Given that more than 40% of travel is taking place online today, it is imperative for travel agencies to invest in good travel agency software to remain relevant in the coming times. Whether it is booking flights, hotels, ground transportation, or sightseeing, a travel agency software can help travel agencies keep their customers happy by providing them everything they need under one roof. Must read Are Travel Agents Old School
So what are the important features a travel agency should look for when investing in a travel agency software? let’s find out.
Travel portal for your showcase products
A travel portal is the most essential feature of travel agency software as it is the first place for a travel agency’s customers when they want to know more about your services. A travel portal includes various features such as booking engines, hot deals, fixed packages, a planning tool for DIY travel, direct inquiries, and many more. While investing in the travel portal Make Investment, agencies need to ensure their home and business phones, mobile-responsive as customers are increasingly choosing to book travel on their smartphones and tablets.
Booking engine for 24 × 7 booking
A good travel agency software includes online booking engines that allow customers to search and book their favorite flight, hotel, and sightseeing options online. The advantage of a booking engine is that it shows real-time rates and availability to customers and allows them to receive instant confirmation of their booking, rather than following an inquiry and allowing the agent to check rates, book and customer Wait to send a confirmation. In this way, your travel agency can take booking 24 × 7 instead of just office time. Booking engines should include advance search filters and sorting options to let customers know what they are looking for. It should also allow the customer to see the hotel and other options on the map to make better decisions.
Back office to manage your business
Many travel agencies still manage everything offline, causing operational inefficiencies and the risk of costly errors. A good travel agency software includes a robust back-office module that helps agencies simplify and in many cases automate routine administrative tasks, such as sending, quoting and sending quotes, live rates from suppliers and achievements Receiving, issuing booking process, issuing vouchers, accounting management, etc. It can also help agencies centrally configure markup, commission, promotion, and other business rules applicable to bookings. A travel agency software with strong back office capabilities can help agencies increase staff productivity by over 300%.
It is necessary for agencies to personalize the experience for their clients in 2020. A travel agency software with a CRM module helps agencies manage all their clients and bookings through an interface. They can track and analyze what customers book when they book and generally how much they spend. They can also configure their personal details including birthdays and anniversaries and send them personal emails and text messages from the software. The best travel agency software in the market also allows agents to classify customers and assign specific markups to each class so that loyal customers can be rewarded. It can also help agents create personalized offers and packages based on customers’ preferences.
B2B Agent Management
For B2B agencies working with sub-agents, a travel agency software also provides a B2B module that eliminates the hassle of exchanging countless emails and phone calls to make a simple booking. Sub-agents can simply enter your system, search for flights, hotels, transfers, or even packages, and make bookings on behalf of their customers. This makes life extremely easy for both you and your sub-agents / resellers. With B2B modules, agencies can set up agents, add their details, configure their markup/commission, and also set their credit limits. They can also provide private label portals (B2B2C) to their sub-agents with their own branding.
XML API Integration
A feature of a good travel agency software is that it allows agents with third-party supplier contracts to integrate their feeds into the travel portal with XML APIs. Agents can integrate GDS & Consolidators for flights, Bedbank / hotel wholesalers for hotels and homestays as well as ground transportation and activity suppliers to provide a comprehensive list of B2C and B2B clients in one portal. They can integrate the payment gateway of their choice to take an instant booking from any part of the world via credit card or net banking.
Contracted inventory management
Agents often have direct contract and negotiation rates with selected hotels and other inventory providers. With the CRS / Inventory Management module of a travel agency software, travel agencies can manage all their directly contracted inventory on one platform. Agents can load their hotel rooms, tours or activities into CRS, define policies, define rates, schedules, allocations, and markups, and sell their inventory with third-party feeds on their travel portal Can.
