Whether you’re running a yoga retreat business or planning group travel and tours around the world, investing in a booking and payment platform is key to making your business more successful.
There’s so much to think about when you’re planning a group trip, whether it’s a yoga retreat, tour, or other travel experience. The exciting part is planning the program itself, not organizing the administrative side of it.
You might have the most amazing trip or experience planned, but if customers can’t book conveniently and pay how they want to, or worse, don’t trust your system, then you’re not going to have much luck with filling spaces and making your trip a success.
How customers book and pay for their experience is part of their first impression of your company, and it won’t inspire much faith if you don’t get it right!
We’ve outlined the 5 reasons why using a payment platform outside of your travel company or yoga business will help you take your business to the next level.
1. Create a better experience for your customers
Imagine you’ve planned a fantastic travel experience and someone is debating joining the trip. They go to book, but instead of being able to enter their details and pay with immediate confirmation, they have to fill out an inquiry form, or the system seems rudimentary and not entirely trustworthy. Instead of booking, they decide to think about it more, or search elsewhere and then never come back. It’s the exact opposite of what you want to happen when you’re organizing a tour or group travel experience.
If someone is ready to book your trip, they want to do it right away. Convenience is key. If you don’t give them the option to book and pay when they’re ready or pay the way they want to, then you’re less likely to make the sale. Having customers send an inquiry, or sending you a payment in a way that doesn’t feel secure to them will make your business seem less trustworthy.
A payment platform like WeTravel can integrate into your brand and website, and provide a professional approach. There’s less chance of mistakes being made when the process is handled for you, by a company that has experience and knows what they’re doing.
WeTravel offers options to add discount codes for your loyal or early bird customers, and you can seamlessly collect deposits and process refunds if necessary. All this makes for a better customer experience and a top reason to choose a payment platform for your travel business.
2. Save money, and make more
Using a payment platform for your travel business can help you save money, and make more too! By having someone else take care of payments for you, you’re saving money on in-house administration tasks and processing, or even on developing your own system when it’s not necessary.
Of course, there are costs associated with using a payment platform, but if you’re a tour company, group trip organizer or yoga retreat leader, then you’ll find that WeTravel has the lowest payment processing fees in the industry. You can put your time and energy into other tasks like marketing, rather than worrying about payments.
If you’re also using our marketplace, then your trip will be more discoverable. You’ll be able to easily share it across social media or embed it on your website. You’ll also be able to collect data from customers through post-trip surveys that will help with marketing and improve your business for the future.
3. Save time
If you’re processing payments and bookings in-house then it’s likely that you’re doing a lot of tasks manually. Using an already established payment platform will automate a lot of this for you, and you’ll be able to put your time into marketing and creating the best experience for your customers rather than using valuable time and resources on repetitive processing tasks.
4. Have a more secure system
Security on the internet is a huge concern for many people, especially when they’re handing over private details including bank account information. A payment platform will provide the security that your customers need, without you having to sort out all the issues and put into place the systems for yourself.
5. Get support
That brings us to the last reason why you should use a booking and payment platform for your travel business. The support! WeTravel can help you at whatever stage of the process you’re stuck with, but it’s pretty easy to get started! If you’re a retreat leader or organizing a group trip, then you can create your trip for free and then you’ll be able to embed it on your website, share it on social media, and add it to our marketplace.
We also provide support for companies looking to use WeTravel Business, where your brand will be front and center and WeTravel is seamlessly integrated as the payment platform.
A payment platform and booking system can make a big difference in sales for your travel company, and therefore the overall success of your trip. There’s really no debate about joining a payment platform when you see how it can save you valuable time and money and help you to achieve your business goals.
Find out more about how WeTravel works or create your booking page for free today!
