TAKING GUESS WORK OUT OF ‘GUEST WORK’
- Posted by webcrs
- On February 2, 2023
- 0 Comments
Any movement forward, or progress, brings together with it some risks and challenges that test the staying power and fighting capabilities of those who are determined to move on.This is what is happening in every sphere of modern life and business activities and tour operators and travel agents are no exception. The growth of online travel companies and the mushrooming of new travel agencies, coupled with the growing tendency on the part of the airline companies to cut down on the commission to travel agents,are eating into the profit margins of the tour and travel agencies.
In short, the progress and growth in travel and tourism being experienced all over the world does not benefit those travel companies who are not fast enough or competitive enough to change and those who are not able to keep on reinventing themselves to keep afloat.As Sam Nunn would say,“The good news is that we are making progress. The bad news is that we’re doing too little and moving much too slowly”.
The greatest challenge faced by a travel companies is related to the treatment an enquiry received from a prospect of a tour package. The traveller needs all the details comprehensively and completely in a nutshell,including the specification of the package that conform perfectly with the tastes of the guest, the related accommodation from availability,the details of transport and other services, the distances and details of nearby locations of tourist interest,etc.
The hotels & resorts and service providers have to do their bit by updating their existing rates, special offers and packages.Even if they do that promptly,collecting all this bits of data, analyzing them and grouping them into comprehensive package with relevant information, tailored to the needs of each enquirer, is a time consuming task,indeed, if the company is NOT empowered by technology.
The technology that a travel company can rely on with confidence is WebCRS Travel, the online travel agency software that simplifies contracting, costing, CRM and reservation process.It makes costing error a thing of the past, brings down operational costs considerably and maximizes guest turnouts by giving optimum service to the prospective customers who, in turn, become brand ambassadors of the travel company.
The Payment Gateway in the system ensures way of collection of secure payments from any part of the world. Facilities for integration of telephone and mail into the software guarantee that no phone call or email from a potential client is ever missed.The system makes managing everything with just a click of the button.It is the greatest business partner of the travel company in his fight to overcome the challenges in his business.
This solution helps the travel companies to keep tab of and have secure access to contract rates, together with the offer or package rate for the room and the availability of the room on the specified day, in all the hotels that come in their network, from a single platform. The travel companies can thus have the right to access all the special rates, offers and packages in the hospitality facility, during the various periods, and avail of them all.
With this technology in place,the travel companies would be able to create multi-users and let the agency staff members have secure access, from a common pool, to all the hotels in the supplier network.They can even add the hospitality facilities as Direct Channel, block, or reserve in advance, rooms during specific period as per the requirements of their clients, confirm the bookings of rooms live and also submit requests for cancellation of confirmed accommodations.
The travel companies, using the software, can view, simultaneously, check all the previous schedules and update their payments due.Being sure that all the details on the screen are the latest available and the only available data on the net at the time is indeed a great relief to the travel companies who had so far been in the dark on the complex situation of demand and supply in the hospitality sector, especially during the high seasons.WebCRS Travel has taken the guess work out of hospitality business.
HERE ARE 2 TIPS FOR TENSION-FREE PROFITS
Mr.Neelkanth P., Managing Director of WebCRSTravel Technologies Pvt Ltd, is a Travel technology expert and has many tips for the streamlining and advancement of the travel industry. Here are two of his most popular tips to boost your profitability.
PROBLEM No. 1
Tons of Manual Processes to be optimised
Every time when a travel company receives a guest enquiry regarding tour package or accommodation, the team needs to search agency contracts and may also require contacting the hotels, vehicle rental agencies and other service providers directly to check availability and best available rates.Guests may also seek specific packages and want to compare the package cost with another service provider.In case the agency manages contracts on spreadsheet, they may find it difficult searching right deal, mapping itinerary and generating quotes based on the requirement of the guests.In normal working scenarios a guest gets the quote after 24 hours.The guest might not wait for long for costing details and may probably switch to other agencies.
What is required?
Travel agencies must switch to a paperless environment and use the most up-to-date system and technologies for the business, to bring down operational cost, avoid costing errors and simplify the booking and reservation process, to maximize revenues through guest turnouts so that they may be able to stand tall against the market contenders.This system must also facilitate telephone and mail integration to never miss important calls and emails from the prospective customers or guests.
PROBLEM No. 2
Payment dilemma
Travel Agencies and Tour Operators face delays in collection of payments from guests, especially international guests.Some have paid the whole amount in advance, some have paid a part in advance, some are yet to pay anything and some have send in cheques.Some are making direct payments and some are paying through their travel agencies abroad.The payment reminders and collection follow-up are hard to track on real time basis.
What is required?
To make things convenient for everyone involved (both the agency and the guests), one needs to have a secure and user-friendly payment system, which should not only update agencies about due payments, by giving repeated alerts to follow-up with guests, but also send reminder mails to the guests that their payments are due for specific services.The travel agency needs to have an inherent payment gateway, which could promise secure payment dealings, be it through credit cards, debit cards or other banking facilities.
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