Travel Agent Software Options

1. Travel Agent Software Options Travel Agents have always been a key part of the travel industry since the beginning and have been evolving the way that they interact with both suppliers and consumers along with the rest of today’s retailers. Travel agent software such as airline booking engines, hotel booking engines and even cruise booking engines were introduced into the market decades ago and have been evolving ever since. The online revolution and transition to e-commerce has been a crucial step for many agencies and a necessary change for them to remain in business. As a result, the online booking engines available today provide agents and their customers the ability to easily book just about anything from an airline ticket, a hotel reservation or even a packaged cruise vacation. With just a few mouse clicks, today’s travel agent software can access the information agents need to research which hotel best meets their customer’s individual needs. For example, Users can narrow the search for a hotel to a specific neighbourhood within a city, the hotel star rating or a specific price range. You can even research whether a specific hotel property has a restaurant or room service available. Air travel searches can

2. be done specific to an airline, the time of day or even a specific class of service. Online searches for cruise vacations can be made specific to a sailing region such as Alaska or the Mediterranean, for a specific cruise line or cruise ship and even by the length of the cruise. Rich content such as Cruise ship and cabin photos along with detailed descriptions are integrated into the booking engine to help agents and customers make the right choice. Users can even select which seating time option they prefer for dinner or alert the supplier of a special need or occasion such as a passenger’s birthday or anniversary. Different types of clients may have different requirements for their individual online booking engine. For example, the booking solution an agency may need to serve its corporate clients can be dramatically different from one they use for leisure travel customers. Corporate travel policy may dictate which specific airline, class of service or routing can be used based on an individual’s position within the company for example. Or there may be corporate travel policies to consider that limit to which hotel chains can be used or the type of room that can be booked. While those serving leisure travellers may look for a tool that’s somewhat less restrictive in some ways but perhaps searches multiple content sources to ensure they get the best price available for the flight or hotel they choose. The travel agent software available today can help automate processes while increasing revenues regardless of whether a travel agency serves corporate accounts or leisure clients. Just as the case with much of the travel industry, consolidation has forced many travel agencies to merge or form new, closer affiliate relationships. The ability to expand the 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 joining Agency Consortia and forming new alliances, many want to continue to maintain their individual agency’s unique brand with their customers. Finding the right travel agent software with the tools your agency needs to compete can be critical to your business. Finding a technology partner that drives efficiency through innovation can be even more important.