Why Your Business Needs To Go Mobile

Getting your business noticed in a world overloaded with media messages from every direction is not an easy task today. With some many different devices, offering so many different methods of communication, it's difficult to know where any business needs to be present to reach potential customers. The answer today is EVERYWHERE!

By the year 2020, one of every three adults will be what are commonly referred to as Millennials. This is a generation that grew up being constantly connected and is by far the largest group using social media and mobile technology today. Millennials grew up interacting with each other via email and text messages as well as social media like Facebook and Twitter.

They not only use today's technology to interact with each other, they also use various technology and devices to make a significant number of their purchases online. Many will even use several different devices during the research and purchase cycle. For example, some start their initial research using a handheld device and may switch to a Tablet or Laptop to complete the purchase. Others may exclusively use their mobile device to access a company's mobile friendly website or dedicated mobile App to research and make a purchase.

Simply put, today's consumer demands options in the technology and device they use to research and purchase just about anything. Want to order a Pizza for lunch? There is an App for that! Need to make an airline reservation for an upcoming trip? There is a Travel Booking Engine with a mobile App for that! Just about any business has had to quickly respond to this growing demand and Travel Agents are no exception.

The Travel Agent Software available today provides some of the most innovative and cost effective ways to complete a travel related booking. Whether your business needs an Air Booking Engine, a Hotel Booking Engine or even a Cruise Booking Engine, chances are there's an online booking engine to meet your needs. But you need to remember how important it is for today's Travel Booking Engine to be built using mobile friendly technology so it is accessible via any of the devices today's potential customer may be using.

In addition to providing distribution of your product and services across a range of devices and selling channels, today's Travel Agent Software comes with the tools you need to properly manage your business. These B2B and B2C web based applications are designed to automate processes, increase revenues and reduce time and effort required to complete a transaction. Most include revenue management tools which allow you to control the selling price while providing the ability to offer special promotions. Many have robust reporting tools that track the number of bookings made by each distribution channel. Some of the more advanced Travel Agent Software available today will even track the number of searches made by Origin and Destination from a particular website to help travel agents identify what their customers are looking for online.

Finding a Travel Booking Engine for your travel business is important. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach today's consumer where and how they shop for travel is even more important.

Get Your Sales Cruising!

Cruising has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the travel industry for many years and recent industry figures indicate there is no sign of it slowing down anytime soon. Several cruise lines continue to build larger, more advanced ships and many are adding new itineraries and tour options every day. Savvy Travel Agents continue to make the majority of cruise bookings and earn good commissions doing so.

The popularity of Cruising and the amazing growth the cruise industry has experienced overall have encouraged many travel agencies to switch focus away from other travel products and focus all their resources on selling cruises. Travel Agents can be a great resource for consumers who are trying to choose the right cruise itinerary as well as the right cruise line or cabin type. Travel Agents are even aware of the vast number of special promotions offered by the cruise lines and can help you access the best deals. In other words, they are experts in the cruise industry and have the knowledge needed to help you navigate through the research and booking process.

Today, an online Cruise Booking Engine provides some of the most innovative and cost effective ways to research and book a cruise vacation. Whether a consumer is looking for a quick 3 day getaway to the Bahamas or a two week trip through Europe, chances are there is a cruise line with an itinerary that matches what exactly what they are looking for.

Many consumers start their search for a cruise vacation online, so it is critical that any Cruise Booking Engine contain the information a consumer needs to choose the right cruise vacation for them. Cruise Line, Cruise Ship and Cabin descriptions must be readily available during the shopping process and should be linked to pictures and rich media files for shoppers to view and compare. Detailed descriptions of ship itineraries, ports of call and shipboard activities are also helpful.

Today's Cruise Booking Solution also needs to use mobile friendly technology so it is accessible to potential consumers via any of the devices they may be using to research and book a cruise in today's mobile, online world.

In addition to providing access via a range of different devices, you will want to find a Cruise Booking Solution that comes with the powerful business tools that you will need to properly manage your business. Revenue management tools should allow you to control the selling price while providing the ability to offer special promotions. Robust reporting tools should allow you to track the number of bookings made by each distribution channel. Some of the more advanced Cruise Booking Engines available today will even track the number of searches made for a specific cruise line or itinerary, helping travel agents identify what their customers are looking for online.

Choosing a Cruise Booking Solution can be a critical decision for your travel business. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach today's consumer how and where they shop for a cruise is becoming increasingly more important every day.

The Flight Booking Software Evolution Revolution

The flight reservation system has been around for decades, started many years ago by the major airlines in an effort to automate bookings as their flight networks and number of bookings grew at an amazing pace. Initially these internal systems were used by airline reservation staff to confirm bookings across their vast flight networks, but it was not long before the airlines began offering Travel Agents their own version of these systems. Today's online air booking engines are a result of years of technological evolution and have helped lead the online revolution in selling travel. Today's online booking engines can provide the tools for any size agency's website to compete with even the major online players.

There are a countless number of online travel solutions available in the market today and choosing the right air booking engine for your travel business can be critical decision. You need to identify what type of travel and how your clients prefer to book and decide what content you'll need access to.

You'll also need to consider any alliances or preferred relationships you have with suppliers or other travel agents. Over the years, many travel agencies have been forced to consolidate with another agency or form a closer working relationship with other individual agencies or large Consortia. The ability to expand distribution of an agency's airfares to affiliated agencies quickly and easily is an important tool for many air consolidators in the market today. Most agency owners still want to maintain their own unique company brand with their customers however, so the ability to easily expand the access of your flight reservation system to affiliated agencies while maintaining their individual brand identity can be crucial.

With so many airfares and so many agencies forming alliances, the ability for flight booking software to simultaneously search multiple content sources for the best airfare is a critical advantage for many. In today's competitive market, agency owners need the flexibility to control a products selling price and maintain their competitive edge. Today's travel agency flight reservation system sallow for the selling price to be adjusted based on a wide range of criteria including travel or booking dates, supplier or class of service booked and even based on the distribution channel that the booking is made.

Applications have even kept pace with the consumer trend to use mobile devices to research and book airline tickets. There are Air Mobile Apps available for those travel agencies looking for a dedicated app for their individual agency brand. For those who are simply looking to make their website and associated online booking tools “mobile friendly”, there is flight booking software available that can automatically adjust the screen size and layout of an air booking engine based on the type of device being used.

The time you invest in identifying your product requirements and researching the different options available to you will be time well spent. With technology advancing as quickly as it is, maybe it is time to consider whether your travel technology needs to join the travel booking software evolution revolution.

In this article author writes about Odysseus Solutions. Today's travel agency flight reservation system sallow for the selling price to be adjusted based on a wide range of criteria including travel or booking dates, supplier or class of service booked.

Travel Agent Software Continues To Evolve

Travel Agents remain an important part of the travel industry and have been evolving the way that they interact with Suppliers and Customers along with the rest of the industry. Travel booking solutions such as airline booking engines, hotel booking engines and even cruise booking engines were introduced into the market years ago and have been evolving ever since. The transition to online commerce has been crucial for many agencies to remain in business. The online booking engines available today provide agents or their customers the ability to book just about anything online including an airline seat, a hotel room or even a cruise vacation.

With just a few clicks of a mouse, today's travel agent software can access the information agents or their consumers need to research which particular hotel best meets an individual's needs. Hotel searches can be narrowed to a specific neighborhood within a city, the hotel star rating or price range. You can even research whether a hotel property has banquet facilities, a restaurant or room service. Air travel searches can be specific to an airline, time of day or even class of service. Online searches for cruise vacations can be specific to a Sailing region, such as the Eastern Caribbean, a specific cruise line or cruise ship and even by the cruise length. Cruise ship and cabin photos along with detailed descriptions are integrated into the booking engine to help agents and customers make the right choice. They can even select which seating time option they prefer for dinner or alert the cruise line of a special occasion such as a passenger's birthday or anniversary.

Different types of clients may have different requirements for an online booking engine. For example, the online booking engine needed to service corporate clients can be dramatically different from those for leisure travel. Corporate travel policy may dictate which specific airline, class of service or routing can be used by an individual passenger's position or title within the company. There may be a limit to which hotel chains can be used or the type of room that can be booked. Leisure travelers may look for a tool that's somewhat less restrictive in these areas but perhaps searches multiple content sources to ensure they get the best price for the airline seat or hotel room they decided to choose. Regardless whether a travel agency services corporate accounts or leisure clients, there are travel booking solutions available today that can help automate processes and increase revenues.

Like much of the travel industry, consolidation has forced many travel agencies to merge with other agencies or form new closer affiliate relationships. The ability to expand 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 forming new alliances and joining Agency Consortia, most still want to maintain their individual agency's unique branding with their customers. The travel agent software available today can easily provide the tools for any size agency to compete with the major online players.

In this article author writes about Odysseus Solutions. The travel agent software available today can easily provide the tools for any size agency to compete with the major online players.

Hotel Reservation Software to Fit Your Business

The internet has changed the way the travel industry conducts business and the way hotels are researched and booked today is no exception. However, there are so many options available on the market that it can be overwhelming for many. This is where working with the right travel agent can be important and finding a travel agent with the right hotel booking solution even more important.

Travel agents are a great resource to help consumer's research options and can find the best deal possible and ensure get you the VIP treatment you deserve upon arrival. They are experts in the industry and many have negotiated special deals and amenities for their clients. Many have launched their own online booking solutions that allow you to research and book your travel when and where you want while still enjoying the benefits of using a travel agent.

Hotel reservation software should be easy to use and provide Users the functionality they are looking for. The ability to narrow the Search to a specific neighborhood within a city near a specific point of interest may be important for some. Easily finding the property that includes the specific amenities a client may be looking for such as free internet or perhaps concierge service may be important for others. The ability to find a hotel that has a restaurant or banquet facilities may be key for those planning an event. Hotels offer varying levels of comfort and service, so matching a client with the right hotel is also important. The ability to sort a search for hotel rooms by a particular star rating or the average nightly rate can speed up the process dramatically.

With just a few clicks of a mouse, today's hotel booking engine can access the information to research which particular hotel best meets an individual customer's specific needs. Search for a hotel room by a specific neighborhood within a larger city or by price range and even star rating. You can even research whether a hotel property has free internet, a restaurant or SPA services.

Recent industry consolidation has forced many travel agents to form affiliate networks or join a travel agency consortia, so the ability to extend hotel reservation software to affiliated agencies quickly and easily is key for many. However, most agency owners still want to maintain their own unique company brand with their customers. Here the ability to easily expand the access of an online booking engine to affiliated agencies while maintaining their brand identity can be crucial to the success of launching an online booking engine.

The hotel booking engines available on the market today include links to media files & rich content to assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process. Some 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.

In this article author writes about Odysseus Solutions. So not matter what size your travel agency is, there is a hotel booking engine in the market today to fit your business. 

The Right Travel Agent Software Will Have Your Agents Selling More

The travel business has gone through significant changes over the past few years and travel agencies have had to adjust their business tools along the way. Finding the right travel agent software can help an agency owner get agents trained and selling quicker while streamlining the agencies overall selling process. The travel agent booking engines available today are easy to use and are designed to help agency owners automate processes, increase revenues and reduce time and effort required to complete a transaction.

Today's applications provide an agent view (B2B) for travel professionals to use as well as easy to use consumer views (B2C) for an agency's website. Many use the same application for each view, eliminating any concern an agency owner may have with syncing up passenger records with two separate systems. The travel agent view provides agents using the application with important information such as commission amount, fare basis codes used, etc. While these fields are visible to travel agents using the application, they are hidden to the consumer who would not understand the relevance anyway.

Flexible and Customizable, online booking engines can be easily customized to support each agency's own brand identity and unique selling style. Many online booking solutions include revenue management tools to help an agency owner control the selling price and maximize revenues. The ability to define unique business rules allow an agency to feature special deals and value add offers to their customers and adjust theses offers along the way.

Knowing what your customers are purchasing online is important, but knowing what they are looking for on your website can be even more important. Most of today's online applications include the ability to track bookings made online, but some also have the ability to track specific search criteria, which will show what customers are looking for. This can be valuable information when identifying travel trends and ensuring that you have the right product at the right price available for your agents and customers alike.

The right travel agent software can also enable agency owners to expand their clientele base while reducing their overall operating costs. For example, there is often no limit to the number of users or websites that can access an online travel booking engine and some can even handle multiple languages and currencies to allow travel agencies to quickly expand their business into new markets.

An online booking engine is no longer something that only large travel companies can afford and there is an online booking engine available today to meet the needs of any size travel business. So if your agency needs an air booking engine, hotel booking engine or a cruise booking engine and whether your customer books directly with a travel agent (B2B) -or- they prefer to shop and book online (B2C), there is a travel agent software available to help you service them quickly and easily. All you need to do is find a technology partner that has the tools that your business needs to compete.

In this article author writes about Odysseus Solutions. The added value that a Travel Booking Engine can offer your customers will simply help your travel business build brand recognition and expand the ways that you interact with your customers.

Flexibility Drives the Mobile Revolution

There has been revolution in online commerce and suddenly there are Mobile Apps for everything. The travel industry is no exception, with state of the art mobile apps available to book anything from an airline ticket, a hotel room or even ground transportation. These mobile apps are not just offered by the big online travel agencies (OTAs), but also small and midsize travel companies who have joined the revolution and are now offering a mobile booking engine of their own.

With so many people spending so much time looking at their mobile devices today, just about any website needs to be mobile friendly in order to fully compete in the online market. Many of today’s consumers start their research for travel products using their mobile devices, so it is critical that any online travel website and associated booking engines be mobile friendly as well.

Many online retailers offer more than just a mobile-friendly websites, and several of the small businesses you may interact with everyday probably have their own dedicated mobile apps. Whether it is your favorite restaurant in town or a big online retailer, companies are leveraging the mobile revolution mobile booking engine and making their products available and visible to potential customers at all times.

There are several companies specializing in the development of online booking engines complete with mobile apps for booking travel. There are also some offering the tools for those looking to customize the User Interface of their online booking engine and mobile app themselves. The XML booking engine options that are available today can provide clients all the powerful business logic and processing capabilities that an online travel booking engine requires while allowing for the customization of the User Interface at their own convenience. When flexibility in design and client control of the User Interface are key requirements for your travel business, an XML booking engine may be something you want to consider.

With the average person spending over two hours a day their mobile device, there are added benefits that a dedicated will bring your business when it comes to brand image which you may not have considered.

One of the benefits of having your own dedicated mobile app is the ability to provide your customers with information such as special discounts and promotions right on their mobile device. Plus the fact that each time a user scrolls through their device searching for an app they want to use, your app icon will there for them to see whether consciously or unconsciously!

The added value that a mobile booking engine can offer your customers will simply help your travel business build brand recognition and expand the ways that you interact with your customers. There is no doubt that mobile apps will soon be a standard component of any online retailers business model, the question is when will your online business be ready with the tools you need to succeed? Flexibility is key in today’s online world, so finding a technology partner that can provide the tools needed to revolutionize your travel business is more important than ever!