High-speed internet connections allow instantaneous video, text and voice communication right across the globe, often at considerably less expense than normal, traditional methods such as long-distance telephone communications can offer.
Data can be sent almost instantly to an airline from the agency, which can then be relayed to customers. This makes sure bookings which might have taken hours or even days to be process with immediate effect, thus reducing wait times and increasing productivity.
Hotels can also benefit from these services, and guests do not have to experience long delays or unexpected interruptions which could have proved to be problematic in the past. One of the largest impacts on the travel agency overall has been the steady rise of online booking. Customers who are looking to secure a reservation or wish to plan a trip away no longer have to visit an agency, but can instead do everything on a computer or laptop.
You can even use mobile apps if you are on the move, and they can be accessed from practically any location. This is not good news for travel agencies on the whole, as they have traditionally relied on being perceived as a necessary intermediary point between customers and the services they require. Now that everyone chooses to do things online, they have to look at other ways in which to attract attention and secure a concrete consumer base.
As more and more people book online, fewer people are now heading into brick-and-mortar agencies, dealing directly with someone on a one-to-one basis. Immense pressure has mounted on traditional agencies such as hotels, airlines and other service providers, so they need to think quickly if they want to make sure they do not lose custom. Even though this may seem like cause for concern, the travel agency business is far from collapsing.
Like so many service industries, travel agency businesses are changing in order to adapt to new and unfamiliar technology. A booking engine for hotels can be a make-or-break moment in the entire customer journey, so you have to make sure that you invest in solutions which are efficient and cost-effective. Many agencies have chosen to shift their focus to online services when it comes to hotel and airline bookings, whilst maintaining an element of physical activity, doing business face-to-face rather than via the internet.
Whilst adaptation to new technology has subjected the travel agency industry to a number of obstacles which they have had to overcome, the industry is still financially sound. The main focus for the majority of agencies has been directed to online agencies, which allows clients the ability to book their trips with minimal effort. You are not constrained by office hours and do not have to worry about re-arranging your schedules in order to make sure that you have everything planned right down to the finest detail.
Given that most travelers will be choosing based on pricing, the products in your target segment and by your target suppliers must be cheaper. Use analytical tools. But how exactly are you going to check whether your deals compete well? And your deals will change their positions as well.
There must be some way to keep an eye on your performance and adjust markup to stay competitive. Many small travel agencies would manually check their segments. Another way here is to purchase the web analytic reports from some of the metasearch engines. In addition to automating all research efforts, it will also help you understand what the competition is and how your opponents rank.
For instance, Skyscanner provides its Performance Analytics for Partners program. Manage your markup. To reach your final goal and be visible in the search results, you can now manage your markup or promise unique deals.
The level of automation here also depends on your resources:. Prestigia, a small OTA with about thousand monthly visitors, wins on Kayak with this hotel deal as it targets boutique accommodation.
Consider the core value of each engine. Each of the major metasearch engines has its own advantage. Users all around the world appreciate Google for speed, simplicity, and the fact that their flight metasearch widget appears on the search engine panel if you sell flights. About 30 percent of travelers use Google and other search engines to find their deals. So, investing in this channel is also a viable strategy. By writing a good, competitive, and compelling copy, you are not only making your service visible to search robots.
The extra value here is that you are attracting customers with an educational and engaging read. It encourages their informative decisions and improves your chances that they accept your offer. A great example is TripMyDream, a small Ukrainian online travel agency. The content includes articles on their best deals, the most popular destinations, local attractions, and the latest travel industry news.
Dedicated landing pages for target deals. You can create dedicated landing pages for your target deals and special offers. When writing copy for them, focus on specific keywords that people use to find these deals. This will allow search robots to find your pages and rank them higher. Besides the copy itself, you may add a booking interface to these pages, a price-picker calendar, product ratings, etc.
Orbitz has dedicated landing pages for hundreds of their deals and packs them with all useful information that a traveler may need: a booking widget, selected fares, basic information, and even short copy describing the trip. Check our case study on the technical side of generating such pages. Invest in SEO. The technical side of search engine optimization activities can also bring much to the table.
Basically, SEO activities consider two main things:. Fundamentally speaking, the main goal of SEO activities is showing the search engine that you understand traveler problems and know how to solve them. Being probably one of the oldest selling channels, email marketing still works.
The travel industry is no exception. Collect email accounts. The first step is gathering user emails. The easiest and most basic approach is allowing travelers to sign up for additional services like price-drop alerts and valuable newsletters. Be aware of GDPR requirements. Pick the right mailing tool. A perfect mailing agent provides emailing automation and customized segmentation age, price expectations, departure airports, etc.
Also, it must allow for analyzing user behavior, such as opening rates, a number of clicks, or even bounce rate. Tools like MailChimp or ActiveCampaign would be a good start. Track behavior and make customized offers. Trace user behavior to understand what travel products and price range your readers usually react to.
This will help you better segment customers. At the same time, you may also build your entire strategy on suggesting customized offers by email subscription only, as Moonfish does. The only thing a user has to do is subscribe to emails and pick their home airport. Moonfish will send you notifications on destinations available from there. Hot deals and discounts. You can use discounts as one of the most powerful selling points, stressing urgency or time-restricted conditions.
One of the great examples of submitting discounts was Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. The discounts promoted the unpopular post-Christmas holiday season. Or you may even suggest the coverage within the preferable direction. Bundled options. To show care for a customer, you may also create so-called bundles — services and activities to extend and improve their experience.
Say, your customer has booked a flight. In your follow-up email, you may suggest car rental services, an apartment, local restaurants, local attractions, and places to visit. Holiday specials. Some people plan their trips on holidays. In your holiday-bound emails, you can step back from a behavior-based approach and include diversified offers, just like Kayak does. As you can see, there are both wallet-friendly and luxurious destinations and tour packages.
You might also congratulate your customers on their birthday by suggesting special discounts or giveaways to show appreciation for using your services. Web banners and links also still work. Even though adverts remain one of the most straightforward ways to attract the right audience, the way you do web advertising can be tricky in travel. Google search ads. Yes, those top links on the search page.
They realized that competing with Kayak or other heavyweight players in Google is expensive. There were a number of other smart tricks like tracking flight cancelation data using flight APIs in real time and matching it with geo-targeting in their ad campaigns. Eventually, they got percent growth in nonbrand mobile bookings.
Build your reputation with real traveler reviews on a referral service. Get more great tips at tnooz. Travel agents find themselves challenged by the world of vacation options clients can access at their fingertips. In Chicago , Travel. Specialize Pick a few destinations or activities and resolve to be a better expert at them than anyone else. Personalize Differentiate yourself from DIY, self-service online solutions — and instead give consumers highly personalized service, recommendations, etc.
Market yourself for complex bookings Consumers can book the simple trips themselves e. Go upmarket Segment the market into two traveler types: Those with more money than time, and those with more time than money. Work with net rates rather than take commission Especially for custom tours, agents should consider getting net rates from suppliers and marking them up rather than taking commission.
Constantly do a self-check: Am I delivering the best value?
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