Why Not Add a Hotel?

It's time for many businesses evaluate the way they conduct business and see what improvements can be made. Is your business operating as efficiently and effectively as possible? Are you offering the products and services that your customers are looking for? Has your technology kept pace with your business? All basic business questions that apply to any size travel agency.

First consider the customers you currently have and determine if you are capturing all of their travel related business. For example, when you sell a customer an airline ticket for a quick business trip or a week long vacation, do you offer to book a hotel for them as well? Chances are they may need to book a hotel, so why not include this too? Easy access to hotel content integrated with other travel components is a great way to make this happen quickly. Incorporating a hotel booking engine with a dynamic packaging module can allow both agents or consumers to price as well as package Cruises, Airlines, Hotels and other travel products in real time for example.

Look for a hotel booking engine that includes links to media files & rich content to assist the User with selecting the right hotel property and room type during the shopping process. It's also important that the application allow the User to modify the Search and narrow down results to their specific criteria. Some may look for a property downtown with free internet for example, while others may want to be closer to the airport or beach. The amenities a particular hotel offers can be as important as the room for many, so detailed descriptions of a particular property come in handy when deciding which hotel to choose. Travel booking solutions should contain all the information and tools needed for the User to easily research and book a complete travel package quickly and easily.

Then check to see if you are serving your customers via the channels they prefer. For today's customer on the go, a mobile ready hotel booking engine is an option you'll need to include. Today's consumer uses different devices to research and eventually purchase products online. Many who are typically younger for example start their initial research using their smartphone and then may switch to a tablet or Laptop to complete the purchase. Others may start their research with their Laptop and then complete their purchase directly or with a travel agent. Either way, the travel booking engine you use needs to be ready to serve these customers on the device they choose.

Lastly, you want to make sure the travel booking engine you are using has kept pace with the latest developments. If you plan to expand into new markets for example, you'll need a solution that can easily handle multiple currencies as well as multiple languages. And make sure the can the application be customized to match the "look and feel" of your company's branding.

Identifying a travel booking solution with the right combination of content and product features for your business can be a critical decision. Finding the right technology partner can be just as important.

Packaging A Cruise Can be Easy

The growth of the cruise industry has been fueled by the cruise lines success in attracting new cruisers combined with the with the fact that people who take cruises tend to repeat, with about 90+ percent of cruisers saying they will probably or definitively book a cruise as a next vacation. And with the majority of cruise passengers requiring flight arrangements to the cruise embarkation port, the market opportunity for cruise booking software that can include Air, Hotel and other travel components is tremendous. The challenge many face is that the process to build a cruise package can be quite complex and time consuming, which is why the majority of packages that are booked involve a travel agent.

The process to build a cruise vacation package can be complex and time consuming for most. Many travel agents still use various cruise line sites to research and book cruises for their clients. Then to add flights, they either forward to an air product team specialist to bundle in the right flights for a particular cruise or start the search themselves. Questions like what is the closest airport to the ship departure port? How far is the airport from the cruise port? What flights need to be selected based on when the guest needs to arrive at the ship? Will the passenger need pre or post cruise hotel accommodations? An agent can spend an hour or more to build a package or use other resources from the team to put a quote together.

They say "necessity" is the mother of invention, so it wasn't long before some innovative technology companies began developing cruise booking software to dynamically package these components to streamline the entire process. A dynamic packaging engine can give both agents and online consumers the ability to price as well as package Cruises, Airlines, Hotels and other travel products in real time.

Detailed descriptions of Cruise lines, Ships, Cabin categories & Itinerary information along with links to media files & rich content such as Cabin photos, Ship images and Deck plans can help the User select the right cruise and accommodations. The ability to Compare Cruise Only, Cruise Tours, Cruise Packages that an Agent may have already pre-built and saved in the platform can also be a distinguishing feature. Cruise booking software with a sophisticated rule engine allows a business owner to deliver the right marketing message to the User, whether the User is a travel agent or online consumer.

Once the cruise is booked, Users can add a flight during the booking process or after the booking process. These innovative applications consider travel time between the airport selected and the cruise port when selecting flights. Once the customer has selected the flights, some cruise booking software have the ability to include hotel accommodations as part of the package as well based on the flights and cruise dates.

Choosing a cruise 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.

Flight Reservations Are a Key Component

Airlines have become such an integral part of travel for so many, that it should come as no surprise that a flight reservation system is an integral piece of any travel booking solution. Airline reservation systems have come a long way since the days of the first computerized reservation systems (CRS) launched decades ago. Whether your travel business' focus is on Corporate or Leisure, most travel itineraries include airline segments.

For Leisure agents, especially those selling Cruise vacations, 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, a flight reservation system 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. Features like integrated Hotel information and descriptions linked to rich media can help the User select the hotel and room type that best fits their needs. Live pricing and availability with Suppliers ensure the most accurate information is used. From an agent's workflow perspective, a day to day itinerary is built for customers that easily shows them what their schedule is.

Sophisticated rule engines can allow a travel agency owner to deliver the right marketing message to their Users. Selling prices can be easily adjusted and rules entered that actually consider published airfares, negotiated/private airfares as well as consolidator airfares. Travel Agents that use a flight reservation system that integrates cruises and hotels can even just show the one total price to the customer. B2B, B2C as well as B2B2C channel capability give today's agency owner the flexibility to serve customers the way they choose. And with today's mobile world, don't forget travel booking solutions need to be mobile ready. Look for travel technology solutions built using innovative responsive technology that automatically adjusts screen size and layout to the type of device being used.

Air content should be easily added using any of the major GDS's using your agency ID and your travel booking engine should be include multi-language & multi-currency capability.

Travel booking solutions should help streamline the entire sales process and reduce the amount of time it takes your agency to Train new agents, allowing them focus on selling faster. There are even Packaging options that allow Travel Agents to price multiple products, bundle them into a package and sell them as packages easily online.

Choosing a flight reservation system 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.