At first glance, the travel payment platform and inventory system used by travel agencies are two distinct processes. Indeed, they do meet different objectives. However, they should work together to streamline operations and provide clients with the best possible booking experience.
Forecasts have shown that global travel is on the rise. Yet before a trip even gets to the booking and payment stage, travelers rely on inventory to see what’s on offer and what appeals to them.
Does your inventory management make it easier for clients to move along confidently to your booking pages and travel payment system? Or does it create obstacles hindering their path? The effort you put into inventory management can make a big impact on your tour company.
Let’s take a deeper look at what inventory management entails, and how it can benefit your travel business.
How does the inventory system used by travel agencies make a difference, and why do you need it for your business? Let’s examine the top benefits.
You want your clients to see what is available to them at a glance. This includes accommodation, transport (to and from their destination as well as during their stay), and any other valued add-ons. More than likely, you’ve created a photo gallery to help them with their choices.
If it’s been optimized for mobile users, that’s even better. Mobile-friendly content is one of the top features booking systems should have. However, it’s not enough to have a list of options or pics. They need to know if the accommodations or transport options they’re seeing are on offer when they wish to travel.
This is where an effective inventory system comes in. Use your inventory system to keep clients informed of their options, and back this up with an efficient travel payment system. It’s the best way to ensure quality service that meets all their expectations.
Up-selling and cross-selling are top practices for enhancing your clients’ travel experiences, and of course, increasing your total revenue. They are top strategies for boosting sales when the business hits a slump, off-season.
Perhaps you want to offer kayak rentals and trekking gear for an adventure trip, or a walking tour on a European sightseeing trip. Whatever the case, you need to keep track of what’s on offer, and what is still available for the dates your clients will be traveling.
Take advantage of every opportunity for a sale. Good inventory management gives you more opportunities to sell and gives your clients more ways to enjoy their overall travel experience.
Have you ever had the problem of over-booking accommodation? How about selling a travel product add-on? This occurs when your clients can’t readily see availability when booking a trip.
It’s always good business sense to streamline your booking process so that things move along quickly and smoothly. However, when clients book and pay for something on their itinerary that is not, in fact, available, it’s bad for business. You’ll have to apologize, do a partial refund, and offer alternatives.
This leads to disappointment, frustration, and delays. It can also negatively impact your reputation. However, in such situations, the fault does not lie with the booking system or the travel payment system; instead, it lies in poor inventory management.
This is easily solved. Efficient inventory management will help you avoid the common problems of overbooking and overselling (and human errors).
Is it possible to have a trip-booking platform, travel payment system, and inventory management all in one place, that’s not only affordable but also easy to use? With WeTravel’s new feature, it’s not only possible, it’s a game-changer.
WeTravel’s inventory management system helps you overcome many of your inventory challenges.
You can seamlessly manage everything from specific hotel room requests and tour bus seat availability to on-site equipment rentals for organized tours. This not only enhances your efficiency and productivity but also your accuracy, making it easy to provide clients with relevant, up-to-date travel information (all on one central platform).
You can also automatically generate participant lists for tour operators and other travel service suppliers. The system gives you constant insights into both over and under-utilized options, capacity, and more. You can do all of this, without leaving the WeTravel platform or resorting to messy, external spreadsheets.
This innovative inventory management feature goes one further. Thanks to integrations with external software systems via webhooks and APIs, you can customize WeTravel’s inventory management feature to fit your business’s needs.
To ensure a top-quality experience for your clients (from the moment they book a tour to throughout their travels), your travel company needs a reliable booking, payment, and inventory management platform that can run your business, seamlessly.
Enter WeTravel, now introducing a top-tier inventory management feature that allows you to resolve travel-related challenges, and offer travelers extra value.
With this innovative tool, you can easily avoid over-selling, facilitate specific accommodation and transport options for your clients, offer helpful extra add-ons like equipment hire, and improve your up-selling game.
Simply put, with WeTravel’s new inventory management function, your travel business can have it all. Don’t hesitate, request a demo today.