located in the destination city.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the destination expert server is accessible to the customer via the internet.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of experts are in selective communication with the destination expert server via electronic mail.

13. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for facilitating the distribution of travel-related information, the processing instructions directing a computer to perform the steps of:

communicating with a customer over a computer network having a destination expert server, wherein the destination expert server includes an answer database;

determining a destination expert to which a plurality of requests from a plurality of customers are forwarded by the destination expert server, wherein the destination expert is knowledgeable of a particular destination;

presenting an offer related to the particular destination to the customer;

identifying a plurality of experts, wherein the plurality of experts are in selective communication with the destination expert server;

receiving, from the customer, a request comprising at least one of;

customer data and destination question data, wherein the request is received by the destination expert server and, wherein the request is related to a desire of the customer to create travel plans;

associating the customer data with the destination question data and storing the association in the answer database, wherein said answer database includes a plurality of travel answers previously provided by said plurality of experts;

parsing the request to determine when the request includes destination question data;

determining whether the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

when the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

automatically retrieving an answer database response to the request from the answer database, wherein the retrieving step is performed automatically by said destination expert server without intervention by the destination expert and the customer, such that the answer database response includes a retrieved answer and a proposed itinerary;

when the request is not formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

facilitating a selection, based on the request, of the destination expert from the plurality of experts, wherein the destination expert has particular knowledge about the destination city;

forwarding, by the destination expert server, the request to the destination expert to facilitate the destination expert to communicate with the customer to provide a response to the request;

sending the request to the destination expert to obtain a destination expert response including a proposed itinerary, wherein the proposed itinerary is based upon the particular knowledge of the destination expert related to the destination city, and wherein the destination expert response further includes an offer to book reservations for the proposed itinerary;

providing at least one of;

the answer database response and the destination expert response to the customer;

enabling an interactive session between the destination expert and the customer to facilitate the destination expert interactively processing travel reservation requests from the customer.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the processing instructions for directing a computer to perform the step of facilitating selection of a destination expert comprises processing instructions for directing the computer to perform the step of selecting a destination expert from among the plurality of experts, and wherein the destination expert is located in the destination city.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the processing instructions for directing a computer to perform the step of communicating with the customer comprise processing instructions for directing a computer to perform the step of communicating with the customer over the computer network, wherein communicating with the customer over the computer network includes receiving a credit card number from the customer.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the processing instructions further direct the computer to perform the step of receiving the destination expert response from the destination expert and forwarding the destination expert response to the customer.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the processing instructions further direct the computer to perform the step of facilitating a transaction with the customer, wherein the transaction relates to the request.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the processing instructions further direct the computer to perform the step of monitoring communications of the destination expert server.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the processing instructions for directing a computer to perform further include the step of transmitting the automatically retrieved answer to the customer.

20. A device for enabling customers to access experts located in cities to which the customers may wish to travel, where the experts can answer customer questions and book travel arrangements for the customers, comprising:

a processor;

a storage device in communication with the processor via a system bus, wherein the storage device, and

a memory connected to the processor, the memory including an operating system for storing a program to control the operation of the processor, and a destination expert control module,

wherein the processor is operative with the destination expert control module to;

communicate with a customer over a computer network having a destination expert server, wherein the destination expert server includes an answer database;

determine a destination expert to which a plurality of requests from a plurality of customers are forwarded by the destination expert server, wherein the destination expert is knowledgeable of a particular destination;

present an offer related to the particular destination to the customer;

identify a plurality of experts, wherein the plurality of experts are in selective communication with the destination expert server;

receive, from the customer, a request comprising at least one of;

customer data and destination question data, wherein the request is received by the destination expert server and, wherein the request is related to a desire of the customer to create travel plans;

associate the customer data with the destination question data and storing the association in the answer database, wherein said answer database includes a plurality of travel answers previously provided by said plurality of experts;

parse the request to determine when the request includes destination question data;

determine whether the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

when the request is formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

automatically retrieve an answer database response to the request from the answer database, wherein the retrieving step is performed automatically by said destination expert server without intervention by the destination expert and the customer, such that the answer database response includes a retrieved answer and a proposed itinerary;

when the request is not formatted to enable an automatic search of the answer database;

facilitate a selection, based on the request, of the destination expert from the plurality of experts, wherein the destination expert has particular knowledge about the destination city;

forward, by the destination expert server, the request to the destination expert to facilitate the destination expert to communicate with the customer to provide a response to the request;

send the request to the destination expert to obtain a destination expert response including a proposed itinerary, wherein the proposed itinerary is based upon the particular knowledge of the destination expert related to the destination city, and wherein the destination expert response further includes an offer to book reservations for the proposed itinerary;

provide at least one of;

the answer database response and the destination expert response to the customer;

enable an interactive session between the destination expert and the customer to facilitate the destination expert interactively processing travel reservation requests from the customer.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the identification of a plurality of experts comprises confirming that the destination expert is familiar with the destination city.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein communicating with the customer over the computer network includes receiving a credit card number from the customer.

23. The device of claim 20, wherein the processor is further operative with the destination expert control module to receiving the destination expert response from the destination expert and forward the destination expert response to the customer.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the processor is further operative with the destination expert control module to facilitate a transaction with the customer, wherein the transaction relates to the request.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the processor is further operative with the destination expert control module to monitor communications of the destination expert server.

26. The device of claim 20, wherein the processor is operative with the destination expert control module to transmit the automatically retrieved answer to the customer.