Travel Bookings Are Made Via All Channels

For most people, the annual holiday trip can be a significant expense. Taking a break from every day schedules and spending time with friends and family or just relaxing is often the time of year many look forward to the most. And for the lucky enough to be purchasing high-end packages such as cruises, the large price tag often motivates consumers to seek assistance and advice from several different sources before purchasing a vacation package. A traveler who is buying a $25,000 vacation package may need reassurance that they are getting the proper value for their money, even if they are a repeat customer. Generally speaking, the lower the cost of the package being purchased, the more likely it will be booked online.

Many start their initial research online with a significant portion being conducted using a mobile device. Today's consumer uses various sources for identifying vacation options including checking reviews on social media sites, seeking advice from friends & family or checking with a trusted travel agent. Once a consumer has narrowed down their options, the next step typically involves the use of a travel booking engine to get the latest availability and pricing for the vacation package they are looking for.

To serve today's growing number of consumers using their mobile device to purchase travel products, many travel companies look for a travel booking engine that is mobile ready. This way, regardless of the type of device a customer uses to access a travel website, applications automatically adjust the screen layout based on the type of device being used. And if you are looking to have a dedicated mobile app to make bookings, there are technology companies that can design and develop a custom mobile app for your business. Either approach offers consumers the ease and mobility of using their smartphone or tablet.

Make sure the travel booking engine you chose can offer access to all the selling channels your agency needs and that multiple selling channels can be easily managed using a single application (B2B, B2C, B2B2C). And if you plan to expand into new markets, look for applications that are designed to meet the requirements of the Global Marketplace and can easily handle multiple currencies as well as multiple languages.

Travel agency online booking solutions should include the ability to be easily customized to support an agency's own brand identity and unique selling style. The application's headers, footers as well as colors and font used should all match the agency branding. The ability to easily control the selling price and include targeted promotions right in the availability display is critical for consumer websites and travel agent applications as well. The more information and tools you provide an Agent during the research and booking process, the quicker they will be able to serve the customer and complete the sale.

Choosing a travel 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 Technology Needs Integration Capabilities

Customer Loyalty programs, new distribution technology and strategic alliances are all playing a significant role in today's competitive marketplace. Loyalty programs have been used by the travel and tourism industry for years and remain an important marketing tool for Suppliers to attract and retain their best repeat customers. These programs have become an integral part of many the marketing plan for many businesses and can drive consumer behavior significantly.

With VIP special discounts and travel benefits being some of the most popular rewards offered by many industries, travel technology solutions that seamlessly integrate with company loyalty program can be a great benefit and good way to ensure your customers receive the best deals possible. Lucrative discount offers as well as value add offers loyal consumers have earned can be seamlessly integrated into their travel booking. Loyalty program integration with an online booking engine can come in the form of gift cards, travel rewards, discounts or even actual merchandise with the integration being seamless to the end user and relatively quick to set up.

Businesses have been quick to learn that moving sales to E-commerce saves them time and money. Online sales are typically the most cost effective way to serve customers today and innovative new technology helps software solution providers design and develop flexible & fully scalable applications that easily grow with any size business. As the use of mobile devices has exploded over the past few years, easy to use mobile ready solutions have become an important extension of any online retailer. Airline reservations were the first to gain popularity with online booking solutions, so it makes sense that an air mobile app is quickly becoming an important selling tool in today's mobile society. These state of the art air mobile apps use all the powerful administrative features that an online booking engine has to offer combined with the ease and mobility of a smart phone.

And with the price competitive marketplace that exists today, Supplier availability and fares can fluctuate by the minute. Airfare wars, last minute hotel room discounts or free cabin upgrades on cruises can all change the offer. Travel technology solutions that leverage the live connections large Global Distribution Systems (GDS) like Amadeus, Sabre or Travelport have with airlines are able to provide the latest fare availability and complete an airline booking in real time.

Travel technology solutions must provide the ability to easily control business rules such as price adjustments, value add offers or targeted promotions. The flexibility to control business rules a variety of ways can be critical, so here is where you want to make sure the application has the flexibility you'll need. For example price adjustments should have the flexibility to be calculated as a fixed dollar amount ($) -or- a percentage (%) of the fare and apply to certain sales channels or affiliate groups. Business Rules should be easy to define and include filters for a specific suppliers, or product.

As competing for customers becomes increasingly competitive, travel technology solutions should include features like loyalty program integration, mobile ready applications and secure, live connections to supplier content. Finding an online 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 where and how they shop for travel can be just as important.

Drive Hotel Booking Through Innovation

Travel Technology providers were one of the pioneers in online commerce and a critical factor to the success of today's online travel business worldwide. The most innovative and comprehensive online travel solutions available in the market today evolved through years of collaboration with travel agents and travel suppliers. Engaging all of the parties involved in the selling process during an application's design phase and using innovative, state of the art technology are key when developing the best online booking solutions.

For example, a hotel reservation system should be designed to automate processes and reduce time and effort required to research and complete a hotel booking. It should provide live, up to date pricing and availability using live connections where ever possible. And with so many hotel options available, both travel agents and consumers appreciate solutions that include links to media files & rich content to them assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process. The ability to search for a hotel by geographic area and points of interest will help narrow the search and ensure they are where they need to be. Having easy access to hotel amenities included such as complimentary breakfast or WiFi access can be key factors when choosing a hotel property. Room size and bedding options available may be an important consideration when making arrangements for more than one traveler.

And in today's mobile world, a hotel booking engine needs to be mobile ready. Look for applications that use innovative responsive technology that automatically adjusts the screen display layout based on the type of device being used. Expand your sales network with features that allow you to quickly add affiliate Users or websites and the ability to easily customize the look and feel for each including headers, footers, style sheets, email addresses & company name. Access to local content as well as multi language and multi currency capability are additional factors to consider if you plan to expand your business into ethnic or international markets.

The hotel reservation system you use needs to allow you to manage your online hotel bookings with full payment capability and support of cancelation policies. It should have the content your customers are looking for at a competitive price. Look a booking engine with easy to use administrative features such as Profile Management and Preferences Management that provide you the ability to turn on/off these features yourself as oppose to paying someone to do it for you.

Reporting capabilities to track your business are also critical features to look for when shopping for a hotel booking engine. Booking statistics are important tools when measuring your business compared to previous periods, but quick and easy access to information like search statistics and "Look to Book" ratios can help you identify trends and potential issues before it's too late to make adjustments or change course.

The hotel reservation system you choose should be fast, responsive and provide the relevant content your customers are looking for while driving efficiencies through innovation. It's just a matter of finding the right technology partner to make this happen.

Odysseus And The Trojan Horse

The term Odysseus comes from Greek mythology about the Trojan War between the Greeks and the people of Troy. When the Greeks reached Troy and the Trojan War started, Odysseus played an influential role as a strategist and advisor for the Greeks. According to the legend, Odysseus was the creator of the Trojan Horse, a huge wooden statue of a horse that was supposed to be a gift to the Trojans from the Greeks as they retreated. The Trojans jubilantly accepted the gift, pulled it into the center of the city and started a celebration around it. When nighttime arrived, the Greek warriors who were hiding inside the hollow body of the horse revealed themselves and massacred the Trojans and won the war. Odysseus became a legendary strategist and his "Trojan Horse" soon evolved as a description of a person or thing intended secretly to undermine or bring about the downfall of an enemy or opponent.

Odysseus Solutions is a Miami based Travel Technology Company providing the most comprehensive and innovative online booking solutions available today. By designing unique custom business solutions that are fast, flexible and responsive, Odysseus Solutions helps it's clients increase sales, open new markets and "win the war" against the competition.

Odysseus Solutions was founded in 2005 to fill the industry need for an online travel booking engine that automates processes and is easily customized to support a client's unique brand identity. Founder and CEO, Monish Luthra, organized a group of developers, suppliers and travel agents and used a collaborative approach to develop the ultimate travel booking engine. The result was a fully customizable Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C) application that automates processes and increases revenue while it reduces the time and effort required to complete a transaction.

The Odysseus booking engine includes powerful, easy to use tools that help clients manage their business and beat their competitors in the travel marketplace. Odysseus clients are able to quickly adjust a product's selling price or include special offers right in the availability display with the flexibility to define a rule by a specific market, travel dates, booking dates, suppliers and more.

Odysseus applications are designed to meet the unique requirements of Global Marketplaces and can easily handle multiple currencies as well as multiple languages. However, Odysseus Solutions understands that going global involves a lot more than language or currency and has worked closely with customers and suppliers to localize the product in many markets including access to specific local content critical to the market.

Odysseus is ready to help your business "Win the War" with flexible & fully scalable applications that meet local requirements and combine critical local market content with global content providers. "State of the Art" technology allows Odysseus to design and deliver flexible & fully scalable applications that can easily grow with your business while maintaining your unique brand identity. Odysseus Solutions was all about innovative technology, collaboration and superior service when it started and still is today!