Flight Booking Software Started It All

The marketplace for travel products online continues to advance as more and more consumers use some type of online travel technology when making travel arrangements.  There is online travel software available to research and book just about any type of travel product.  Whether someone is booking airline tickets for a quick business trip or they are booking the annual family vacation, there are online travel booking engines that can help guide a user through the entire research and booking process.

One of the most popular online travel products available today is airline reservations. The flight booking software the airlines developed years ago became the backbone of today’s Global Distribution Systems (GDS’s) and many of today’s online travel applications.  There are countless airline reservation systems and booking engines in the market today, so the choice can be somewhat overwhelming even for the most seasoned professional. 

It is always a good idea to start by evaluating the way you currently make airline bookings and identify any improvements that can be made there.  Is your business operating as efficiently as it could when making airline reservations? Is your product priced competitively and easily available for your clients to book?  Has your technology kept pace with your competitors?

This is where a little research on the options available will pay off in the long term. There are airline booking systems designed to meet the requirements of just about anyone selling travel online, but finding flight booking software with the right combination of content sources, price and product features for your business will be key to your success. 

And as today’s consumer continues to shift just about all their purchases online, you will want to make sure your online booking engine is mobile-ready so you can avoid the need to develop a separate, expensive dedicated Mobile APP in the future.  For this, you will want to make sure the flight booking software you choose is using responsive technology that will automatically adjust the screen size based on the type of device being used. 

Next, consider how your customers like to research and book their travel arrangements.  Whether your customer prefers to research and book their flight arrangements online or speak with an experienced travel professional, travel technology should be designed to make it quick and easy for travel agents as well as consumers to use.  Applications should be simple to use and not require the user to input or remember complicated formats. Researching and booking travel online today should be as easy as just a few clicks of the mouse.

You will also want to ensure that any application you choose provides the business management tools that you will need to properly control and manage your business.  At a minimum, you’ll need the ability to adjust the selling price as well as offer targeted sales promotions or include “value adds” to customers using your services.

Finding flight booking software with the right combination of content and product features for your business can be a critical decision, choosing the right technology partner can be just as important.

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.

Travel Technology Packaging Solutions

Travel technology solutions that are easy to use, mobile friendly and can be easily customized to client look and feel are key to competing in today's online market place. Finding a solution with the ability to handle multiple currency and languages to truly meet a global audience on a computer, tablet or smart phone is key if going global. Mobile First should be your philosophy for all development, not just for the front end but also the administrative console as well. This way Agents as well as customers can use their tablets, iPads, phones to book and manage travel with a booking engine that is completely mobile friendly.

The ability to combine travel products either pre-packaged or dynamically online have become increasingly popular with today's consumer. Most custom packaging products allow a travel agency to tailor make holiday travel plans and then convert them into packages to be sold online. There are some travel technology companies that have developed dynamic packaging engines around Air + Hotel Accommodations and even Tours or Activities, but very few that have successfully launched a global cruise booking solution. A cruise booking is one of the most complex travel booking transactions and only a few industry leaders offer live connectivity to cruise lines globally including ability to book into group or charter inventory. The productivity gains the fast and flexible travel technology that these companies can offer is amazing. Agents can quickly compare multiple cruise lines and prices in a single search. The best continuously updates and innovatively caches the data on their servers for quicker responses increasing agent productivity and earning power.

Some products use cruise as the base of the transaction and then add other travel products like air, hotel accommodations and even activities as part of or around the cruise. Some have unique features and the capability to offer a predefined package tailored by a vacation expert or to make their own cruise holiday package that includes flights, hotel accommodations and even activities.

Most of today's Dynamic Packaging products were developed as extensions existing travel booking engines. These packaging engines were designed to package and price cruises, flights, hotels and other travel products in real time. The dynamic packaging module takes advantage of the existing connections with various suppliers and the dynamic and innovative rules engines available allow an online travel agency to deliver the proper marketing message to their users whether that be an agent and/or their customers.

Much of the innovation within many travel technology solutions occurs in what's known as the 'Rules Engine. This valuable tool allows a travel agency owner to customize and deliver the right marketing message to both agents and their online customers. The typical Rules Engine can be rigid and time-consuming to manage, but some innovative travel technology companies have changed this. Rather than a limited selection, they offer different rule types allowing agents to choose from options such as on-board credits, rewards points, value adds, discounts, mark-ups etc. They can be easily set and applied automatically based on a variety of predefined filters.

Finding the right travel technology solution for your travel business is important, finding the right travel technology partner can be even more important

Travel Booking Engines Functionality & Content Are Key

There are so many different types of content available and so many different online travel booking engines available today that it is sometimes difficult to know which is the best fit 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 flip side, you may find a travel 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 airline bookings or perhaps several other sources when booking a cruise. 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 an online booking engine with the features and functionality you need to properly manage your business that also has a flexible supplier connection gateway which will allow you to access different content sources for different travel products. Some of the more advanced travel booking engine seven allow you to choose specific content sources by Supplier, providing the ultimate in content source flexibility. Say you want to use your GDS to make most of your cruise bookings, except one or two where you prefer to use a direct connection for faster response time or enhanced functionality. Your booking engine needs to be able to quickly and easily support these different connections and know when to use each.

As preferred supplier relationship become increasingly important to securing the best price and commission levels, display biasing has become a tool for many agencies to promote their preferred suppliers over one that’s not preferred. In many cases, the ability to bias the display towards one supplier over another allows an agency to steer consumers to the Supplier they earn the best commission with, thus increasing their overall profits. Many Suppliers are quick to recognize the benefits of a biased display and some may offer increased commissions and marketing support to those with an online booking solution that has this capability.

Travel Booking Engines 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.

Finding a travel booking 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.

In this article author writes about Odysseus Solutions. Some of the more advanced travel booking engine seven allow you to choose specific content sources by Supplier, providing the ultimate in content source flexibility.