
With most travel agencies planning to expand their reach and enter the global arena, without travel software the process will end up being a tricky and time-consuming one. It goes beyond saying that the need is for innovative and smart travel agency software that helps travel agents make services available to customers in a jiffy. Not many travel agencies are opting in for in-house development as they have comprehended the fact that competition is cutthroat and they need to rely on a pro for a comprehensive end product.
The demand for both B2C and B2B travel software is on a rise and with big players across the globe surging the need is to choose an agency that designs future-ready software. An important fact that needs to be comprehended is that travel agency software is a powerful tool that is designed to make a business easy for travel agents and agencies and covers all those integral components without fail. There are several subcategories or sections in which this software development process is divided such as API integration, booking engine, or white label, the need is to know these closely and then decide on the ones that would act as business aggregators.
Features That Make Any Travel Agency Software So Powerful although, the prime job of travel software is to make bookings easy, there are still some more areas that have been explored by the developers, and considering those the process has included several features:
- Flight Ticket Booking (Domestic & International): This is going to include GDS flight reservation and API integration via which travelers will be able to compare multiple flight options and then make final bookings.
- Car Booking or Car Rental: Using this feature the customers are going to use the travel agency’s inventory to book a car on a specific date and time in advance and would then make payment for the same.
- Hotel Booking: In this customers can explore multiple hotel options or enter their needs and the software is going to display the ones that match the criteria, late bookings can be made after payment and a confirmation email would be sent.
- Bus Booking: The customers need to add in their preferences such as city name, date and time of travel, and the number of seats, and they will be redirected to the seat map at which they can make the bookings after doing the payment.
- Holiday Packages: Using these features customers can check out for various domestic and international holiday packages and then either make a booking or fill in the Enquiry form.
- Payment Gateway Integration: Indeed the most important feature to be present in any travel agency, it allows customers to make payments online. The customers are provided with multiple options to choose from such as debit cards, credit cards, or internet booking and they can pick the one that suits the most.
Apart from these features, there are some advanced features that too can be added to any travel agency software such as foreign money exchange, travel insurance, and SMS gateway integration.
Benefits of Business hotel booking software
Business hotel booking software offers many advantages for hotel owners. Various types of easily configurable hotel reservation software are available in the market. No matter whether you are operating a small or large hotel or a guesthouse, choosing the right hotel reservation software helps you to get more customers. Manual hotel reservation is error-prone. It may lead to double booking and advanced hotel reservation software prevents this gross error. It also helps keep track of customers. Many companies offer hotel reservation software at affordable prices.
Business hotel booking software can be bought and installed on a computer that is part of a network. Hotel reservation software should be capable of supporting several computers in a network. It should also support TCP/IP to facilitate web-based reservations. It should be user-friendly with a GUI interface.
Business hotel booking software allows seamless reservation of rooms. A receptionist can make the reservations for customers in a matter of minutes when they make a call for booking. You don’t need to check the register manually for vacant rooms. Hotel reservation software automatically updates the reservation status, each time a reservation is made. It displays vacant rooms with just the click of a button. You can also browse the address of customers staying in the hotel for verification purposes.
Business hotel booking software allows hotels to save the preferences of repeat customers. You can also send emails to such customers informing them about discount offers for their next visit. This way, you can maintain regular customers and improve your hotel business.
Web-based hotel booking allows customers to book rooms according to their tour schedule from the comfort of their homes or office. Moreover, you can offer discounts for such bookings and attract more customers. The software should have the facility to accept credit card or debit card payments. This option is suitable for customers who stay for many days on official visits. Web-based booking software attracts many customers across the nation or world.
Hotel reservation booking software also allows for storing the birthdays of customers and sending greetings on birthdays to important customers. The software also should have the facility to record food preferences and serve accordingly. You may win customers by giving importance to their feelings.
Hotel reservation booking software comes with the facility to account for meals, tea, breakfast, laundry, and bar. It should allow payment either through cash or credit card. It should allow the printing of reports for customers as well as for filing purposes.