How to find the right Travel Agency Software for you

When you are looking for a new travel agency software, it can be difficult to find one that is the perfect fit. You want something that will make your life easier and save you money in the process.

I understand this dilemma all too well so we created an online platform that has been designed with both travelers and agencies alike in mind.

Our goal is to provide the best online booking platform for travel agencies and we’ve done just that.

In fact, I bet you will find yourself wishing you had started using right from the start when it comes time to upgrade your existing system or switch providers in order to get everything this software offers.

Travel Agency Software

Travel agency software is a necessity in today’s world. It helps companies manage a wide range of travel products such as flights, lodging and activities to offer packages, quotes, itineraries launch marketing initiatives process payments and track the financial health of the organization.

This guide is designed for travel agencies to evaluate solutions and find the system that will drive more bookings and repeat business.

We’ve outlined the main features you should consider before making a decision below, so read on to learn more about what kind of software is best for your company!

How travel agency software can transform your travel business?

Travel Agency Software helps Travel company to manage the large portfolio of travel products like hotels, flights, transfers and activities with different supplier connectivity, package customization, quotes, itineraries launch marketing initiatives process payments and track the financial health of the organization.

It can transform your travel business into success by increasing the customers with its different features. Beneficial for travel agent, tour operators, travel agency, Destination Management Company, online travel agency.

It add real-time travel content like documents, descriptions, videos, maps and pictures to travel packages. It manages payment policies, promotions discounts blackout dates stay restrictions supplements.

It updates multiple travel inventories such as unit based pricing ranged based costing occupancy based rates and sells travel product quickly.

Features to look for in a Travel Agency Software

Travel agencies have common business tasks and challenges, so the feature set for these systems are typically similar. Most software solutions include:

1. Global Distribution Systems

It is a hotel central reservation system, the CRS helps travel companies manage a wide range of product inventories, including flights, cars, buses, hotel rooms, activities, vacation packages and other travel services.

The CRS Â provides a connection to Global Distribution Systems, or networks of travel service providers, to view and access the inventory of vendors across the globe.

Some solutions will allow for more customization than others when it comes time to integrate with your website so make sure you do some research beforehand. For instance, there are a wide range of ecommerce platforms that can be integrated with the CRS.

When you are looking for a travel agency software it is important to consider whether or not your vendor offers an online booking engine that allows users to make bookings directly on their website .

If they do, this will save you money because there won’t be extra fees when travelers try and reserve from another website.

2. Booking

If you plan to pay by the room or ticket for a certain number of bookings per month then an online booking engine will be more cost effective than using a quote system that charges fees each time they are submitted.

In that case, the charge is based on the total dollar value booked which means no hidden fees and low commissions.

This feature helps agencies manage various combinations of reservations customers may choose and offer accurate quotes on-the-fly.

It also allows agents to present multiple options for similar packages based on pricing and inventory of the hotels, airlines or activity suppliers. Users can save quotes for packages to compare later, and create documents with itineraries and pricing to send to customers via email.

3. Optimize Marketing Efforts

A travel CRM also plays an important role in segmentation for hospitality organizations, which helps identify their most lucrative and frequent types of travelers to optimize marketing efforts.

Many systems offer tools to help market products in various ways: sharing marketing materials on social media channels, optimizing your site with search engine optimization tools and managing targeted email or SMS campaigns. Agencies can use these features to advertise discounts and promotions.

4. Payment Facilities

Payments can be facilitated with an online payment processing feature, accepting all major credit cards and providing a secure environment for customers’ information.

This is important because travel agencies process many types of payments from different people including travelers, suppliers and employees.

Some solutions will integrate directly into the CRS to handle the entire booking process, while others will provide a solution for at least one part of the flow.

An Integrated and customizable payment gateway that allows us to accept all major credit cards in many currencies , which is perfect for managing clients’ travel expenses as well as supplier invoices on behalf of hotels or tour companies.

Most reservation tools do provide some form of financial management. There must be at least an online payment processing feature, accepting all major credit cards and providing invoices and receipts.

If not, specialized software integration is required. For example , Online Invoices which also provides a QuickBooks sync to ensure that your accounting records are always accurate .

What type of Buyer are you?

Travel agency software is not a one-size fits all kind of industry, so it can be difficult to understand what type of solution will work best for you.

If your company manages supplier inventories or operates as an agency then the system may need to include different features that specifically meet these needs:

Suppliers need access to a distribution channel of agents so they can quickly and seamlessly share pricing and inventory for more bookings.

Agents use travel agency software to access supplier inventories, provide customers with real-time selection of travel products, manage multiple combinations of reservations that customers may choose from, create documents with itineraries and pricing to send via email and manage targeted email or SMS campaigns.

What are the future plans for your business?

Moving systems often means you'll need to invest time initially in learning and getting set up, so you'll want to have something that will grow with your business for several years to come.

Are you planning on hiring more staff? Expanding your offering? Targeting a new market? Although it's trickier to define an associated cost to these types of goals, they are equally as important to note when deciding what too

The software helps agencies manage various combinations of reservations customers may choose and offer accurate quotes on-the-fly. It also allows agents to present multiple options for similar packages based on pricing and inventory of the hotels, airlines or activity suppliers.

How much does Travel Agency Software Cost?

Like many other types of software, travel agency systems are usually offered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS), meaning it's accessible through a web browser. These typically involve fewer upfront costs than traditional on-premise deployments.

Many vendors don't list pricing online . Of those that do, the most common structure includes a flat price per month, and a certain number of bookings based on various plans.

Agencies with a high volume of plans can usually purchase an enterprise-level package with increased functionality and support services .

Users can save quotes for packages to compare later, and create documents with itineraries and pricing to send to customers via email.

Market Trends

Software supporting multiple currencies and languages will be critical to serve these customers moving forward.

Sustainable travel and “voluntourism" becomes more popular. Sustainable travel involves practices that maintain tourism without damaging the natural and cultural aspects of destinations. Travelers are eager to experience diverse cultures, and do so in a responsible way.

As the travel industry grows, new trends are emerging and changing the tourism landscape. As agents and suppliers, it's important to stay abreast of these shifts to remain competitive.

Many systems offer tools to help market products in various ways: sharing marketing materials on social media channels, optimizing your site with search engine optimization tools and managing targeted email or SMS campaigns. Agencies can use these features to advertise discounts and promotions.

The travel industry is continuously changing, so it's important that any solution you choose will continue to adapt with your needs over time.

Benefits of having a travel agency software system

Travel agency software solutions are a key component to the travel industry. It adds real-time content like documents, descriptions, videos, maps and pictures to your package/travel service through online distribution channels such as Google Maps and YouTube.

It helps in managing multiple inventories by updating unit based pricing, ranged based costing and occupancy base rates. Â It will also help you manage payment policies, promotions, discounts, blackout dates and stay restrictions.

• Automate travel process
• Centralize travel bookings
• Easy Error Correction
• Faster Integration
• External transaction import routines

Conclusion

Traveling is not rare now, that seems to be an opportunity more than a challenge for travel agencies now.

But, this opportunity results in a challenge of satisfying knowledgeable and highly demanding customers who have visited many places and have already availed services from many other travel agencies.

To overcome the challenges mentioned above, it becomes necessary for the travel agencies to adopt the best travel agency management software that can help in marketing and advertising offers, managing inquiries, and providing the best customer experiences.