Online travel booking applications are one of the biggest benefits that the internet has provided the travel industry. These online booking solutions have revolutionized the way the entire travel industry interacts and conducts business with customers. Today, anyone with access to the internet is just a few clicks away from being able to research and book their own travel arrangements. The travel booking software available today has automated and customized the entire booking process while providing comprehensive and innovative solutions for different segments of the travel industry. There are solutions to book travel available today that will automate the shopping and booking process for any travel component including Airlines, Hotels and even Cruise Lines.
The airlines started this trend years ago by automating the process for travel agents to sell flights by launching their own booking engines for travel agents. By using an airline booking engine, travel agents were able to greatly improve their productivity when selling airline tickets and provide better service to their customers. Travel booking solutions have been evolving ever since, constantly adding new features & functionality as well as new product lines such as Hotels, Ground Transportation, Travel Insurance and even Cruise Vacations.
Applications that are easy to use and contain the information a travel agent or consumer needs to research the options available are critical to success. For example, finding the right hotel based on an individual’s specific needs is an important part of planning any trip, but can be overwhelming with so many options available. To help simplify this, many hotel booking engines integrate links to media files & rich content to assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process.Online cruise booking engines allow anyone to quickly research and book cruise vacations with many containing detailed ship and cabin descriptions as well as photos to help in the shopping process.
These easy to use online booking engines are built to automate processes and reduce the amount of time it takes to make a booking and can have agents selling quickly with minimal training.Some booking software can also extend booking capability to an agency’s website, allowing customers to research and book travel when and where they want, while still receiving the benefits of using a travel agent.
With so many options available in the market today, it is important to choose the solution that is right for your business. Some things to consider include the type of products you plan to sell (i.e. airlines, hotels, cruise, etc.), the source you plan to secure your content from (i.e. GDSs, Consolidators, Direct, etc.) and the ability to protect your brand identity. You will also want to consider which selling channels you plan to use (i.e. B2B, B2C, B2B2C ) as well as any future expansion plans you may have for your business.
So start using an online Travel Agent Software solution and revolutionize your reservation process, both you and your customers will be glad you did.
