Online Travel Portal: The Future of Travel Business

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Online Travel Portal The Future of Travel
Business
When was the last time you visited a travel
agency office to book your travel ticket? Or to
understand holiday packages to pick from? Well,
I am sure it was a long time back when the
online travel business was in its nascent stage.
This was a time when it wasnt widely accepted
and popular because people had apprehensions
about such transactions being fraudulent.
Well, that time has passed and the online travel
business is a thriving industry today. Big
players like Airbnb, Expedia, Booking.com, etc.,
have revolutionized the travel industry.
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They have made online travel services reliable
and secure and therefore gained peoples trust
and support. After a drop in 2020 due to
COVID-19, the online travel agency sector
worldwide is forecast to snowball again.
According to Statista, it is forecast to touch
820.18 bn by 2023. It is clear that the online
travel business is a booming industry and will
continue to be so. Rising to the occasion, even
small travel agency owners are also looking to
go online. For them, an online travel portal can
be an ideal fit. It is because it lets them
manage their agents, partners, and customers
centrally and efficiently. If you also run a
travel company or are looking to start one, this
post is for you. In this post, you are going to
learn about the importance of an online travel
portal in detail. Youll also know the features
you must seek in a travel portal. Benefits of an
Online Travel Portal A travel portal based on
your CRM can help manage your travel business
easily. For example, a SuiteCRM customer portal
for your travel business would be suitable if you
use SuiteCRM. And Salesforce portal for
Salesforce-based organization, and so on.
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• Reduced Running Costs
• If you run a travel company, hiring several
  travel agents to explain tour packages and
  booking tickets may be costly. Instead, a
  SuiteCRM customer portal or any other portal for
  your travel business can save you expenses.
• Moreover, you can also cut down the effort of
  maintaining records of all costumes in
  spreadsheets. This is because you can view all
  your customers and agents details centrally
  and manage them better with a travel portal.
• Real-Time Access
• A travel portal provides real-time access to all
  details like prices of tour packages, hotels,
  rental services, flights, etc. to your
  customers. Customers can also vet and compare the
  prices of hotels and packages during peak season
  and normal times. It helps them make a more
  informed choice of a tour package, hotel, etc.
• Customer Care Support
• A travel portal helps customers communicate and
  convey issues easily via a chat or call option.
  This helps customers

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• get quick solutions to their travel-related
  issues or answers to queries.
• They can also get help in selecting the right
  package for their tour plan via customer care
  support. This way, a travel portal eliminates
  the need to call or visit a travel agency office
  for every small issue or query.
• Enhanced Transparency and Convenience
• An online travel portal helps display accurate
  fares with any hidden costs. This helps build
  customers trust in your company and connect
  with you more. A complete comprehensive
  breakdown of applicable charges brings more
  transparency.
• Besides, booking tickets and packages online is
  convenient. Customers dont have to visit any
  office or branch to book their tickets, hotels,
  or rental services. They can do it all right
  from within the portal. Using a portal for this
  also helps get a much clearer view of comparison
  metrics like pricing, amenities, etc. This saves
  both their time and money and enhances their
  experience. Similarly, customers can also easily
  cancel or reschedule a booking without calling
  the companys office or visiting there.

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• All this helps takes customers convenience, and
  booking experience, to the next level.
• Large Variety of Options
• An online travel portal helps gain access to a
  large list of hotels, rental cars, flight or bus
  tickets, and tour packages. Customers can get
  numerous options to choose from unlike in the
  case of an offline travel agency.
• All this is not feasible with a travel agent due
  to time constraints and limited knowledge
  available on the internet.
• Features to Look for in a Travel Portal
• The travel portal you pick should be easily
  accessible to the admin, agents, and customers.
• For Admin
• As the business owner and admin, you should have
  control over the complete management of your
  customers and agents. For that, there are a few
  admin features below that you must look for when
  picking a travel portal
• As an admin, the travel portal should allow you
  to view, manage, and update customers booking
  details on the fly.

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• You should also be able to manage hotel bookings
  easily and efficiently from within the travel
  portal. The portal should provide a centralized
  view of all bookings to help you get better
  visibility and avoid any errors.
• There should be a built-in process for the online
  identification of customers within the portal.
  It will help you avoid the hassle of manual
  identity verification after check-ins.
• The portal should allow you to manage tour
  packages and their details like prices in
  real-time. You should offer the best tour
  package recommendations based on your customers
  preferences and budget.
• For Agents
• If you provide an online travel service that
  supports individual travel agents and
  associates your travel portal should have the
  following features
• Individual hospitality agents and associates
  should be able to manage their commission for
  every booking. The portal should also let them
  track total bookings and negotiate the
  commission to pay to you.
• The portal should let travel and hospitality
  associates and agents implement the credit
  systems for

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• customers. It will help increase repeat bookings
  and expand the customer base.
• The portal should also facilitate offering
  discounts on bookings for agents to attract more
  online bookings. This way, they can also adjust
  the commission fee according to the overall
  profitability of your company.
• For Customers
• Last but not least, the travel portal you pick
  should be user-friendly for your customers.
• The portal should make the booking experience
  seamless for customers. It should let them check
  for the availability of travel tickets on
  specific dates and book them.
• There should be a choice of multiple payment
  options to book. The portal should also provide
  the option to save a payment method for future
  bookings for fast transactions.
• There should be an exhaustive list of hotels,
  ratings, charges, and facilities displayed.
  Comparison and filter options should be there to
  allow customers to vet and pick a package
  carefully.
• Your travel portal should let customers view
  travel booking history and update booking
  details. They

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should get to update, cancel, or reschedule their
bookings without hassle. Launch Your Travel
Portal with CRMJetty If you own a travel company
and are looking for a travel portal, weve got
you covered. Our development team can help you
develop a travel portal based on your CRM. We
provide ready-to-integrate industry-specific
SuiteCRM client portal, Salesforce portal,
WordPress portal, etc. If you want to expand
your existing portals capabilities, we can help
you with that also. We can discuss your portal
requirements, analyze the feasibility of
development or customization, test limitations,
and deliver the final portal. CTA - Request
Personalized Demo
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