Travel Portal development - Travel Mobile Apps are giving new edge to Online Travel Agencies31/5/2017 The travel industry has undergone a major makeover with the introduction of the online travel software and the consequent implementation of travel apps. Earlier planning a vacation was thought to be a task that required intense management skills. We have to go to a travel agent for airline booking or rail booking. Making a hotel reservation was again done through a travel agent or was accomplished after reaching the destination. We would have very vague idea about the “must visit places” at the destination, and would have to hire a travel and tour guide for the same. Similarly arranging a car rental at the destination of visit was done by coordinating with the local travel agent or the hotel. For Travel Agency Software Development – Get a Project Quote – http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html The situation at present is totally different from the statements mentioned earlier. Now we don’t visit a travel agent for airline booking or hotel booking and we don’t contact travel agencies for car rental booking. We don't require a travel guide to tell us about the places to visit at our travel destination nor do we depend on anybody to tell us the direction of a place. Have you ever wonders how the process of planning a vacation have become so smooth and peaceful in the present times. Now I have the privilege of making airline reservation, rail reservation, hotel reservation, car rental reservation and planning the trip sitting at the vicinity of my home or office or any other place of my comfort. The big question is, how this happened? This advanced stage in the travel sector was achieved through the implementation of technology. Technology came in the form of development of travel agency software and travel apps. The travel agencies too have undergone a major makeover and now when we think of travel agencies, the picture that comes to our mind is an automated system which has all the information and facilities required to plan my trip. Benefits of Online Travel software for Travel agencies Travel software have been very beneficial for the travel agencies as it has bought a total change in the way the travel agencies used to work. Now a travel agency doesn’t depend on the traditional system of using a pen and paper to keep track of the transaction or depend on handwritten information pertaining to the details regarding dates and availability for airline, rail and hotel reservation. Travel agencies now have an online booking system, where global distribution system integration helps in making all information including availability and pricing available to the clients. The end-users can compare the rates and availability and proceed with the airline reservation, hotel reservation and car rental booking. Similarly maintaining data, information and generating reports have become lot more easier and automated with the help of travel software. Below are the distinct advantages of travel agency software -
Benefits from travel Apps
With more and more people across the globe preferring to access information through their mobile device, travel agencies now have their own travel apps to enhance their business. Travel apps are available for airline reservation, Rail reservation, hotel reservation, car rental reservation, accessing travel blogs, planning the trip and accessing the locations. Travel apps have also helped the travel agencies to respond to the queries raised by the end-users at the earliest and bring enhancement in the level of customer satisfaction. As per the research conducted on travel apps, it was found that travel apps have helped the travel agents to acquire more clients. Our vacation and travel planning has become lot more easier at the present times. This was only possible due to the implementation of travel agency software and travel apps by the travel agencies across the world, making our travel more comfortable and enjoyable.
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A global distribution system (GDS) is a database capable of storing and updating enormous information on the supply of a wide range of tourism products worldwide. GDSs enable the travel agents to access, in real-time, availability, features and prices of flight tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, ferry reservations, trains and other services. With a Global distribution system integrated to their website, travel agencies can allow their customers to search and book travel products and services and issue tickets too. Looking for a Travel Portal – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Global Distribution System Travel agencies are greatly aided by GDS systems because they are enabled to offer their customers rates, inventory, discounts, rooms, and descriptions on a real-time basis. In other words, global distribution systems are intermediaries between travel product suppliers –and travel retailers who sell tickets to the final consumer. Main features of GDS: • Report availability and prices of travel products • Reserve user requests. • Sale and ticketing • Track sales (extend customer’s stay, change of flights, etc). • Facilitates control management for travel agencies). Evolution of GDS The prototype of GDS in the travel industry can be seen in the 1950s as the traditional legacy business model which inter-operated between airline vendors. Computer reservation systems (CRS), at the initial stage, was used by the airline companies as an automated booking system, but later, travel agents were given access. Around 1980, CRS enabled travel agents to connect to various travel providers in a single system. At this stage, in addition to flights, hotels and car rentals were included. CRS acquired much strength by late 80s being so helpful to both suppliers and distributors. In the 90s, computerized reservation systems of airlines were transformed to global distribution systems (GDS). So we see that GDS has developed from airline alliances and ended up becoming independent business units with product internationalization and introduction of new products, especially hotel rooms. GDS integration for travel agencies and suppliers of travel products Travel agencies must have full access to a global distribution system GDS. To get connected to a GDS, travel agencies need a contract. This will enable the travel agents to provide an astonishing amount of travel product rates and information to their customers, at the lowest possible rates. An experienced travel technology company can integrate any GDS to the computer reservation system or website of a travel agency. It’s critical also for the properties to be on a GDS. Travelers now go to travel portals to find travel products. So hotels, car rentals, etc, have to be there to get Internet visibility and, thus, more reservations. A GDS allows real-time access to inventory system of a hotel with the current prices, discounts, room types, facilities like Wi-Fi and different aspects of interest to the potential customer. Owners can hire a good travel technology company to get access to the GDS of their choice. A property can be connected only in one GDS provider. If the property owner wants to change the provider, he can cancel the existing provider and activate another with a switch letter. How much does it cost? To integrate GDS to your system, you’ll have to pay a one-time setup cost and pay a monthly charge of a minimum amount per reservation. Major GDS systems Amadeus was started in 1987 by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa, and SAS in order to create a European GDS, by fusing their CRSs. In 1989, seven more airlines joined Amadeus and began to allow travel agents to book flights through neutral screens. It is now the largest leisure package distributor in the world. Through Amadeus GDS integration, a travel agent can offer travel products from 430 airlines in 195 countries, 32 car rental companies in 37,918 locations, 20 cruise lines and 300,000 hotel properties. More than 100,000 travel agencies are connected with Amadeus GDS. Sabre, a joint venture by American Airlines and IBM, was started in 1960. In 1970, Sabre system began to be installed in travel agencies. Now 55,000 travel agencies use Sabre GDS to book products from 400 airlines, 88,000 hotels, 24 car rental brands, and 13 cruise lines. Galileo and Worldspan are the other two major GDSs. There are also third party consolidators like Sahara, Infini (Japan), Axess (Japan), Tapas (Korea), Fantasia (South Pacific), and Abacus (Asia/Pacific) that cater to particular regions or countries. The big consolidators also include such as Expedia, Orbitz (Merchant program registration needed), Hotels.com, Travelocity, AAA, Hotwire, Priceline and TravelWeb. The future of GDS As a tool of of content aggregation, GDS is here to stay and be more powerful. Novel technological solutions in middleware continue to appear. Global distribution systems have a long way to go. 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 http://www.provab.com - A global distribution system (GDS) is a database capable of storing and updating enormous information on the supply of a wide range of tourism products worldwide. GDSs enable the travel agents to access, in real-time, availability, features and prices of flight tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, ferry reservations, trains and other services. With a Global distribution system integrated to their website, travel agencies can allow their customers to search and book travel products and services and issue tickets too. Looking for a Travel Portal – Get a Project Quote - http://www.provab.com/get_quote.html Global Distribution System Travel agencies are greatly aided by GDS systems because they are enabled to offer their customers rates, inventory, discounts, rooms, and descriptions on a real-time basis. In other words, global distribution systems are intermediaries between travel product suppliers –and travel retailers who sell tickets to the final consumer. Main features of GDS: • Report availability and prices of travel products • Reserve user requests. • Sale and ticketing • Track sales (extend customer’s stay, change of flights, etc). • Facilitates control management for travel agencies). Evolution of GDS The prototype of GDS in the travel industry can be seen in the 1950s as the traditional legacy business model which inter-operated between airline vendors. Computer reservation systems (CRS), at the initial stage, was used by the airline companies as an automated booking system, but later, travel agents were given access. Around 1980, CRS enabled travel agents to connect to various travel providers in a single system. At this stage, in addition to flights, hotels and car rentals were included. CRS acquired much strength by late 80s being so helpful to both suppliers and distributors. In the 90s, computerized reservation systems of airlines were transformed to global distribution systems (GDS). So we see that GDS has developed from airline alliances and ended up becoming independent business units with product internationalization and introduction of new products, especially hotel rooms, which is why Amadeus and Galileo software are used for all the top travel agencies worldwide. GDS integration for travel agencies and suppliers of travel products Travel agencies must have full access to a global distribution system GDS. To get connected to a GDS, travel agencies need a contract. This will enable the travel agents to provide an astonishing amount of travel product rates and information to their customers, at the lowest possible rates. An experienced travel technology company can integrate any GDS to the computer reservation system or website of a travel agency. It’s critical also for the properties to be on a GDS. Travelers now go to travel portals to find travel products. So hotels, car rentals, etc, have to be there to get Internet visibility and, thus, more reservations. A GDS allows real-time access to inventory system of a hotel with the current prices, discounts, room types, facilities like Wi-Fi and different aspects of interest to the potential customer. Owners can hire a good travel technology company to get access to the GDS of their choice. A property can be connected only in one GDS provider. If the property owner wants to change the provider, he can cancel the existing provider and activate another with a switch letter. How much does it cost? To integrate GDS to your system, you’ll have to pay a one-time setup cost and pay a monthly charge of a minimum amount per reservation. Major GDS systems Amadeus was started in 1987 by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa, and SAS in order to create a European GDS, by fusing their CRSs. In 1989, seven more airlines joined Amadeus and began to allow travel agents to book flights through neutral screens. It is now the largest leisure package distributor in the world. Through Amadeus GDS integration, a travel agent can offer travel products from 430 airlines in 195 countries, 32 car rental companies in 37,918 locations, 20 cruise lines and 300,000 hotel properties. More than 100,000 travel agencies are connected with Amadeus GDS. Sabre, a joint venture by American Airlines and IBM, was started in 1960. In 1970, Sabre system began to be installed in travel agencies. Now 55,000 travel agencies use Sabre GDS to book products from 400 airlines, 88,000 hotels, 24 car rental brands, and 13 cruise lines.
Galileo and Worldspan are the other two major GDSs. There are also third party consolidators like Sahara, Infini (Japan), Axess (Japan), Tapas (Korea), Fantasia (South Pacific), and Abacus (Asia/Pacific) that cater to particular regions or countries. The big consolidators also include such as Expedia, Orbitz (Merchant program registration needed), Hotels.com, Travelocity, AAA, Hotwire, Priceline and TravelWeb. The future of GDS As a tool of of content aggregation, GDS is here to stay and be more powerful. Novel technological solutions in middleware continue to appear. Global distribution systems have a long way to go. 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. 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. For handling the ever growing network of various online reservation systems, there are the global consolidators, which consolidate the global travel data from various airlines, hotel providers and car providers. Such a system that aggregates and distributes travel related information to end travel management companies, is called GDS System / Global Distribution System. GDS System is a centralized reservation system used as an ultimate access point by different travel agents for reservations on different reservation systems. It is a computerized travel reservation system that provides automated transactions between Vendors and travel agents who in turn provide booking services to the travellers. GDS works in 3 sectors namely, airline reservations, hotel reservations and car rentals. A GDS system connects all of these three sectors and a huge share of worldwide travel bookings goes through GDS and other consolidators. The major GDS systems are Amadeus, Sabre, Apollo, Galileo, Worldspan, Abacus and Infini. These have links to the airline's database and provide all links to the travel agents who are the primary customers. Basically it is a medium used by various travel agents to access the seats, rates and booking information related to different airlines. It connects various such reservation systems all together within a single entity and also connects them to various other GDS present so as to provide combinational services like flights plus hotels or hotels plus rental cars etc. The association between single ARS – Airline Reservation System and the GDS is so advanced that the booking systems and the travel agents access availability and pricing information in real time. Whole process of searching and booking and generating the PNR, can be finished in in no time. In case of ARS, whenever a booking is made, a PNR is generated that contains all the journey details for that passenger. GDS also holds the entire data in that PNR, called user profiling whereas ARS contains PNR details for that passenger only related to that particular airline. Author: Author is a travel technology expert and has been involved in several travel portal development projects. PROVAB TECHNOSOFT (http://www.provab.com) have been at the service of small- and medium-sized travel agencies around the world, since 2003. We’ve been providing innovative and cost-effective travel portal development and have become an almost a synonym for Travel Technology Company in many parts of the world such as Singapore, Dubai, Riyadh and Copenhagen. Our expertise in B2B and B2C travel portal and travel API integration. With the travel portal developed by us will enable you provide to your customers domestic and international flight booking, hotel booking, rental car booking, cruise booking, holiday packages, bus booking and so on. It also includes Admin control panel, Multicurrency and Multilanguage facilities. PROVAB’s XML-based travel technology solutions facilitates integration with multiple CRS, GDS and other providers of travel products and services. We will customize the portal for your company that your customers can get access to thousands of travel products and services under one single XML feed.
Technology has become an integral part of travel business. You, as tour operator can’t neglect this fact anymore. Your present and prospective customers will no longer visit the travel agent’s office to book the flight or hotel any more. They will do it through the Internet or mobile app. This is not a crisis for the traditional travel agent but a splendid opportunity. But you need an expert travel technology company like PROBAB to bring technology to your travel business. Visit us today at http://www.provab.com. You can also call us at +91.8880321321 and email us at [email protected]. |
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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