Today, no online travel solution is complete without a hotel booking engine. Researching and reserving a hotel room is quicker and easier than ever for anyone with access to the internet. With just a few clicks of the mouse, travelers are able to research hotel properties across the globe, check up to the minute room availability and rate information, view pictures of the actual hotel property and even confirm a reservation. Finding the right hotel is an important component of planning a trip and with so many online booking solutions on the market today, it’s difficult to know where to go to get the best deal.
Booking with a travel agent has always been a great way to find the best deal at just the right hotel. Not only are travel agents familiar with the variety of different hotels and amenities available, but they can often get you the best deal on a hotel room. Travel Agents can help you get the best rate, extra amenities and even room upgrades. A good travel agent can also help with your entire trip including VIP access to local attractions, restaurant reservations and airport transfers.
Using a travel agency online booking tool can give you the best of both worlds! A travel agency online booking provides the ease and accessibility of an online booking engine combined with the security and expertise you get when booking with a travel agent. Today’s hotel booking software can allow any size travel agent to compete with the largest online travel agencies while providing the personalized service only a travel agent can provide.
There are countless online hotel booking engines available in the market today, but the key to success is finding a solution that fits your particular business needs and then developing an online marketing strategy to drive customers to your website. After all, a travel agency can have the best online hotel booking engine available in the market, but if their website visitor traffic is low, so will their bookings! Hotels have been successful driving customers to their website booking engines with guarantees of the “lowest price”, special offers for past guests and even promotional offers. Price is a determining factor for many shopping online, but special value add offers, superior customer service and convenience are also important.
If an agency does plan to compete on price, they need to keep a close eye on what their clients are looking for and ensure that they have access to the best room rates. Some hotel booking software comes with robust reporting capabilities that not only help easily track what customers are booking, but also what customers are looking for. This information can be really valuable when considering relationships for hotel content and help determine what markets and hotel brands are most important to your business. In this case, a little research with a minimal investment can result in significant rewards once your booking engine is in place and you’ve launched your website marketing campaign.