While travel volume is expanding at a dynamic pace, travelers are slowly getting bored with the traditional, readymade package holidays. Now, travel agencies and tour operators have begun to offer the innovative ‘Dynamic packaging’ in order to attract more cost-conscious and variety-loving customers. For B2C Travel Portal Development – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Dynamic packaging enables the travelers to create their own package of flights, accommodation, and car rental in lieu of buying a pre-defined package. The customer can pick, choose and design his/her own ideal holiday. It’ll be not the tour operator but the customer who chooses the beach where she’d sunbathe, the hotel she’d stay and the flight she’d fly to her destination. With dynamic packaging, the travel agent or the tour operator can provide a tailor-made holiday package which best suits the traveler’s needs and tastes. Dynamic packages are mainly sold online. The big margins and high sale price endear this novel travel product to travel agents and tour operators. Many of them are busy getting travel technology companies to build travel software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels. Travel software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels must be able to dynamically source inventories of flights, accommodation and car rental components for the package in real-time. The software also has to dynamically synthesize the customer’s choices into packages and give the total price. Individual prices are not informed to the customer, but, anyway, they’ll be less than when they are bought as single components. Travel software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels will provide the travel agent or the tour operator an inventory management system, mark-up engine with business rules and a ticket issuing and resolution system. With such a specialist software, you can offer dynamic packages to your customers direct from your website. An experienced travel technology company can design your system and deliver a viable dynamic package solution for travel retailers. A good travel booking software development firm can integrate and deploy dynamic packages –flight search engine, hotel search engine / hotel reservation system, car module, cruise and vacation packages – on travel retailer’s websites. It will serve B2C B2B and B2B2C categories. In other words, dynamic packaging connects flights, hotels, car rentals, cruise, etc, in the travel retailer’s booking software and enable him to offer a very wide range of travel products that can be booked together as a package. Customers will be able to book flight tickets, hoter rooms, cruises, etc simultaneously. Main components of dyanamic package are dynamic inventory sourced from wholesalers, facility provided to customers to choose from that dynamic inventory, and enabling of customers to book in real-time. Even a sub-agent can offer dynamic packages to his customers using. Travel agency software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels empowers travel retailers to package various travel products in real-time and sell it in one transaction across multiple distribution channels. With such a sophisticated software, travel agents can deal with both internal and externally sourced products (air, rail, hotel, activities, transfers, cruises, etc) for packaging. A travel retailer will get the following benefits by integrating travel software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels Special discounts for dynamic bookings Deal with supplier-negotiated contracts - content, inventory, pricing, pricing rules Integrate with GDS and external supplier and wholesaler systems in real time Sell packages on multiple channels - B2C, B2B, call center, travel stores, XML Retailers can offer their own dynamic packages Increase in revenue and sales volume Agents can offer different dynamic packages like flight+hotel, flight+car, hotel+car or flight+hotel+car Customers will get full service packages Customers can produce their own itineraries Enhance profitability of your travel booking business in general Package and market a combination of travel products such as flights, hotels, activities, tours, transfers and various items Travel software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels will enhance your agency’s performance in web service, mobile and social networks Administer markups and commissions Automate operations and boost efficiency with an integrated back-office and accounting system Create accounting, management, operational or custom reports quickly Produces vouchers, itineraries, invoices, bills, passenger manifest reports, etc. Consumers can customize itineraries through one or more websites. They can choose the dates of travelling by themselves while a package tour always start and end at dates common for all the travelers who participate in that package. In a package tour, the travelers have to invariably go to all the places prescribed in the tour, or stay at hotel! Nevertheless, the traveler has to pay for all those travel products which do not interest him. But with the travel software with dynamic packaging of flights and hotels he can eliminate all the travel components that do not interest him. Thus dynamic package software is useful for both the travel retailer and the travelers. Regarding Author: Author is a senior business analyst and an expert in travel software development and marketing strategy implementation.
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http://www.provab.com - When you are searching for travel agency software, tour operator software or travel ecommerce solutions, one of the most important points to consider is the features associated with it. The level of customization capability that the software possess also plays an important factor, while deciding on the software. One more major factor is the level of support that you would receive when you face technical difficulties, after the software has been launched. For Travel Agency Software – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Choosing a travel agency software or a travel portal software could be a challenging task, unless you concentrate on the below mentioned key points. Make a note of the features that you want The software should align with your business requirement Have a look at the demo of the software that you are planning to purchase Search for a software that could be customized After development support is very essential The software should be scalable Price should fit your budget 1. Make a note of the features that you want in the software Making a list of the features that you are looking for in the software would help you in knowing your needs. Make a note of the key features and the special requirement that you expect from the software. One of the most common examples that I can site for you is the involvement of advanced mark-up module or the log of the user behavior analysis or an open source technology for your system. Your requirement may include easy access like one click quotation, voucher access from any point, automatic cancellation of booking and raising a system alert automatically. You may wish to have customized features like multiple payment gateway, multi-language framework, pricing model that is flexible and a more controlled back office features. 2. The software should align with your business requirement The software that you purchase should have the capability of meeting your business requirement. This could be ascertained by conducting a market research and designing a business system that meets your requirements. The requirements vary as your business may be spread in one region or it may be spread across the world. The travel agency that you operate might be small with limited number of staffs or it may be a large organization with many employees. There may be a requirement to provide special access to certain employees and there may be requirement for different log ins. Your concept about your business operation should be very clear and accordingly the software should fit into your business requirement. 3. Have a look at the demo of the software that you are planning to purchase An online presentation may showcase all the features, but it is advisable to ask for demo. Demo helps in understanding the system, along with handling it more efficiently. It is better not to have a system that you don't have knowledge about and are not able to use. It is essential to know about the system and how to effectively use it and getting a demo will provide you the opportunity of asking the question related to the operational features of the system. 4. Search for a software that could be customized Customization is a feature that would allow you to add desired feature to the software when required. The travel software doesn't come with all the features. Customization would help you in adding and deleting the features at the required time. 5. After development support is very essential The level of support that the software development company would offer is crucial to the smooth running of the system. When you are stuck, it is the support people who would help you to come out of the situation. You should opt for a software that has 24/7 support team, who would be at their tow to help with any kind of problem that arise with the software. 6. The software should be scalable By being scalable the software would have enough room for expansion. When the software is scalable, it would have sufficient room for adjustment of your growing business and there would be no chance of the business getting halt due to the operation functions. This kind of software system would enable your business to grow without any kind of limitation associated with it. This is for your system facing less hassle during the course of expansion of your business and maintaining a steady growth. 7. Price should fit your budget It is not essential that costly software would provide the best solution and it is also not essential that free software would save cost. Though your budget is limited, investing in better software is recommended. Getting software should be considered as a long term investment. There is always a comparison between features, functionality and piece of mind and price. If you invest in an effective software system, it would be capable of saving money in the future and also lot of frustration. 8. Mobile compatibility A key feature knowing the fact that 30% of the travel booking is coming from mobile devices. Regarding Author: Author is a senior business analyst and an expert in travel software development and marketing strategy implementation. http://www.provab.com - With summer is on, people are planning for travel & vacations. Travel agencies are also pushing the operations to meet the demands. As the competition is high, its important to connect to right clients, either using a great travel agency software, supported by a good CRM team. Following are a few tips to increase the sales. Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html As most of sales are through online travel agency software, use a travel software which connects to social media. Most of the clients read the reviews before they make the purchase. Find the real interests of your potential customers and highlight them. Encourage them to send and update the reviews / comments on your travel website, which is anyways accessed by several potential clients. Going to places is always trending in the social media. Travellers when dissatisfied or angry at a restaurant, hotel, or a flight immediately inform the world through social media. Sometimes they appreciate good service. Interact with them, win their trust, and transform them to your loyal customers. Create a separate travel blog to accommodate the end user contents. With pictures, videos, questions or statuses you can get followers and likes. Social media will tell you where to improve. Social media is big tool to boost sale. A buzzing travel portal will always convert more sales. Offers are an all-time favourite for customers. Declare discounts and freebies frequently. Sell hotel booking, flight booking and activities together. Travel packages attract even reluctant customers. Publish everything using the CMS of your travel portal software and share it to clients. Use SMS sending software to sell ‘last-minute’ flight tickets at great discounts, when there are unexpected cancellations in flights or when tickets are not sold out enough. Who will not desire to get highly discounted last-minute deals to their dream destinations on their mobiles. You can also use your mobile app for this. You can keep your customers updated on new destinations etc.
Your travel software must remind them about travel insurance, special baggage regulations or about the delay of their flight. Users will always appreciate taking care of these small things. You can concentrate on a certain demographic area, a type of travel, a destination and make a travel niche. Your travel software will play a significant role in keeping in contact with these special people even when they are on the move. Regarding Author: Author is a travel technology expert and has been involved in several travel portal development projects. Though travel demand in Europe stalled during the global recession, the pace of technological progress continued unabated. Those hotel and travel companies that seek success must either catch up or risk becoming irrelevant, according to a new report. There was not one game-changing advancement or trend but rather a confluence of subsequent shifts that are changing the overall environment, he said during a news conference. For B2C Travel Software Development – Get a Project Quote – http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Following are the top 10 technology trends that will help hotel and travel companies leverage innovation in the coming year and beyond. 1. New patterns of content challenge distribution The old model of travel distribution, which saw large intermediaries—such as global distribution systems—aggregate content for booking, is being undermined by new models. Personal clouds, for instance, allow users to access information anywhere, anytime and on any device. The “Internet of things” enables integration of connectivity and objects that can influence a trip, such as real-time baggage location, weather conditions and homeland security advisories. Ubiquitous online communications allow even small hotel companies to connect with customers in real-time, allowing them to shop and book without delay. Those same companies, as well as the individuals they serve, also are better able to collect and integrate itinerary data from multiple sources without a GDS. 2. Too much choice means less is better Giving people too many choices tends to lessen their satisfaction. Online travel agencies used to provide as many options as possible to exhibit their computing clout. Today the focus is on providing relevant results that target the specific needs and wants of each traveler. The new traveler, the millennial as we call him today, embraces technology and embraces all devices, and he wants to be shown the right information for what he needs. Providing such targeted content is even more critical in the mobile arena, where smaller screens require both streamlined offerings and the presentation of those offerings. 3. Social technologies change the shape of travel Facebook alone has more than 1 billion users, while social media in general reaches 85% of the world’s total Internet users. However, travel companies have yet to unlock the true potential. 4. New efficiencies re-energize the customer experience As demand for customer service increases, new technological advances will lower the cost of providing it. But travel companies must consider whether a penny saved comes at the risk of a pound of customer preference. Excessive menu trees or outsourced call centers in foreign countries may cut monetary costs but frustrate customers. Each travel company needs to determine how to use customer service technology in a way that increases customer satisfaction and reduces costs” the report states. 5. Cross-platform data access engages users As customers realize their dreams of accessing desired digital information on any device or platform, hotel and travel companies are facing nightmares in providing the necessary development and support. “Cross-platform data access requires travel companies to track the changing user-interface patterns of their customers to provide the appropriate level of service. This will be a continuing process as new technologies evolve and businesses become less restrictive about the devices their employees can use for particular tasks. The suppliers and distributors that support the most user-friendly, convenient interfaces will enjoy increased market share,” according to the report. 6. A cloudy future beats no future at all
Cloud services are becoming more and more sophisticated Not only do they reduce IT costs and improve time to market, but they allow integration across multiple travel brokerage services, allowing customers to combine hotel stays with airfare or train tickets. The travel industry has been slow to adapt the services, however. 7. Intermediaries require fresh approaches throughout the travel cycle Intermediaries, including travel agents and OTAs, must help consumers break through information overload to stay relevant. “Instead of just selling the best airfare between Point A and Point B, intermediaries will have to provide the best (or lowest-cost) travel experience as a whole. This new imperative requires (sometimes drastic) changes—and investment—in technology, training, customer service time, and service delivery tools. If intermediaries can’t make the needed changes, they will cede shopping to suppliers,” according to the report. 8. Big data makes travel smarter The effective use of big data can really increase your performance and can really be your competitive differentiator Instead of focusing on transactions, companies must focus instead on data to better understand how, when, where and why travelers shop and book the way they do. The report cites efforts by Choice Hotels International, which has set up a master record for every guest and loyalty program member to collect service history, bookings and such on-property selections as food and beverage. It’s working in the case of Choice. The company’s enhanced loyalty program now delivers $1 out of every $3 in revenue, according to the report. 9. Better travel management through predictive analysis The travel industry was an early adopter of business intelligence tools, which allowed it to make sense of and informed decisions about the growing amounts of data at its disposal. But as supplier and distribution channels have evolved, the use of business intelligence to manage those channels hasn’t kept up, according to the report. “Travel companies need to determine their own ‘best practices’ for optimizing content acquisition and distribution,” the report concludes. “Doing so involves acquiring the appropriate tools and establishing business processes and management structures to monitor, analyze and respond to channel business intelligence.” 10. Short-range communications links improve processes “Most people are acquainted with Bluetooth, but fewer know about radio-frequency identification and near-field communications. All three technologies provide limited-range communications capabilities,” the report states. Hotel companies have only begun to tap into this potential, utilizing RFIC and NFC for room entry devices payment delivery. Further opportunities exist in the monitoring of visitor patterns, “as this data can lead to improvements in the visitor experience,” according to the report. RF – HotelNews PROVAB TECHNOSOFT (http://www.provab.com) is an award winning travel technology company, delivering best in class online travel software and CRS systems to global clients. Author: Author is a travel technology expert and has been involved in several travel portal development projects Starting a travel business from home is a good idea indeed. You need only a little investment. It is low-risk too. Just that you must be very enthusiastic to offer your clients best in class travel deals. For B2C Travel Portal Development – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html The first step in your home based endeavor is finding the right host agency. It’s better to have a host agency. It will keep your spending low, give you big commissions, and do your backend office. Moreover, if you are a novice in travel industry, they will train you too and assist you in running the business. Most of the host agencies have their online travel software in place, which you can also get access off. With the host agency, you need not have an ARC, CLIA, or IATAN number which is costly and difficult to get for a startup. The host agency’s accreditation number is enough and it will be your parent company. If you use the GDS, the host will take care of the ARC report which will be time-saving to you. They will also help you to get a travel agent license as required by your region.
Experts recommend to restrict your travel business first to some niche rather than offering all airlines and hotels in the world. It may be for a particular region or a special holiday package. But don’t market just one product, try two or three. Or you can cater to the travel needs of business travelers to a particular country. Or try your luck in booking charter planes for the high-end corporate travelers or billionaires. Name your travel agency accordingly. Try to offer something, which is little different from the generic node. You are in travel business to make money by providing quality, reliable service to your customers. Have separate accounts and track business expenses. To get your home-based travel agency clicked, you must have a working knowledge of travel agency software, customer service experience and experience in traveling to the destinations you deal in. Keep on having very satisfied clients and serve your clients to the max. Word of mouth does wonders in travel business. Regarding Author: Author is a senior business analyst and an expert in travel portal development and marketing strategy implementation. http://www.provab.com - When you are searching for travel agency software, tour operator software or travel ecommerce solutions, one of the most important points to consider is the features associated with it. The level of customization capability that the software possess also plays an important factor, while deciding on the software. One more major factor is the level of support that you would receive when you face technical difficulties, after the software has been launched. For Travel Agency Software – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Choosing a travel agency software or a travel portal software could be a challenging task, unless you concentrate on the below mentioned key points. Make a note of the features that you want The software should align with your business requirement Have a look at the demo of the software that you are planning to purchase Search for a software that could be customized After development support is very essential The software should be scalable Price should fit your budget 1. Make a note of the features that you want in the software Making a list of the features that you are looking for in the software would help you in knowing your needs. Make a note of the key features and the special requirement that you expect from the software. One of the most common examples that I can site for you is the involvement of advanced mark-up module or the log of the user behavior analysis or an open source technology for your system. Your requirement may include easy access like one click quotation, voucher access from any point, automatic cancellation of booking and raising a system alert automatically. You may wish to have customized features like multiple payment gateway, multi-language framework, pricing model that is flexible and a more controlled back office features. 2. The software should align with your business requirement The software that you purchase should have the capability of meeting your business requirement. This could be ascertained by conducting a market research and designing a business system that meets your requirements. The requirements vary as your business may be spread in one region or it may be spread across the world. The travel agency that you operate might be small with limited number of staffs or it may be a large organization with many employees. There may be a requirement to provide special access to certain employees and there may be requirement for different log ins. Your concept about your business operation should be very clear and accordingly the software should fit into your business requirement. 3. Have a look at the demo of the software that you are planning to purchase An online presentation may showcase all the features, but it is advisable to ask for demo. Demo helps in understanding the system, along with handling it more efficiently. It is better not to have a system that you don't have knowledge about and are not able to use. It is essential to know about the system and how to effectively use it and getting a demo will provide you the opportunity of asking the question related to the operational features of the system. 4. Search for a software that could be customized Customization is a feature that would allow you to add desired feature to the software when required. The travel software doesn't come with all the features. Customization would help you in adding and deleting the features at the required time. 5. After development support is very essential The level of support that the software development company would offer is crucial to the smooth running of the system. When you are stuck, it is the support people who would help you to come out of the situation. You should opt for a software that has 24/7 support team, who would be at their tow to help with any kind of problem that arise with the software. 6. The software should be scalable By being scalable the software would have enough room for expansion. When the software is scalable, it would have sufficient room for adjustment of your growing business and there would be no chance of the business getting halt due to the operation functions. This kind of software system would enable your business to grow without any kind of limitation associated with it. This is for your system facing less hassle during the course of expansion of your business and maintaining a steady growth. 7. Price should fit your budget It is not essential that costly software would provide the best solution and it is also not essential that free software would save cost. Though your budget is limited, investing in better software is recommended. Getting software should be considered as a long term investment. There is always a comparison between features, functionality and piece of mind and price. If you invest in an effective software system, it would be capable of saving money in the future and also lot of frustration. 8. Mobile compatibility A key feature knowing the fact that 30% of the travel booking is coming from mobile devices. Regarding Author: Author is a senior business analyst and an expert in travel software development and marketing strategy implementation. Booking your hotel through online hotel reservation software is easy. The availability of multiple accommodations for each destination, gives end users enough flexibility to choose a right hotel at right cost. Each accommodation option provides a varied range of pricing, facility, quality and availability, using which end users can select and pick a desired option. For B2B Travel Portal & OTA Setup – Get a Project Quote – http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Top hotel consolidators Expedia, GTA Travel, Hotelbeds, DOTW, Agoda, Hotelspro, WCT, Travco, Tourico, Bonotel, Travelocity, Jac Travels, Miki and others have designed and developed APIs for hotel inventory to share the hotel inventory to global travel agent. The web services of hotel APIs not only sharing the availability but also the room types, pricing as well. The main aim associated with the hotel APIs is travel agents, both small and medium-sized travel agents offer their clients the best of the deals at any corner of the globe. Hotel booking systems equipped with Hotel APIs, makes all the information regarding hotel selection available at the finger tip of the customers, and it is also real time information. API stands for application programming interface. In simple terms hotel API integration provides a legitimate access for one company to get access to the product of the other companies. A travel management company or a travel portal can get access to a huge variety of hotel inventory through hotel APIs integration. Hotel APIs acts as web service with the option of online functionality for searching and booking of the hotels across the world. Hotel API web service provides a broader spectrum to the online hotel booking services. The travel management companies or the travel agencies get the privilege of providing its users with the option of choosing their accommodation as per their need at a particular destination, thus giving a wider enhancement to the business of the travel agencies. The benefits of the top hotel APIs for the travel agencies are as follows:
Features associated with the top hotel APIs are:
The leading hotel APIs include Expedia, GTA API, Hotelbed XML, Hotelspro XML, Tourico API, DOTW API, Travco API, Tourico XML, Expedia API, WCT API, Bonotel XML and booking.com. API based hotel reservation system is a hit at the present as it is accompanied with benefits like 24/7 availability, enhanced client satisfaction, automated system, immediate confirmation, time saving and brings improvement in sales. In the present date of online sales, where physically existing travel agent shops / kiosks are losing importance and a new trend of bookings through online travel portals & airline reservation systems, is developing very fast. This has created huge opportunity for travel technology companies to build great online reservation systems (airline reservation system, hotel reservation system, & holiday packages reservation system) with top GDS systems / Global Distribution Systems. Apart from cutting edge technology, the user engagement model, displaying the vest pricing and offers are key points for any reservation system to succeed. Airline reservation system, commonly known as ARS, is generally considered to be the user side system for any airline or GDS. It consists of the exchange of data through the GDS system, which consolidates the worldwide airline data and share through unique web services API. This is an effective and efficient way of consolidating the global airlines availability and pricing, which is combined together with best GUI interface and published for end users on any airline reservation system (GDS based).
In online travel services marketing & sales, airline reservation system is a part of comprehensive travel reservation system, which consist-off hotel reservation system, transfer system and sightseeing module. GDS system, which is known as global distribution system is the interface between a travel reservation system and the end airlines, because it consolidates the data including the availability and pricing. The end buyers can check the availability and do the booking, which in turn is forwarded to airlines console through GDS. Advanced airline reservation systems offer the features like oneway, roundtrip, multi-destinations all together. Thus also providing the end users the better deals / offers on every booking, they do. Most of the reservation systems are also offering the dynamic packages like airline + hotel, hotel + cars, hotels + holidays packages, clubbing the packages together. This helps the buyers to plan the travel in a better way. Amadeus, Galileo / Travelport, Sabre and Abacus are among the top GDS systems available today. GDS consolidates the data for airlines, hotels, cars, packages and cruises. This consolidated data, is then shared to end travel reservation software / travel portals through their proprietary web services APIs. Author: Author is a travel technology expert and has been involved in several travel portal development projects. |
AuthorPROVAB TECHNOSOFT is an award winning travel technology company , delivering B2B / B2C travel software, travel CRM, accounting software, car rental software and mobility solutions to global travel & hospitality companies. ArchivesCategories
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