Whether you are travelling for vacation or for business, one of the most important part of your travel arrangements are your Hotel accommodations. Selecting the wrong airline seat can be a bad start or end to any journey, but the choosing the wrong hotel room can ruin an entire trip. A hotel serves as your “home base” while travelling and it should provide the atmosphere, amenities and services you’ll look for to make your stay as enjoyable as possible. Do you need a downtown location close to restaurants with a business center? Do you prefer to have a room close to the beach with a place to get an exotic tropical drink? Or do you prefer a family hotel near a particular theme park or attraction? Finding the right hotel for a specific trip at the right price can be overwhelming.

The wide variety of different hotel options available combined with the various methods to research and book hotels today provide endless options for travelers. Travel Agents have always been a great resource to sort through the different options and select the right hotel for their customers. Quite often, a travel agent will have access to special deals with hotel properties and they can often ensure you are treated like a V.I.P. when you arrive. Their help and expertise can certainly make your trip more enjoyable and easier to plan.

However with the increasing popularity of the Internet and improvement in technology, many consumers now prefer to research and book their hotel rooms themselves online. This helps them to avoid the hassle of visiting a travel agent’s office and allows them to research and book a hotel room when they want from the comfort of their own home. Many hotel booking engines include links to media files & rich content to assist with selecting the right hotel property during the shopping process. Most provide the details, pictures and information about a hotel property to help a consumer research which is the best hotel for their needs. Consumers can go online and view pictures of a hotel lobby, sample guest rooms and even hotel restaurants and gyms. They can quickly view where the hotel is located on a local map and determine whether it is in the right location.

There are so many websites that aggregate hotel content and a variety of hotel reservation software to choose from today that many consumers are not sure where to go. While technology has made it easier for consumers to book directly with travel suppliers, many consumers are missing out on the benefits and perks that using a travel agent can bring. Savvy travel agents recognized the value of combining their expertise with the ease of internet bookings and jumped into the world of online booking engines years ago.

The hotel reservation software available today makes it easy for any size agency to compete with the largest online players. Many hotel booking engines are easily customizable to match an agency’s brand identity and provide the features and tools to manage your online business.