It is tough for any size agency to compete with the large online travel agencies buying power with the airlines today, but there are tools available today that can help level the playing field. Choosing the right flight booking software is one way of getting your business online and helping you start to compete effectively. The ultimate goal being to provide your clients with a unique online booking solution that results in operational efficiencies and reduces the overall cost of making a booking for all parties involved.
With ever changing airline schedules and airfare wars, an airline reservation system needs to provide Live access to airline content to be truly sure the most up to date availability and pricing is used. Some air booking engines even offer the ability to allow users to simultaneously search multiple content sources, saving valuable time when searching for the best airfare for a specific itinerary.
With so many suppliers offering so many different deals, keeping track of price adjustments and promoting special offers can be a full-time job for many travel website owners. It is almost impossible to keep pace with changing airfares and the multitude of special promotions that are available simultaneously. Today's travel booking solution must provide the capability to quickly adjust a selling price and advertise value add offerings included right in the availability display.
The right airline reservation system can help simplify the process with a powerful business Rule features that allow business owners to easily adjust a product's selling price, include value add offers in the availability display and more while supporting both B2B and B2C channels. In addition to the basic business rule functions such as marking up or discounting an airfare, some solutions incorporate custom rule types that even define additional filters to determine which type of booking or selling channel a specific business rule should apply to. Some include filters to define a Rule by affiliate, supplier, departure, destination and more.
You'll want your airline reservation system to include revenue management Tools with the ability to mark up or mark down a product's selling price by airline, itinerary, class of service, dates and more. Some of the more advanced flight booking software includes features like the ability to set up automatic emails to Customers' and /or Agents advising them that a payment is due.
Reporting capabilities should not only include basic booking statistics but also search statistics to determine what customers may be looking for when searching on your website, but not finding with the airline reservation system you are providing. This type of information can be potentially valuable when negotiating private airfares and commissions with suppliers or defining price adjustments to be included in the air booking engine display.
Flight booking software should provide with the tools needed to manage a business and provide operational efficiencies that increase sales and reduced costs. It should be easy to use for both agents and customers and provide live access to airline content. Finding the right online booking solution can be an important decision for your travel business and finding the right technology partner can be even more important.
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