Travel Technology Solutions Provide Options

There are so many different types of travel content available and so many different travel technology solutions available that it is difficult to know which the best fit is for your company.  While one booking engine may have the great functionality and the features you need, it may not have the content your clients are looking for.  On the other hand, you may find a travel booking solution with the perfect content for your clients, but then discover that it is missing the functionality and features your business needs.

For your content source, you may want to consider different sources for different product types.  For example, if you sell multiple products such as Cruise, Air, and Hotel, you may want your technology solution to access cruise content using one source, but look to use a totally different connection for your airline bookings and perhaps another source for booking a hotel.  Finding all the right travel-related content sources in a single online booking solution that has the features and the functionality you need can be overwhelming at first and a bit of a challenge at best. 

The solution to your problem may be an online booking engine with the features and functionality you need to properly manage your business that also has a flexible supplier connection a gateway which will allow you to access different content sources for different travel products.  Some of the more advanced travel booking engines even allow you to choose specific content sources by Supplier, providing the ultimate in content source flexibility. And as preferred supplier relationships become increasingly important to securing the best price and commission levels, display biasing has become a tool some Travel technology solutions provider agencies to promote their preferred suppliers over those that are not preferred.  The ability to bias the availability display for one supplier over another allows an agency owner to steer consumers to preferred suppliers and increase their overall profit. Many suppliers are quick to recognize the benefits of a biased display and may offer increased commissions and/or marketing support to those agencies with an online booking solution that has this biasing capability.

Travel technology solutions also need the ability to quickly and easily define business rules so business owners can maximize their profits. The ability to include value adds offers or special deals in the availability display can be an essential marketing tool when you are promoting special offers and deals online. Your travel booking engine needs to be able to keep up with all the different specials and promotions that Suppliers are making available today.  Selling price adjustments and value add offers should be quick and easy to set up and have the flexibility to define a business rule to be specific to a market or channel, travel or booking dates, supplier and more.

Finding a travel technology the solution that has the functionality and content you need is an important decision for your business, finding the right technology partner to assist you can be even more important.

Travel Agent Software Needs Options

The travel agent software currently available in the market includes fast and easy to use applications that can help your travel agency reduce the amount of time it takes to research and complete a travel booking. Today’s travel technology solutions provide quick, live access to multiple types of supplier content such as airlines, cruise lines and hotels to ensure the most up to date availability and pricing is used.

For Leisure agents, especially those selling complete cruise vacation packages, combining the different travel elements can be challenging as well as time-consuming. Airports and flight arrival times need to be coordinated with cruise departure ports and passenger embarkation times. Travel time and options between airports and cruise ports can vary greatly, further complicating the process. And with the majority of cruise passengers requiring a flight to get to their cruise departure, an airline booking engine can be an important component of a cruise vacation.

Finding the right hotel to match an airline itinerary can be challenging. Travel booking solutions that prompt the user to explore hotel options based on the flight arrival and departure date/s can help simplify the entire process. Easy access to features like integrated hotel information and descriptions linked to rich media can help the User select the option that best fits their needs. From an agent's workflow perspective, custom day to day itineraries can be built for customers that easily show them their itinerary, accommodation details and more.

Sophisticated business rule features can allow a travel agency owner to develop and deliver customized marketing messages to their Users. A product’s selling prices can be easily adjusted and rules defined to specifically consider published airfares, negotiated/private airfares as well as consolidator airfares. Travel agent software that integrates cruises with air and hotels can even just show the one total price to the User. Access to traditional business to business as well as business to consumer channels give today’s agency owner the flexibility to serve customers the way they choose. And ready to serve clients in today’s mobile world, many online booking engines are mobile built using innovative responsive technology that automatically adjusts screen size and layout to the type of device being used.

Travel agent software that has a quick response time and supported by a technology partner that is responsive to your needs can be critical for your business to remain competitive in today’s fast pace online environment. Consider using a travel booking solution that uses a secure, scalable online booking platform designed to meet the demands of suppliers, travel agencies as well as the end-user. This will allow your technology to easily expand with your business as it grows. Choosing a technology partner with experienced development and support staff available around the clock can be key when any issues do arise.

Finding travel agent software that is fast, flexible, responsive with relevant content is an important decision for your travel agency business. Finding the right technology company to partner with can be even more important.

Best Hotel Booking Engine Option

Travel booking solutions should streamline the sales process and reduce the amount of time it takes your agency to train new agents to allow them to focus on selling faster.  Packaging options can allow travel agents to price multiple products, easily bundle them into a package and sell them online. Here is where an easy to use standalone hotel booking engine can be an excellent tool for agents or consumers to research and confirm hotel reservations.

Create your own pre-packaged offers for your customers that include not only their airline arrangements but their hotel accommodations, transfers, and even cruise vacations as well.  For those looking to design and create their own custom packages, dynamic packaging solutions allow both agents and consumers to package and price cruises, flights, hotels, and other travel products in real-time.  How your travel agency decides to integrate hotel accommodations into the products offered depends on your individual agency’s business and customer needs.

Some travel agents may avoid offering to check hotel accommodations for their customers since choosing the right hotel for a particular trip can be tricky depending upon a customer’s specific needs.  Hotels can vary so much with each offering different levels of service and amenities included, not to mention geographic location within a region.  For those looking to stay in a particular area of a city or near the specific point of interest, a hotel booking engine with geo-coding that helps customers and agents quickly find the right hotel in the right location can prove to be a valuable and timesaving tool.

Your travel booking solution should include the ability to pre-define business rules and easily adjust a product’s selling price or offer targeted promotions to your customers.  Today’s online hotel booking engine needs to include detailed product descriptions and rich content linked to media files that can assist agents as well as consumers throughout the research, shopping, and booking process.  Users are able to view pictures representing different room types, actual property public spaces as well as street views.  And for those planning to expand into new markets, many of today’s travel technology solutions can easily handle multiple languages and currencies.

Advances in technology continue to change the online shopping experience and mobile readiness has become increasingly important to anyone looking to compete online.  The question is not whether more travel bookings will be made using a mobile booking engine, but rather how much of your business today is already being impacted by this change in behavior.  ‘Mobile First’ should be the philosophy for all development strategy whether immediate or long term.

Adding a hotel booking to your customer's travel itinerary is easy to do and gives you the opportunity to assist with more of their travel needs, so you will want to seriously consider including a hotel booking component as part of your travel technology solution.  Finding a hotel booking engine with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner with solutions that will help you reach today’s consumer when, where and how they shop for travel can be just as important.

Airline Booking Engine Options Can Vary

Most airline booking software can provide “live” connectivity with airlines so that the most up to date pricing and availability is used. Some air booking engines even have the ability to search multiple content sources simultaneously for the best price, allowing agency owners the ability to combine their own content with content from other sources. Many travel agents look for an online booking engine that allows them to customize the branding such as headers, footers and style sheets to reflect their agency’s unique identity and provide a seamless online experience for their customers shopping online.

So many of today’s airfares come with specific rules attached to them that choosing the right fare can be confusing.  Some fare rules are important for Consumers to be aware of such as the ability to change their itinerary, class of service or receive a refund on their ticket.  While other fare rules may only make sense to the Travel Agent such as published verses private fares, fare basis codes, combinability, and other GDS information.

The flexibility to choose which information your airline booking engine displays to specific types of users of the application can prove to be an important and valuable tool.  Whether you choose to display the information directly from the GDS or customize the display to contain only the information you want to display can be left up to you.

Look for an airline booking the engine that allows you to set up and control what rules are shown to the user. Many of today’s applications allow you to set up different rules for published verses private fares for example.

The business management tools that an airline booking engine includes is an important factor to consider and something which can vary greatly from system to system.  Most applications include the ability to adjust a product’s selling price, but the level of flexibility defining business rules is where systems can vary tremendously. Most have the ability to adjust selling fares by the airline, but some go much further and allow for Rules to be defined by itinerary, class of service, travel or booking dates and much more.

The ability to easily run reports to track your business and help you make adjustments along the way is also an important consideration when evaluating any air booking engine.   Who are your top customers?  What are the top destinations your customers are interested in? Are your customers finding what they are looking for on your website?  Many applications include reporting tools that track your bookings, but some can even provide search statistics that can let you know quickly and easily what your customers are looking for when they come to your website.

This can be valuable information for a business owner to consider when reviewing their overall product offering as well as negotiating preferential rates with Suppliers.

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

Hotel Reservation Software Helps Overall Sales

Have you ever wondered why some travel agents are so successful selling hotel accommodations to their clients while others don’t bother at all?  The right hotel reservation software can help your business increase hotel bookings as part of your overall sales.  An easy to use hotel booking engine can be an excellent tool for agents and consumers to research and confirm hotel reservations.  Travel booking engines should be designed to automate processes and reduce the time and effort required to research and completes a booking. But how do you know what type of booking solution to choose with everything from generic, white label hotel booking engines readily available to complete private label travel booking solutions that meet your agency’s specific requirements.

Any online application needs to provide your users with a seamless online experience based on your specific agency branding.  The booking engine’s headers, footers, colors, and fonts should all match that of your company branding.  Some of the more advanced applications even use innovative responsive technology that automatically adjusts the screen display layout based on the type of device being used to access the booking engine.  No matter if your customers prefer to book online -or- with one of your experienced agents, you’ll need hotel reservation software that allows your agency to serve customers the way they choose.

But it takes more than multiple selling channels to be successful in today’s crowded online travel space.  Easy to use business management tools can be essential for your business to remain competitive and set you apart from the competition.

 Today’s travel booking engine needs to allow you to quickly adjust a product’s selling price and promote any special offers that may be available. And with so many different hotel options and amenities available, hotel reservation software needs to include links to media files & rich content to assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process. Geo-coding of hotel properties help Users identify which hotel properties are near a specific point of interest or neighborhood with a given city? Access to a photo gallery of the hotel help provide a good idea of the different room types and amenities are available.

The ability to easily combine air, hotel and even a cruise booking into a single custom travel package can help you quickly increase your overall sales.  A custom packaging engine can allow you to create your own pre-packaged offers for your customers that include not only their Air arrangements, but their hotel accommodations, transfers, and even a cruise vacation.  There are even dynamic packaging solutions that allow agents or consumers to package and price cruises, flights, hotels and other travel services.

How you decide to integrate the option for hotel reservations into your travel booking engine should depend upon your individual business and customer needs.   Finding online hotel reservation software with the right combination of features for your travel business can be a difficult and critical decision to make.  Finding a technology partner that can help your travel business drive efficiency through innovation can be even more important.

Cruise Booking Software Helps increase sales

If you are not selling cruises today, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to earn high commissions in a rapidly expanding sector of travel.  The cruise industry is projected to continue to grow throughout 2019 with an estimated 30+ million travelers expected to cruise, making it and the fastest-growing segment in the travel, tourism and leisure industry.  While the traditionally strong in the North America market, cruising has become increasingly popular in Europe and Australia as well as across the entire Asia Pacific region.   Cruising in the Asia market has been surging ahead with passenger numbers doubling over the past four years to over 3 million.  Unfortunately, regional travel agents have been missing out on the wave of sales revenue due to a lack of automation, a scenario that has recently begun to change.

The ability to quickly and easily combine cruise booking software with flight reservations and hotel accommodations into a single custom travel package can be critical in the Australia and Asian markets.  The majority of passengers coming from these markets require more than just a cruise booking to complete their itinerary, which can be a time consuming and complex to complete.  Matching up a specific cruise departure time with international flight arrivals and ground transportation can be overwhelming even for an experienced agent.  Adding a hotel along with any other products for a pre or post stay can just add to the complexity.  But today’s dynamic packaging solutions allow agents and consumers to build their own unique travel packages with live pricing and availability for cruises, flights, and hotels as well as other travel products. Custom packaging solutions allow agency owners to pre-package a travel itinerary to be sold online accessing supplier content Live using an agency’s specific ID. 

The right technology partner can help your travel business drive efficiency through innovation.    

Cruise lines have turned ships into destinations in their own right and cruise booking software requires the integration of detailed photo galleries, deck plans and even videos to highlight their distinct features and amenities.  Cruise line, cruise ship and cabin descriptions need to be part of the cruise booking software and linked to media files & rich content such as cabin photos, ship images and deck plans to assist Users during the research, shopping and booking process.

Cruise booking software with a powerful business rule feature can make adjusting a product’s selling price easy and allow you to easily administer targeted sales or promotions to remain competitive.  Availability display biasing capability can give you the power to focus your business on specific cruise providers or ships and potentially put you on the path to earn higher commissions.

Connecting the dots between suppliers and customers can be a complex process for any size travel business.  Finding cruise booking software with the right combination of features for your travel business can be a difficult and critical decision to make.  Finding a technology partner that can help you drive efficiency through innovation can be even more important.

Does Your Travel Booking Engine Compete

The online travel marketplace is so competitive that you can almost wonder how any travel agency other than the largest Online Travel Agencies (OTA) can survive.  But the technology solutions available today allow any size agency to compete with easy to use online travel booking solutions that allow them to automate processes, increase revenue and reduce the time and the effort required to complete a transaction.

With the online market so crowded, it is important that your Travel booking engine provides the brand management tools you need to customize the look and feel to match your company.  Some of the best-hosted travel solutions use a unique sub-hosted domain to further protect your brand identity by providing the ability to easily customize the headers, footers and style sheets.  You have worked hard to build your brand image and your website and online booking solution should be an extension of your brand.

Whether your customers prefer to make their travel arrangements directly with you -or- they prefer to shop and book online, your travel booking solution needs to provide the ability to serve them quickly and easily.  Affiliate & distribution features allow you to quickly connect affiliate users and websites to your travel booking engine.  Mobile friendly applications use innovative responsive technology that can automatically adjust the layout of the booking engine’s User display based on the type of device being used.

Depending upon your business, you may want to consider access to multiple selling channels that can be easily managed using a single application.  This type of feature can allow you to easily set up additional users and quickly connect additional affiliated websites to your online booking engine.  Administrative functions such as profile and preference management tools provide the ability to turn on/off a number of available features.  Translating the online booking engine templates into another language can either be accomplished using pre-set translated templates or easy administrative tools that allow the client to translate your travel booking engine User templates.

Today’s travel booking solutions can bring content for airlines, hotels and even cruise lines into a single platform that allows a User to dynamically build their own custom package.  This is a huge advancement compared to the days when travel agents had to use several different systems to book a packaged vacation.  Agents no longer have to use one system to book an airline seat, another for hotel accommodations and perhaps a third for booking a cruise or ground transportation.  The process of coordinating a cruise with flights and hotel accommodations can be a complex process that takes hours.   Fortunately, the dynamic packaging solutions available today streamline the entire process with dynamic packaging modules that allow agents or consumers to custom package a cruise, airline reservations, hotels accommodations and other travel products in real-time for example.

Finding the online travel booking engine with the right combination of features for your travel business can be difficult and critical to your success.  Finding a technology partner that can help your travel business drive efficiency through innovation can be just as important.

Flight Reservation Systems Help Sell More

An easy to use flight reservation system can have your agents selling faster and allow you to customize the look and feel to match your agency’s own brand identify.  Today’s online travel booking engines include robust business rules features that allow agency owners to easily adjust a product’s selling price and deliver the appropriate marketing message to their Users.  Unique and easy to follow process flows can even help you easily expand the products and services you provide your customers.

Whether your clients are making their flight arrangements for the business trip they have to take or the two-week vacation they NEED to take, chances are they may need assistance with a hotel or ground transportation to make their travel arrangements complete.  Today’s custom packaging solutions allow agency owners to pre-package a travel itinerary to be sold online.  The ability to easily combine all the different components of a trip itinerary into a single custom travel package can help you offer clients more services and quickly increase your overall sales volume.  The optional packaging modules available with some travel booking solutions combine the various live supplier connections with the travel booking engine’s innovative rules engine.  Dynamic packaging solutions allow agents or consumers to build their own unique travel packages with live pricing and availability for cruises, flights, and hotels as well as other travel products.

But your travel business will need more than great technology to be successful in selling flights online.  You need to make sure you have access to the lowest fares and best value to serve today’s price driven customer. Your flight reservation system must be able to search the best sources for content quickly and cost-effectively to ensure you offer a competitive price.  Make sure the technology you choose can provide live access to airline content to be sure the most accurate availability and pricing are used.  It helps to negotiate the lowest fares and best deals possible with the airlines when using your own agency credentials and be sure promoting any special deals that are available.   Accessing low rates offered by air consolidators is a great way to easily access the lowest fares available.  Since many air consolidators specialize in specific markets or destinations, you may look for a flight reservation system that allows you to simultaneously search multiple air consolidators for the best fares. You will need the ability to easily adjust pricing and perhaps include value add offers right in the fare availability display.

The right flight reservation system can be a great resource for any online The user that is trying to make sense of all the options available and find the best deal possible.  Make sure your agents have the expertise and tools to provide the topnotch service that only a professional travel agent can offer.  Finding online airline reservation software with the right combination of features for your travel business can be a difficult and critical decision to make.  Finding a technology partner that can help your travel business drive efficiency through innovation can be just as important.

Hotel Booking Engine Options

Whether your travel agency concentrates on selling airline tickets or it focusses mainly on selling cruises and vacation packages, chances are there is an opportunity to include a hotel booking along with your customer’s travel plans.  Although many travel agents gave up selling hotels due to the challenges they had tracking hotel bookings and collecting commissions, many persisted and the process has improved dramatically in recent years.  Adding a hotel booking to your customer's travel itinerary can be easy to do allows you to assist with more of their travel needs, so consider adding a hotel booking engine to your online solution if it doesn’t already have one. 

There are several approaches your business can take to include hotel bookings as part of your overall offering.  For example, an easy to use hotel booking engine can be an excellent tool for agents or consumers to research and confirm hotel reservations.  A custom packaging booking engine can allow you to create your own pre-packaged offers for your customers that include not only their Air arrangements but their hotel accommodations, transfers, and even a cruise vacation.  There are even dynamic packaging solutions that allow agents or consumers to package and price cruises, flights, hotels, and other travel products Live.  How you decide to integrate the option for hotel reservations into your travel booking engine should depend upon your individual business and customer needs.

And no matter if your customers prefer to book online, by telephone or by visiting your agency in person, look for a hotel booking engine that is ready to serve customers the way they choose.  Applications should be developed using mobile ready technology so that users can access them using the variety of different devices they may choose. Your online booking engine needs to access the content your clients are looking for at a competitive price, so make sure the hotel reservation software you can access the right content.

Choosing the right hotel for a trip itinerary can be tricky depending upon a customer’s specific needs. For those customers who are looking to stay in an area of a city or near a specific point of interest, hotel booking engine with geo-coding to help the user to quickly find the right location which can prove to be a valuable and timesaving tool for everyone.  The travel booking solution you use should include the capability to pre-define business rules and easily adjust a product’s selling price or offer targeted promotions to your customers.  Online hotel booking solutions need to include detailed product descriptions and rich content that is linked to media files to assist Users throughout the research, shopping and booking process.  And if you are planning to expand your business into new markets, you should consider a solution that can handle multiple languages and currencies.
   
Finding an online hotel booking engine with the right combination of features for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner that drives efficiency through innovation can be even more important.

XML Booking Engine Option

Decades ago, a good retail location with plenty of foot traffic and a few newspaper advertisements featuring special offers were enough to drive customers into your agency. The online revolution has dramatically altered this reality, changing the way consumers shop for everything, including their travel arrangements. The booking solution a travel business chooses is a key element of its operations and must support the larger overall company strategy. A review of your current systems and processes will help you find the solution that’s right for your business.

Do you need an “out of the box” fully hosted booking engine that uses standard templates with customized headers, footers as well as colors and fonts? Or are you looking to customize the booking engine templates yourself with an XML Booking Engine?

A good place to start may be reviewing your existing customer base and determining how you might serve them better or offer them additional services. After all, research has proven that it is less expensive to sell to an existing customer and avoid the additional resources required to secure a new customer. For example, have you considered adding a hotel option to your travel booking engine for those customers using your air booking engine? What about a packaging engine that can book a Cruise and then add other travel products such as air, hotel accommodations or even activities during and around the Cruise dates? Do you know how your customers prefer to make their travel arrangements? This is an important question to answer if you want to make sure the travel booking engine you choose will access the distribution channels you need to serve your customers.

Most call center applications give Agents the tools they need to research the best options and quickly assist customers on the phone or visiting their agency. Mobile-ready applications allow consumers to research and book options online at their convenience. It is all about consumer choice today and your business must be ready with a travel booking solution that is ready to serve today’s mobile consumer. An XML Booking Engine can even be used to expand your reach further by interfacing your booking engine with the various metasearch sites in the market.

Once you have determined the specific content to include and the various distribution channels you need to access, it’s time to consider your technology options. Will a simple out of the box solution work for you or does your business need something a little more customized? For those looking to design and control the layout of their booking solution, an XML Booking Engine may be the best solution. It allows you to host all of the Booking Engine’s User Interfaces on your own servers while using the XML connection for business logic as well as live pricing, availability & booking. This simple XML interface can combine multiple sources into a single interface, eliminating the need to maintain multiple connections if you work with a host agency or consolidator as well as using your own agency credentials with the Supplier.

Finding a travel booking engine with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner that drives efficiency through innovation can be even more important.

Travel Agent Software Options

Travel Agents have always been a key part of the travel industry since the beginning and have been evolving the way that they interact with both suppliers and consumers along with the rest of today’s retailers. Travel agent software such as airline booking engines, hotel booking engines, and even cruise booking engines was introduced into the market decades ago and have been evolving ever since. The online revolution and transition to e-commerce have been a crucial step for many agencies and a necessary change for them to remain in business. As a result, the online booking engines available today provide agents and their customers the ability to easily book just about anything from an airline ticket, a hotel reservation or even a packaged cruise vacation.

With just a few mouse clicks, today’s travel agent software can access the information agents need to research which hotel best meets their customer’s individual needs. For example, users can narrow the search for a hotel to a specific neighborhood within a city, the hotel star rating or a specific price range. You can even research whether a specific hotel property has a restaurant or room service available. Air travel searches can be done specifically to an airline, the time of day or even a specific class of service. Online searches for cruise vacations can be made specific to a sailing region such as Alaska or the Mediterranean, for a specific cruise line or cruise ship and even by the length of the cruise. Rich content such as Cruise ship and cabin photos along with detailed descriptions are integrated into the booking engine to help agents and customers make the right choice. Users can even select which seating time option they prefer for dinner or alert the supplier of a special need or occasion such as a passenger’s birthday or anniversary.

Different types of clients may have different requirements for their individual online booking engine. For example, the booking solution an agency may need to serve its corporate clients can be dramatically different from one they use for leisure travel customers. Corporate travel policy may dictate which specific airline, class of service or routing can be used based on an individual’s position within the company for example. Or there may be corporate travel policies to consider the limit to which hotel chains can be used or the type of room that can be booked. While those serving leisure travelers may look for a tool that’s somewhat less restrictive in some ways but perhaps searches multiple content sources to ensure they get the best price available for the flight or hotel they choose. The travel agent software available today can help automate processes while increasing revenues regardless of whether a travel agency serves corporate accounts or leisure clients.

Just as the case with much of the travel industry, consolidation has forced many travel agencies to merge or form new, closer affiliate relationships. The ability to expand the distribution of your agency’s airfares to affiliated agencies quickly and easily can be a powerful tool in today’s competitive airfare market. And while many agencies are joining Agency Consortia and forming new alliances, many want to continue to maintain their individual agency’s unique brand with their customers. Finding the right travel agent software with the tools your agency needs to compete can be critical to your business. Finding a technology partner that drives efficiency through innovation can be even more important.

Airline Reservation System Options

Finding the right online airline reservation system with access to the content you need for your travel business can be a difficult and confusing process for even the most experienced professional. There are several types of travel booking engines available in the market today to consider. Some offer specific travel products such as airline or hotel reservations and many provide the ability to target multiple selling channels such as Business to Business, Business to Consumer and even Business to Business to Consumer. 

The more advanced mobile ready booking solutions are built using innovative responsive technology that automatically adjusts the booking engine display to fit the type of device being used. This allows any User of the application to easily view and navigate through the booking process regardless of the device they are using.   There is even a state of the art mobile apps available that allow you to expand your brand’s presence to handheld devices. Understanding how your customers prefer to plan their travel arrangements along with some research on the different options available will help identify the right type of airline reservation system for you.

But finding the right online booking engine to serve all the different distribution channels you need is only part of the answer. Content is key when it comes to the success of any online business, including those selling airline tickets online. Identifying and securing the right sources to access the airline content you need can be just as critical as the booking engine functionality is to the success of your business.

Many travel agencies choose one of the Global Distribution Systems (GDS) to check availability and confirm airline reservations. Accessing fares and availability via a GDS using an Agency’s specific ID provides Users to access to published airfares available in the market as well as any private or negotiated fares an agency may have. If you plan for your booking engine to use your GDS ID to make bookings, you’ll want to find a technology partner who can connect the booking engine you choose with your Agency’s GDS ID.

Many agency owners choose to align themselves with an air consolidator in order to gain access to the lower, preferential airfares these airline aggregators can negotiate. By consolidating sales from several smaller agencies, many air consolidators can drive significant volumes with airlines.  This allows them to negotiate discounted private airfares as well as preferential fare rules and better commissions on published airfares. Some air booking engines even have the ability to simultaneously search multiple content sources for the best price, allowing an agency’s airline reservation system to combine their own agency GDS content with fares and content from other sources such air consolidators and affiliated agencies they may work closely with.

With so many distribution channel options combined with the numerous airlines with what seems like countless different fare options, finding the right airline reservation system with the right content sources can be an important and critical decision that determines the success of your online business.  Finding a technology partner that drives efficiency through innovation can be even more important.

When Was Your Last Technology Check-up?

Is it time to evaluate the way you conduct business and see what improvements can be made?  When was the last time you evaluated whether your business is operating as efficiently as it could?  Are you offering the products and services that your clients are looking for? Have the travel technology solutions your business is using kept pace with that of your competitors?

First consider whether you are offering to assist your clients with all of their travel arrangements. If you are selling your client an airline ticket for a quick business trip or a week’s long vacation, chances are they may need to book a hotel as well.  So, access to hotel reservation software is something you may want to be sure to consider when looking at your travel booking solution. Check if it includes access to links to media files & rich content to assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process. Make sure the application can be customized to match the “look and feel” of your company’s specific branding.

A good technology partner can help you automate the content as well as any include amenities once you have identified the content providers that match your client’s requirements. Planning or changing travel plans are no exception, so your hotel booking engine needs to support these features and benefits not only during the research and shopping process, but the entire booking process as well. You’ll need the flexibility to control your business rules a variety of ways, so here is where you want to make sure the application has the flexibility you’ll need.  Price adjustments should have the flexibility to be calculated as a fixed dollar amount ($) -or- a percentage (%) of the fare.  Business Rules should be easy to enter with the ability to define filters for a specific product type, supplier or travel date.

Make sure to check if you are serving your customers via the channels they prefer.  For today’s customer on the go, mobile ready travel technology solutions are an option you’ll want to consider. Many consumers use different devices as they research and eventually purchase products online.   For instance, some may start their initial research using their smartphone, but switch to a Laptop to complete the purchase.  Others will choose to use their handheld device exclusively. Either way, the hotel reservation software you use needs to be ready to serve these customers on the device they choose.

And lastly, you will not want to overlook how the travel technology solutions you are using have kept pace with the latest technological developments and whether they allow you to easily expand your business. If you plan to participate in the Global Marketplace, you’ll need a hotel booking engine that can easily handle multiple currencies as well as multiple languages.  Look for “state of the art” applications that are flexible & fully scalable and will easily grow with your business.

Identifying hotel reservation software with right combination of content and product features for your travel technology can be a critical decision for your travel business, finding the right technology partner can be just as important.

Today’s Travel Booking Solutions Take Your Business Further

The airline reservation system was originally designed to automate the process and reduce the time and effort required to complete and manage passenger reservations.  Many of today’s travel booking solutions go a step further with advanced functionality and customized applications that provide complete travel packages via a seamless online experience for customers. Some support complete private label versions where the complete layout can be changed to meet your specific requirements.  Whether your customers are looking to book an airline ticket, a hotel room or even that perfect cruise vacation, an online reservation engine can help you serve them quicker and easier.

Today’s airline reservation system provides live access to airline content to be sure the most up to date availability and pricing is used. Some even have the ability to simultaneously search multiple content sources for the best fare. Most provide the revenue management tools you will need to manage your business, including the ability to easily adjust a product’s selling price by airline, itinerary, flight number, cabin class, dates and more.Whether your customers prefer to make their air arrangements directly with a traditional travel agentor they prefer to shop and book online, today’s travel booking solutions provide the ability to service them quickly and easily and some even support multiple selling channels using a single application.

Hotel booking engines are designed to allow travel agents as well as consumers to research and book hotel rooms quickly and easily online.  Most include links to media files & rich content to assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process. Many provide maps allowing the user to quickly see where the hotel property is located in relation to local area attractions. Today’s cruise booking engines include a vast amount cruise line, cruise ship and cabin descriptions linked to media files & rich content such as cabin photos, ship images and deck plans to assist in the shopping process.  Many provide live access to Cruise Line content to be sure the most accurate availability and pricing is used as well as powerful business management tools that allow business owners to keep pace with changing fares and the multitude of special promotions that cruise lines offer.

Another key feature to consider in a travel booking engine is the use of responsive technology to provide greater support of various mobile and tablet screen sizes.  Handheld devices have become such an integral part of today’s culture their mobile devices to shop and purchase goods and services online. With the all the time that people spend using their mobile devices, it’s no wonder that mobile Apps with travel booking solutions have become a popular way for travel agents to interact with their customers. One online travel booking engine that can be used on any device will become progressively more important to your online strategy in order to keep pace with the increasing use of handheld devices by consumers. So find the online travel booking solution that is right for your business and start providing a seamless online experience for your customers.

Putting the Technology Puzzle Together

For many businesses, internal technology systems come together like a huge puzzle that fits multiple pieces tightly together to form a complete operating system. For example, the flight booking software required to operate an airline must perform multiple functions quickly and easily. Systems used to operate an airline must be accurate and incorporate important functions such as departure control and In-flight systems, passenger reservation management systems as well as the distribution of airline schedules and fares.  This includes access to seat maps& meal selection, interface with airline frequent flyer programs and access to onboard amenities is all things that a flight booking engine needs.

Flight booking software is one of the most important pieces of any airline’s technology puzzle and the flexibility for an airline’s system to easily interface with its distribution network has been a priority with most airlines for years.  Many of the older legacy systems that some airlines were using became outdated as technology has evolved, forcing them to migrate to newer and more flexible platforms.  The same is true for many traditional as well as online travel agencies.  Having the right travel booking solution can be central to your business.  Whether you are selling one of your client’s tickets for a business trip or a week’s vacation at a resort, they are probably going to need to book a flight to make their travel arrangements complete.

For today’s price driven customer, you’ll need to make sure you have access to the best value and price.  Your online flight booking engine must be able to search the best sources for content quickly and easily in order for you to offer a competitive price to your customers.  You will also need the ability to easily adjust the selling price and perhaps include value add offers right in the fare availability display.  Accessing low rates offered by air consolidators is one great way to ensure you are offering the best fares to your clients.  Since many air consolidators specialize in specific markets or destinations, you may look for an airline booking engine that allows you to simultaneously search multiple air consolidators for the best fares.

Travel agents can be a great resource to consumers trying to make sense of all the options available and find the best deal possible, so make sure your agents have the expertise and tools to provide the topnotch service that a professional travel agent can offer. Negotiating the best rates and amenities with Suppliers combined with promoting any special deals that are available will help keep your business competitive. A good travel agency can make sure consumers get the best price as well as the VIP treatment many of today’s consumers look for.  Make sure the flight booking software your application uses allows your agents and/or clients to select seats, request meals and add loyalty program information to airline reservations.

Identifying the right combination of content and product features for your flight booking engine can be critical for your travel business. Finding the right technology partner to help your business grow can be just as important.

Grow Your Travel Business with Travel Booking Solutions

There are such huge numbers of various sorts of substance available thus a wide range of online Travel Booking Solutions available today that it is once in a while difficult to know which the best fit is for your organization. While one booking engine may have the extraordinary functionality and the highlights you need, it might not have the substance your clients are looking for. On the flip side, you may discover a travel booking solution with the ideal substance source, yet find that it is feeling the loss of the functionality and highlights you need.

On the off chance that you are selling multiple travel items, you may need your booking engine to get to hotel substance utilizing one source, however look to utilize a totally unique association for your airline bookings or maybe several different sources when booking a journey. Finding the all the correct travel related substance sources in a single online booking solution that has the highlights and functionality you need can be overwhelming at first and somewhat of a challenge, best case scenario.

The solution to your problems might be found with an online booking engine with the highlights and functionality you have to properly deal with your business that also has a flexible supplier association portal which will allow you to get to various substance hotspots for various travel items. A portion of the further developed Travel Booking Solutions even allows you to pick explicit substance sources by Supplier, giving the ultimate in substance source flexibility. Let's assume you need to utilize your GDS to make the vast majority of your voyage bookings, aside from a couple of where you want to utilize an immediate association for quicker reaction time or improved functionality. Your booking engine should almost certainly quickly and easily bolster these various associations and realize when to utilize each.

As favored supplier relationship become increasingly imperative to verifying the best cost and commission levels, display biasing has turned into a tool for some organizations to advance their favored suppliers more than one that is not liked. Much of the time, the ability to inclination the display towards one supplier over another allows an organization to control customers to the Supplier they acquire the best commission with, therefore expanding their overall benefits. Numerous Suppliers rush to perceive the advantages of a one-sided display and some may offer expanded commissions and advertising backing to those with an online booking solution that has this capability.

Travels Booking Software also need the ability to quickly and easily characterize business rules so you can augment benefits and include value include offers or special deals in the availability display. Your online booking engine should almost certainly stay aware of all the various specials and advancements that Suppliers make available today. Selling value alterations and value add offers should be anything but difficult to characterize and have the flexibility to characterize a rule by a particular market, travel dates, booking dates, supplier uses and then some.

Finding a travel booking solution that has the functionality and substance you need is a significant choice for your business, finding the correct technology accomplice to help you can be considerably increasingly significant.

Hotel Booking Engines Need Rich Content

The Hotel industry was an early adopter of the internet as a cost effective way to reach consumers with many hotel companies acting as earlier pioneers of bringing travel online.  As they quickly developed their own online hotel booking engine, many discovered this new channel allowed them to showcase their hotel online with pictures and eventually virtual tours of the property.  For the first time consumers were able to view the different types of rooms available as well as public areas such as the hotel restaurant or Spa and were able to decide for themselves whether a specific hotel was right for them.

The explosion of Online Travel agencies shifted some online consumers away from these individual Hotel websites to large Online Travel Agencies and Hotel aggregators where price & availability rule the display.   Travel technology solutions were quickly developed to provide online consumers a quick and easy way to identify the best hotel for their needs based on price and room availability.  Competing based on price and availability alone presented challenges to hotel companies that were looking to differentiate their product offering from their competitors.

Many began what I refer to as a “brand overall” and started to distinguish their properties with unique features and amenities to set them apart from the mass.  As these brand differences began to take root, some consumers started looking for more than just a hotel room at the lowest price.  Many of today’s consumers look for a custom travel experience that requires personalized attention or specific perks that only travel professionals can provide.  Many larger agencies or consortia groups have embraced this trend and are now using travel technology solutions that provide their customers access to special features and amenities along with their hotel booking.  Many travel agents are able to provide special amenities such as concierge service and complimentary beverages to their most valued customers.

Today’s frequent traveler is on the go and they have become increasingly dependent on their mobile devices to manage their lives as well.  Delivering the content and amenities targeted for a specific group of customers can be complicated for many, but providing it quickly and easily with an online Hotel booking engine is even more challenging.   A good technology partner can help you automate the content as well as any include amenities so you can offer it all online. Planning or changing travel plans is no exception, so travel technology solutions need to support these features during the entire research and booking process online.

To accomplish this requires integration of travel technology solutions that deliver the information to the specific hotel property identifying a particular VIP guests along with details of any special offers included.  For example, as more hotels offer unique amenities for preferred guests such as free internet or access to concierge level lounges, a hotel booking engine needs to make sure this information is sent along with the reservation informing the actual hotel property.

Finding the right hotel content to serve your customer’s needs is important, finding a technology partner with the flexibility to customize that service is even more important.

Travel Agent Software Needs Flexibility

The internet has dramatically changed the way that the world researches and shops for everything from appliances to airline tickets.   The ability for consumers to shop online means retailers now have the opportunity to sell their products or services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Today’s online retailer virtually always opens for business.  So today’s Travel agent software must be designed to provide the flexibility to serve these consumers when and how they choose.

You’ll need an application that allows your travel business to serve customers via multiple channels including Business to Business (B2B) for those consumers that still like to speak with a travel agent call center to discuss and book their travel arrangements.  For consumers shopping online, you’ll need an easy to use Business to Consumer (B2C) online booking engine, but make sure it is a mobile ready so you can easily serve consumers using any device, including their smartphone.

The internet has also made the world a smaller place for retailers and the travel industry is no exception.  No longer limited by “brick and mortar” store fronts, today’s travel agent can serve customers anywhere in the world with the right travel agent software.  Those who are looking to reach Latino consumers may want to consider an online booking engine that has multi-language capabilities so they interact with these customers online in Spanish.  For those looking to expand beyond their country’s boarder, the online booking engine needs to easily support multiple currency types.  It will also need to consider any local requirements and regulations for online commerce in a specific market.

Your travel agent software will also need the flexibility to easily define business rules and promotions for each specific market so you can easily take advantage of market specific deals and promotions.  Easy to use business rules will allow you to manage and localize what your customers are offered in each market.  Choosing online travel booking software that has the flexibility to quickly define business rules using a wide variety of criteria can help any size business compete with even the largest online retailers.

The ability to quickly and easily customize a sub-website’s “Look & Feel”, including unique headers and footers for each can be a powerful tool when working with an affiliated agency or group.  Flexibility to choose the language or currency used as well as products offered can be critical to your success in a new market.

So whether you are looking to serve a new customer group, expand your service into new geographic markets or just distribute online to multiple websites, flexibility is key.  Flexible & fully scalable applications can help you grow your business to serve new customer groups as well as new easily expand into new geographic markets and still allow your business to maintain its own unique brand identity.   Flexibility to grow and expand your business is key when deciding on the right travel technology solution for your business, choosing the right technology partner can be even more important.

Your Flight Booking Software Should Provide Options

There are so many different types of travel related content available and so many different online travel technology solutions available today that it is sometimes difficult to know which the best fit for your needs is. While some travel booking software may have the great functionality and the features you need, it may not have the type of Supplier content your clients are looking for.  On the flip side, you may find an online booking solution with the perfect content source, but find that it is missing the functionality and features you need.

If you are selling multiple travel products, you may want your booking engine to access hotel content using one source, but look to use a totally different connection for your flight booking software or perhaps several other sources when booking certain destinations.  Finding the all the right travel related content sources in a single online booking solution that has the features and functionality you need can be overwhelming at first and a bit of a challenge at best.

The solution to your problems may be found with travel booking software that includes the features and functionality you need to properly manage your business as well as a flexible supplier connection gateway which will allow you to access different content sources for different travel products.  Some of the more advanced travel technology solutions even allow you to choose specific content sources by Supplier, providing the ultimate in content source flexibility.  Say you want your flight booking software to use your GDS ID to make most of your airline bookings, except one or two where you prefer to use an air consolidator to ensure you offer the most competitive price.   Your travel booking software needs to be able to quickly and easily support these different connections and know when to use each.

Flight booking software also need the ability to quickly and easily define business rules so you can maximize profits and include value add offers or special deals in the availability display.  Your online booking engine needs to be able to keep up with all the different specials and promotions that Suppliers make available today.  Selling price adjustments and value add offers should be easy to define and have the flexibility to define a rule by a specific market, travel dates, booking dates, supplier uses and more.

And finally to serve today’s growing number of consumers who use their mobile device to purchase travel products as well as those that switch between devices during the research and booking process, many companies are building travel technology solutions that use responsive technology that automatically adjusts the screen layout based on the type of device being used.  For those looking for a dedicated Mobile App, there are several companies designing and developing custom Apps.

Finding flight booking software that has the right functionality and the specific content your customers need is an important decision for your travel business. Finding the right technology partner to assist you can be even more important.

A Flight Booking Engine Needs Flexibility

Access to the right content combined with powerful business rules and flexible distribution capabilities is key to any travel business today. While this may be true in all sectors of the travel industry, it is particularly true when it comes to a flight booking engine. Travel technology solutions that allow a business to aggregate airline content from multiple sources and distribute it to a network of affiliated agencies or home-based agents can be a valuable tool in today's competitive online marketplace.

There are multiple content source options for a flight booking engine to choose from today. The ability to search multiple sources for airline content can be important for those businesses that are taking advantage of the special rates and content that many air consolidators or aggregators bring to the table. For example, some air consolidators focus on a specific geographic or ethnic market and work with a network of affiliated agents to book airline seats for their customers using the consolidator or host agency's credentials. Air consolidators aggregate sales with airlines and leverage their overall volumes for better prices and access to special deals. Some focus on specific destinations or regions of the world and are experts about every aspect of travel there. Others serve specific ethnic or specialty groups and have developed a vast network of sub-agents deep-rooted in a specific market. By combining your own agency's fares with those of an air consolidator or aggregator you work closely with, you can ensure that you always offer the most competitive price and provide your clients with the best value possible.

The ability to expand your agency footprint while taking advantage of what these specialists have to offer can be a valuable tool for you to have as well. Your flight booking engine should allow you to easily extend your reach to serve customers whether it be in person, on the phone or online. And for those always "on the go" consumers, you'll need a mobile ready application that adjusts the display to fit the screen of the device being used.

The flight reservation system you choose must allow you to easily define business rules that automatically control price adjustments and highlight special value add offers as well as targeted promotions. It's best to have the flexibility to control your business rules, so make sure the application has the flexibility to make price adjustments calculated as a fixed dollar amount ($) -or- a percentage (%) of the fare and apply a specific rule to certain sales channel or affiliate group. Business Rules should be easy to enter with the ability to define filters for a specific airline, flight number or class of service. With airline fares and seat availability changing so frequently, it can be nearly impossible for the most experienced travel agent to keep up with the latest deals.

Finding a flight booking engine that provides the right airline content, powerful business rules, and flexible distribution capabilities is important for any travel business. Choosing the right technology partner can be just as important.