It seems like new websites and online channels are popping up daily, revolutionizing the distribution landscape of the entire travel industry. Whether you are a travel supplier like an airline or a retail travel agent, several opportunities to quickly expand the reach of your travel booking engine to new customers are readily available. Todays' online booking solutions provide unique and powerful tools to book airline tickets, hotel accommodations and even cruise vacations quickly and easily online providing a seamless online experience for users.
Today's online booking engines are able to provide both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) applications designed to automate processes and increase bookings. Customizable header, footers and style sheets enable travel agents to match the look and feel of their website while providing a seamless online experience for their online customers. Some applications are even fully customizable, allowing the booking engine's complete layout to be modified to match an agency's specific requirements.
The explosion of online travel agencies (OTA's) in the travel marketplace has fueled the growth of travel sold online and has allowed for a few large OTA's to dominate the online travel market. Unfortunately the price advantage some large OTA's can offer come with limited customer service in the event your plans suddenly change. And while many of the online travel booking solutions offered by Suppliers are easy to use, the content is often limited to a specific brand. These are two reasons why many consumers have learned the benefits of using a professional travel agent. Not only for the simple ease of having someone else take care of everything for you, but because booking with a travel agent is the best way to reserve hotel accommodations. Specialized agents using the right travel booking engine can save a tremendous amount of time and energy for even the most experienced travelers.
Whether a consumer likes to shop online, by phone or in person, today's travel booking solutions need to be ready to serve customers how and when they decide. Applications should be built using technology that is mobile ready so consumers can access and use them across the variety of different devices so many use during the research, shopping and booking process today. Your online booking engine needs to access the content your clients are looking for at a competitive price. It should include business rules capability so that you can easily adjust a product's selling price and offer targeted promotions to your customers.
Online travel booking solutions need to include detailed product descriptions and rich content linked to media files that can assist your agents as well as consumers booking online across the research, shopping and booking process. And for those planning to expand into new markets, consider a solution that can handle multiple languages and currencies.
Finding a travel booking engine with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision for your business. Finding a technology partner with solutions that will help you reach your customers when, where and how they shop for travel can be just as important.
No comments:
Post a Comment