Does Your Flight Reservation System Offer Enough Options?

There is no doubt that airlines have been a driving force in the growth of the travel industry. Not only have airlines been able to change people's behavior by making flying as common as other modes of transportation, but the people they transport need a place to stay, a way to get around while at their destination and something to eat just to name a few things. Airlines, hotels, car rental companies, even cruise lines to a degree have an interdependent relationship with each other and share customers.

As the flight networks grew, it was not long before the airlines began strategic marketing partnerships with car rental companies and hotels. So, it's only logical that a flight reservation system be seamlessly integrated with these other travel components. Today's online travel booking engines are a result of years of technological evolution and have helped travel suppliers expand their business and become early pioneers in the online revolution.

As the online marketplace became increasingly competitive, innovative business rules engines were developed for today's flight reservation systems to allow business owners to drive efficiencies in the sales process by automatically delivering the proper marketing message to agents as well as consumers. Powerful revenue management tools available with today's travel booking engines can provide online travel retailers the ability to quickly and easily preset business rules and adjust a product's selling price. Both are critical tools needed to remain competitive in today's rapidly changing online marketplace.

The custom packaging options available allow the travel agent to price multiple products such as Cruise, Air & Hotel and bundle them into a package to sell as packages online. And there are even dynamic packaging tools that can combine a cruise itinerary with airline and hotel arrangements. By taking the guesswork out of the equation, agents can serve their customers more efficiently and eliminate errors while reducing the time and effort to complete a booking.

The flight reservation system you choose needs to be able to provide your travel business the access the airline content your customers need at the price they are looking for. It needs to include business rules capability for you to easily promote and offer special targeted promotions. The best solutions provide the ability to define business rules based on the date booked, dates travelled, airline, flight number and even the type of airfare used. Value add offers such as free travel insurance or other merchandising opportunities can be included right in the availability display in some cases, alerting customers to where they will find the best value in addition to lowest price. And most of all, it needs to be easy to use and mobile ready to meet the demands of today's consumer.

Finding a flight reservation system with the right combination of options for your travel business can be an important and critical decision for your business. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach your customers when and how they shop for travel can be just as important.

A Cruise Booking Engine Should Be Flexible

Currently the process to research, plan and book a cruise generally takes a long time and involves multiple steps. The initial research is sometimes started online by many consumers using a mobile device, talking with friends and family or seeking advice from a traditional travel agent. Additional research about particular a cruise line or itinerary may also be performed online by checking cruise review sites or other social media. And as a new generation of travelers considers a cruise for their vacation, their path to purchase will become increasingly complex with consumers naturally moving across different devices, sites and channels.

When it comes to booking the cruise, some consumers may prefer to book by phone or online with the specific cruise line. Due to their familiarity with cruising, past North American cruise customers are more likely to book using an online cruise booking engine than the first-time cruiser. A cruise holiday package can be is a significant expense for most, especially those going on longer cruises or high-end cruise lines. Generally, the higher the price tag, the more likely the customer will contact a travel agent or the cruise line directly before making their final purchase. A traveler who is purchasing a $30,000 cruise package will likely need reassurance that they are getting the proper value for their money, even if they are a repeat cruiser.

One of the most difficult challenges faced when launching a cruise booking engine is the complexity associated with cruise content. Access to live availability and pricing is critical to ensure the most up to date information is being provided. Cruise sellers need to be able to access and control content for each individual cruise line including the ability to bias the display and promote preferred suppliers if they wish. One key feature necessary for successful online shopping and bookings is the ability to compare prices and itineraries across multiple cruise lines. However, this can be a complicated effort considering the different ship specific content and configurations which differ dramatically across ships and cruise lines. And these differences continue to grow as cruise lines build larger ships with their own unique design, features and attractions. Integrating a cruise booking engine with detailed descriptions, deck plans, cabin photos combined with links to media rich files and videos becomes increasingly important to help with the research and shopping process.

Cruise lines offer consumers special perks such as onboard spending credits, value add offers and special discounts which can also make it difficult to easily identify the best value for the individual customer's needs. Business Management tools need to include the ability for a business owner to quickly and easily mark up or mark down a product's selling price and the ability to include marketing messages in the availability display to highlight value ad offers and special discounts.

Choosing a cruise booking engine with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach today's mobile consumer with the content they are looking for can be just as important.

Travel Booking Solutions Offer Many Features

Travel booking solutions have come a long way over the past decade. Flexible and customizable, many of today's applications are easily customized to support a business' own unique brand identity and selling style. In some instance, the booking engine is hosted by a technology provider, however they are able to customize the header, footer as well as the look and feel to provide a seamless online experience for Users. While others offer fully customized applications for the business owner looking to design their own booking solution. Either could be good options for your business depending upon your requirements, so it is always best to check out several different options and the associated costs that are available.

And with different consumers using so many different methods to shop and purchase just about everything, travel booking solutions need to easily manage multiple selling channels using a single application. For example, as Millennials become the largest segment of consumers, you need to make sure your travel booking solution is ready to serve this generation's travel needs with a mobile ready booking engine. Online booking engines should be designed to easily set up additional users and affiliated websites in order to help your business compete and grow. Whether a customer books directly with a travel agent (B2B) -or- they prefer to shop and book online (B2C), your online booking solution needs to provide the ability to service them quickly and easily.

Travel booking solutions need to be secure and accurate and use a scalable online booking platform that will allow your business to expand. Applications should be designed to meet the demands of suppliers, traditional and online travel agencies as well as the end User. Real-Time connectivity with suppliers is always preferable as it ensures the most accurate and up to the minute schedules, availability and pricing are used. And if you are looking to expand your business to include international markets, many of today's travel solutions are designed to meet the unique requirements of global markets and can easily handle multiple currencies as well as be quickly translated into multiple languages.

And to effectively compete in today's online marketplace, you'll need business management tools to provide the controls required to easily manage your offering to customers. Revenue Management tools should include the ability to quickly mark up or discount a product's selling price using a wide range of criteria including supplier, travel dates, booking dates, class of service and more. Display biasing capabilities and the ability to highlight value add offers in the availability display can give business owners full control of what their customers see while Robust reporting tools allow for quick and easy business tracking.

Today's travel booking solutions can provide any size agency the technology needed to compete with Large Online Travel Agencies and strengthen Customer relationships by expanding the products and services offered. Choosing a booking solution with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach today's mobile consumer with the content they are looking for can be just as important.