The Good, Great, and Genius of Online Booking Software for Tour Operators

Long gone are the days when travelers had to put on their ‘Indiana Jones hat’ and discover places on their own. Maps did the magic when it came to choosing destinations for the baby boomers and then came the era of Millenials!!! 

Travelling was made easy. Tour and Activity Operators simplified things for tourists by handling some of the tedious and boring tasks like hotel booking, flight booking, itinerary scheduling, getting entry tickets for sightseeing, hiring vehicles, and all sorts of travel-oriented services

But to handle everything in a streamlined environment is necessary for tour operators. That’s when the travel industry’s precious gem came into the picture. Online booking software happened.

The era of online booking software created a win-win scenario for tour operators and their customers. So, the next question is how online booking software makes things easy for all of the travel stakeholders involved…?

Online Booking Software: The Wanderer’s Wand

Tour operators who want to skyrocket their business profitability should invest in good online booking software. For example, Rezdy, an online booking system for tour and experience providers is one of the simplest and best online booking software for tour and activity operators. 

If you’re a travel-related firm planning to reach your goals and conquer milestones after milestones, go for an online booking software like Rezdy for faster transactions, 24/7 business availability, harmonious rapport with clients, secure transactions, integrating with the best global service providers pertaining to cruises, flight, and car rentals.

As online booking software systems have become the norm for the travel sector across the globe, it is an essential part of any OTA’s arsenal. Tour operators who’d want their customers and partners to experience utmost customization when it comes to travel bookings should work together with a robust online booking software. Because it will manage bookings and streamlines any type of business offering and transaction. And also, having a sturdy workflow will stimulate more positive customer reviews which in turn creates the much-needed butterfly effect for your company. 

If you’re new into the travel business or an established travel organization looking to grow your business, check this free travel resource library of Colorwhistle before collaborating with us.

Did you know?

 According to Stratosjets, the tourism industry’s major breakthrough is via online bookings. An estimate of $817 billion worth of bookings happened in 2020 out of the $1.2 trillion market cap of the tourism industry.

5 Vital Advantages of an Online Booking Software for Tour Operators:

24/7 Booking Window

Source

Customers from various time zones and work timings don’t have to make that call or send an email to you at your most productive hours. Irrespective of the office timings, customer bookings can happen while you sleep, while you walk your dog, and during the unofficial hours too. Customer convenience!

Make Data-driven Decisions

Have you ever wondered why during a particular time of the year, your booking shoots up and you declare that as on-season and the rest of the year as an off-season? You might say climate factors, world news, festival season, vacation time, and most tour and activity operators stop there. But you don’t have to when you have an online booking software like Rezdy to give detailed insights for taking data-driven decisions. Know where your customers come from, how much time they spend on your platform, know where they exited, know what worked, and know what did not. You can review your marketing strategy, revise your pricing plans, and focus on your service offerings using valid data points.

Secure and Faster Payments  

Source

If an online booking platform provides the space for secure and faster payments, it is great for tour operators to pocket their money to their accounts. Either full prepayment or upfront deposit, a booking software, if it has a set of non-vulnerable policies, there are lesser disputes, zero fraudulent activities, and just 100% secure transactions.

Reduce Errors and Workload

Source

Investing in productive online booking software will improve the productivity of your employees. If they spend most of the hours on bookings over the phone, then there is no room for upskilling, itinerary preparation, or activities that require a personal touch. Create a space for the customers to do their preferred thing while your employees carry out their duties without interruptions. 

It’s time all tour operators get along with online booking systems to reduce their manual errors. As mistakes tend to happen in the business, they might be a great hindrance to the growth of travel-related services. As you have to be 100% sure with hotel details, room numbers, flight dates, flight routes, timings of all sorts, and driver data all the time, using online booking software is your best bet to stay off grave mistakes that could spoil the reputation of your company. Allow the booking software to perform the laborious tasks for you. 

Skyrocket Reservations

As customers choose their own time and date for booking, there would be less chaos with follow-ups and through emails and messages, they can be reminded about their booking. Interestingly, this would insanely reduce the no-show rate by a staggering margin. Let them decide their date and time while automation takes care of their booking information. 

With that being said, we’re going to see how this specific online booking software is helping out tour and activity operators generate income in direct and indirect ways. 

How does Rezdy help tour operators improve their travel bookings?

Seamless User Experience and Payment Gateway:

Here is a fact before we begin!

Did you know?

“According to stripe.com, allowing travelers to pay with a payment gateway such as ApplePay increases conversion rates by a whopping 250%.”

Now, you understand the mentality of the current market. People don’t want to put in a lot of time to do their booking. They just want seamless integrations where things fall in place with just a click of a button. They don’t want sites that keep loading and loading spoiling their travel vibes. Usually, young millennials, the population with increased buying power, look for two specific things –

  • An easy booking form
  • A faster and secure payment gateway

An uncomplicated booking form would do wonders for improving the conversion rate while integrating apps like GPay and ApplePay can make way for instant transactions where all is needed is a double opt-in confirmation through OTPs. One-click payments are the current fad and it is pure genius stuff as online payment gateways are more vulnerable to data breaches and online frauds. Also, accepting multiple currencies and allowing multiple payment options make things easy for the customer to complete their booking process in a jiffy.

Improve Your Google Rankings

Ranking high on google means, the chances of people booking with you is high. The right set of tools Rezdy provides will help you with an optimized website. Not just for its aesthetics but also for its mobile responsiveness. As most of the online bookings happen through an android or ios device, being mobile responsive is important for travel agencies to appear on top of the Google search results. Additionally, an optimized site speed or to put it simply, a faster loading website will create a definite difference when it comes to the conversion rate. 

Multiple Revenue Streams through Rezdy Channel Manager

A tour operator who works with Rezdy can understand that his distribution channel keeps growing while his profits keep glowing. Using Rezdy’s Reservation Management Technology, tour operators are able to connect with a diverse set of qualified reseller agents, regional resellers, and local agents. 

All you have to do with Rezdy Channel Manager is to list your tour products, set a price range, set a commission range, choose the appropriate reseller agents, and stay on top of expanding your income game. Get in touch with different OTAs, local agents, destination experts, guides, information centres, and even other tour operators too for a mutual win-win game.

2 Impactful Case Studies of Rezdy

Case Study #1

El Sol Vida

The year 2020 turned out to be a brutal year for tour operators and El Sol Vida, like many tour operators in the world, was struggling with the cash flow. Instead of waiting for the tourism industry to boom, they came up with an interesting idea.

El Sol Vida noticed the delivery demand during the peak time of Covid19 when even getting access to essentials like medicine and groceries became a big problem. As El Sol Vida had a fleet of tourist guides and vehicles, they utilized the same to help people in getting their essentials. There was just enough practice given to the guides and drivers to maintain COVID safety protocols for effective social distancing.
They tapped into their local connection and as they have already had their payment gateway setup through Rezdy, this was helpful for sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters to order essentials for their aged blood relations and friends living overseas. Payment collection was streamlined through Rezdy and everything was taken care of.

Case Study #2

Tour de Vines

Food and Wine Based Cycling Tour Operator

Damian Cerini, the founder of Tour de Vines, an Australia-based Tour Operator who arranges cycling tours across the vineyards of Australia and New Zealand faced several problems before implementing Rezdy online booking software.

Their major problems were through bookings, follow-ups, payment portals, organization of the tours, manifesto sharing, and data loss. That’s when Rezdy came to the rescue of one of the interesting tour operators in Victoria, Australia.

By working along with the plugins of Rezdy, like social media plugins and email plugins, Tour de vines were able to connect with their clients on a consistent basis. Also, with a secure payment gateway for faster money transactions, Rezdy made sure Tour de Vines had enough cash flow coming. Third thing, data loss was completely avoided due to an advanced reservation management system. The last and most important thing – their online booking rates went off the roof as Rezdy was able to optimize their customer’s experience. Additionally, manifesto distribution wasn’t a problem anymore as they had the help of Rezdy to share the manifesto across the guide’s network of Tour de Vines. Thanks to the super supportive and responsive staff of Rezdy for saving the wonderful business model of Damian. 

Know how Rezdy developed a Travel Booking Portal using the API of Rezdy – An interesting case study; super helpful for tour and activity operators.

Conclusion

Tour operators don’t have to worry about improving their volume of bookings anymore. With Rezdy Res Tech software, your online booking rate will incredibly rise along with a seamless customer experience and payment gateway. You take care of your people in this business with your personal connection building. At the same time, Rezdy does everything from bringing a customer online, providing the right info, and getting the payments, to boosting your revenue. 

It’s time tour operators like you should consider online booking software like Rezdy to scale up your business potential with plugins and payment powerplay. 

Colorwhistle will help you integrate your business with Rezdy’s API to shoot up your travel bookings and revenue

Contact Colorwhistle.com and get a quote today!

Sankarnarayan. R
About the Author - Sankarnarayan. R

The founder and mastermind behind ColorWhistle is Sankarnarayan, a professional with over fourteen years of experience and a passion for website design services and digital marketing services. At ColorWhistle, our team has a wide range of skills and expertise and we always put our clients’ satisfaction first. This is what sets us apart from the competition – an eye for detail and the best website development services from the start to the completion of your project.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ready to get started?

Let’s craft your next digital story

Our Expertise Certifications - ColorWhistle
Go to top
Close Popup

Let's Talk

    Sure thing, leave us your details and one of our representatives will be happy to call you back!

    Eg: John Doe

    Eg: United States

    More the details, speeder the process :)