Christopher Columbus took almost six years to plan, prepare, and budget one of the four journeys of his lifetime. Fortunately, today’s Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) can present your dream tour plan or an emergency trip within minutes only.
Today is the era of ‘Tra-volution.’ The travel industry had already experienced its virtual transformation a decade ago. Today it has been dramatically revolutionized with travel technology all across the globe. Evolution of augmented devices, advanced business & technology modules, and travel APIs have made the travelers enjoy the most satisfying customer experience that is majorly backed-up by the advanced travel agency programs. The emergence of specialized travel agency software solutions has given momentum to the travel business. They are web-based travel booking systems and are mainly used by OTAs or Online Travel Agencies.
This article is going to define about the best travel agency software solutions available in the market and what best the travel industry holds for the benefits of its travelers.
Travel Software Technology
Travel technology is also referred to as hospitality automation or tourism technology. Travel agencies need a specific type of software, each for a particular function.
A typical travel agent’s day-to-day operations include scheduling tour, tour program creation, hotel or resort booking, vendor negotiation, consultation services, and finding the best fare to create personalized tours as per the client’s budget. It seems like a tedious job to handle manually or using Excel spreadsheets. Hence, the software community has revolutionized the travel industry with the availability of a wide range of specialized online solutions.
Travel agents offer real-time reservation interface and booking engine options from travel websites to their clients. Sabre – the global travel technology software tool used to be owned by the majority of American Airlines is widely used by today’s travel agents having internet access and conventional dial-up connections. We have grouped these solutions into four types of travel agency software solutions;
Types and Important Functions of Travel Agency Software
Manual vs. Automated Travel Operations
Travel agencies face immense pressure to meet the growing demands of travelers.
Today, when most of the travelers can search and book their travel plans on their own via the Internet, most of them still rely on the travel agencies for complicated itineraries such as booking a journey with multiple legs and traveling in a large group having different schedules.
Manual operational activities sometimes lead to mishandling issues like wrongly calculated bills, non-acceptance of payments, and untimely confirmations. It will not just result in unhappy customers, but can also bring potential financial losses to the concerned business. Hence, travel agencies nowadays rely more on automated software programs and follow a specific set of workflows so that they can save themselves from the unnecessary wastage of time, energy during the process.
Workflow Challenges in a Travel Agency
In the majority of travel agencies, the task of information, documentation, and other associated activities like notifications, itinerary creation, confirmation, etc. generally flow between the following areas:
- Management: This section covers employee accountability activities like customer issue escalation and resolution, profit and loss statement, performance and outcome reports, and other management situations.
- Customer-Related: This section covers activities like creating travel plans, verifying itineraries, booking tickets and hotel reservations, creating vouchers, invoicing customers or businesses, and so on.
- Back Office: Some operational activities are involved in this section like billing, invoicing, settlement plan payments, procurement, marketing services, travel packaging, and the commission paid to staff.
Any disturbance in above-listed activities can distract the proper processing of the travel agency workflow. For example, improper communication of updates about travel services across different departments within the agency (back office) may result in a traveler missing his or her flight or losing a reservation (customer-related) that further results in a customer issue escalation (management).
How can Travel Agency Software help dealing with Workflow Challenges?
As we have gone through the workflow problems, advanced travel agency software programs bring forward the solutions. They can also be regarded as the benefits of automated travel agency software solutions.
- Cost Reduction: Operational costs of a travel business get reduced by removing the manual processes.
- Fewer Possibilities of Human Error: Human activities are prone to error, primarily when the technical operations are handled manually. Automation helps in getting the guesswork out of the equation by allowing the staff to establish genuinely engaging experiences for their customers.
- Increased Responsiveness: Instant billing, invoicing, reservations, quick updates to customers, etc. are the perfect examples of an automated software program that helps in improving responsiveness in the dealings.
Automated solutions help travel agencies to benefit through more in comparison to conducting the entire process manually.
Trending Travel Agency Software Technologies in 2019
Here are some progressive technologies that are soon to make the eTravel services more affordable, more accessible, and comfortable for travelers.
- Machine Learning – The AI-infused travel systems help in analyzing large datasets to generate super personalized suggestions for the travelers.
- Recognition Technology – Fingerprint, retina scanning, facial recognition, other biometric identification methods are imperative to use for identification purposes.
- AI-based Robots – Robotic technology in machines is used to perform multiple operations from detecting hidden weapons in the airports, railway stations or to assist the travellers during their tour.
- Internet – Nearly 57% of all the reservations in the sphere of travelling are done online. A great variety of Internet-based deals helps the users to select the best according to their needs, preferences, and expectations.
- Mobile Applications – Almost half of the booking operations are done via mobile devices in combination with the IoT i.e., Internet of Things technology. It also implies to individuals locations and preferences.
- Voice Technology – For instance, it includes voice-activated devices at their hotels to ensure healthy interactions with the customers. Usage of voice commands for adjusting hotel room settings is another important provision for the customers.
- Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence – Usage of chatbots are going to be at prominence due to their top-notch ability to accurately and continuously sort out the relevant data for delivering most expected and rapid responses to the customer problems and queries.
- Augmented and Virtual Reality – AR and VR technology presupposes augmenting the real surroundings of a person.
Free and Open Source Travel Agency Software Market
Free and open source travel agency software solutions are in recent days increasingly adopted by many companies and travel agencies. Travel agencies can benefit more with the cost-efficiency offered by these platforms. Interestingly, travel agencies can use their own staff to manage and deploy the software.
Let us check out some of the top-listed free and open source software solutions that are ruling the travel agency market.
Below given chart will help you to understand all software solutions.
Let us check each of them in detail to have a better idea about them.
1. Toogo
Toogo web application is designed for the destination management companies, travel agencies, and tour operators. It is an open source software-as-a-service solution, a product by ToogoNet – a software engineering services company.
(Source: Toogo)
Highlights:
- Toogo is a cloud, SaaS, and web-based software.
- It is an all-in-one, multi-user, multi-lingual, multicurrency, multi-tool that comes with the quick installation with regular updates and specific configuration.
- It provides simple, intuitive, automatic, and instantaneous quotations and is a reliable system that prevents errors and omissions.
- It saves 35% of your time in the tour operation and production process.
2. B2CSoftware
B2CSoft is an excellent web-based software that comes with open source technology. The stable version 1.04 of the software runs on OS Windows XP/7/Server and higher, web server IIS 6.0 + ASP classic, and database MSDE, MS SQL 2000 and higher. It is available in English, Russian, Italian, Greek, and many other widespread languages of the world.
(Source: B2CSoft)
Highlights:
- The B2CSoftware can work on any device supported by the local or dedicated network.
- Along with online booking modules, it facilitates customization of system and application data register.
- It maintains a database on request including package tours, air tickets, and insurance policies, etc.
- The software also facilitates static report building on claims and using different complex filters.
3. PHPTravel
PHPTravels is a renowned platform to offer complete open-source web and mobile applications. It is an easy-to-download software that comes with advanced customization. This multi-lingual software comes with absolute Security Bounty Program and uses the latest technologies, PHP, JS, JQUERY, HTML5, BOOTSTRAP, and Codeigniter framework with HMVC coding pattern.
(Source: PHPTravels)
Highlights:
- The PHPTravels software comes with a flexible and powerful templating engine along with many built-in options that allow the users to customize it according to their needs fully.
- It offers responsive themes for seamless user-experience and user-friendly navigation of the system.
- It supports online travel tour module that helps in managing the business and supporting the sales of products and services.
4. OpenTripPlanner
A family of open source software solutions – OpenTripPlanner is built in Java and can be accessed directly through its web API, or a wide range of JavaScript client libraries. It is an exceptional trip planner that works on Linux, Mac, Windows, or potentially any platform with a Java virtual machine and is released under the LGPL license.
(Source: OpenTripPlanner)
Highlights:
- The OpenTripPlanner software code can be written or modified on any Integrated Development Environment i.e., Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and NetBeans.
- The OTP project uses Travis CI continuous integration system and uses the same code formatting and style as used by the GeoServer and GeoTools projects.
- It is one of the most powerful software for source code development and a variety of deployments around the world.
5. TourWriter
TourWriter is an award-winning tour operator software that facilitates faster creation of tailor-made itineraries for your touring venture. It has been into tour operation for the last 15 years and now owns 800+ travel designers and 40+ team members worldwide.
(Source: TourWriter)
Highlights:
- TourWriter software facilitates a tailor-made itinerary with drag-and-drop functionality.
- From within the software, it is possible to send a booking request and receive supplier confirmations.
- Extraordinary travel packages are bundled with popular supplier combinations. These ready-to-use packages can be used time and again.
- The software is integrated into the TourWriter’s very own online itinerary builder.
6. TripControl
TripControl is an easy-to-use, web-based, and powerful travel agency software. It is an advanced travel CRM that is specifically designed for small and medium scale travel agencies, tour operators, freelancers, and individual travel agents.
(Source: TripControl)
Highlights:
- The TripControl software facilitates a beautiful and unique itinerary design.
- The software facilitates web, PDF & Mobile Friendly Design with excellent ready graphics.
- It effectively manages both customized and group itineraries and booking.
- Itinerary SMS to customer is sent after confirming the booking.
7. TourCMS
TourCMS is a web-based tour reservation system for travel agencies and tour operators. It trades in 63 countries and 22 languages for reservations, ecommerce, and back-office operations. Established in 2003 - the TourCMS software is safe, secure, and reliable.
(Source: TourCMS)
Highlights:
- The TourCMS software maintains just one customer and booking database.
- It supports complex commercial setups and needs you to have a server/web hosting that has a scripting language (such as PHP, Perl, or ASP).
- It works on all modern browsers like IE, FireFox, Opera, Safari, Google Chrome, and JavaScript enabled system.
- TourCMS API calls are to access your live product, booking, and customer data in real-time.
We have added one more software for discussion. It is a popular travel agency software-LEMAX.
Lemax
Lemax is a web-based popular travel agency software that automates your marketing, sales, operations, and finances. It designs beautiful itineraries that enhance customer engagement and sales. It creates instant quotations and invoices for your customers. This software caters to the needs of Inbound Tour operators and the Outbound Tour operators, Destination management companies, Corporate travel companies, travel agencies, and Online Travel Agencies.
Highlights:
- Completely automated sales workflow
- Lemax uses predefined travel components to create an itinerary.
- Lemax calculates the travel price for groups and creates quotations for the expense.
- Users can create and send itineraries in multiple languages, with fully customized options.
- It adds photos and descriptions automatically.
- Provides facility to manage seat allocations using drag and drop options.
- The final seat allocation record sheet can be downloaded in word or excel.
- Allows to create inquiries and send email confirmations to the supplier.
- Handles service requests
- It lets users organize a list of rooms, buses and flights, passenger arrival and departure, etc.
- Generates accurate profitability reports for each group
- Automates upselling by sending emails to the traveling customers regarding additional paid services offered.
- Centralized communication with customers
- Online booking for B2B or B2C.
Traveltek, Trawex, Dolphin, and Traviolaare other popular travel agency software solutions available in the market.
If you are already using one from the software solutions listed above, you can freely share your reviews here.
Conclusion:
Augmented Reality Tourism Apps have shown their tremendous potential to take user’s experience to the next level. Augmented Reality technology aims at creating new revenue generation streams for travel technology companies.
Above all, it is true what an expert once said,
“The future travel brand isn’t therefore just about moving people from A to B, unveiling new destinations, or organizing trips. Instead it is about a thoroughly progressive, completely 360 degree view of the traveler and everything that goes into creating special, unique, memorable experiences.”
