Why Is It Worth Investing In A Good Travel Payment Platform?

A highly efficient and reliable travel payment system is essential for your business. Without it, you won't be able to accept payments and therefore, sell any tours.

Although, the best travel payment systems have the capacity to do so much more.

When you choose a platform that is specifically designed for travel businesses, you can offer a far more streamlined and smooth process for your customers. The best systems offer a wide range of functions that can help you save money, sell more tours, improve process efficiency, and grow your bottom line.

If you’re considering investing in a strong travel payment platform for your business, read on. This guide will explain some of the main advantages to consider when finding the right platform.

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What are travel payment systems? 

Travel payment systems are software platforms that capture and transfer your travel payment data from the customer to your business.

You need to use a travel payment platform in order to accept customer bookings and keep your business payments running smoothly. These payment gateways can be used across multiple platforms.

Benefits of a great travel payment platform 

A reputable travel payment system can make an enormous impact on your overall travel booking experience. Here are some of the essential benefits of using the right travel payment systems.

Simplified booking process 

Travel payment systems simplify the travel booking process, letting you sell tours and experiences directly from your website. This eliminates the need to send customers to third-party booking sites or travel apps to make their bookings.

This means that your business has more control over the booking and payment process. It also means fewer steps for the customer journey, which can help you increase the number of bookings you generate.

Improves personalization 

Travel payment systems can monitor consumer habits and patterns to help you improve personalization. The right system can help you understand what travel payment preferences customers have, and what steps they take to make a booking.

Understanding this data can help your business provide more relevant, personalized booking experiences.

Saves your travel business money 

Using the best travel payment systems can also help your business accept payment and bookings a lot more cost-effectively. Because there’s no need to use third-party platforms or negotiate deals with other providers, it can be a lot more affordable to manage your booking and payments directly.

Of course, when you use a travel payment platform with low or no fees and no upfront costs, this can make your travel booking experience even more profitable.

Provides a better customer experience 

When customers reach the bottom of your travel sales funnel, you need to provide a smooth and efficient booking and payment experience if you’re going to win the sale.

By using travel payment systems that streamline the payment process, your customers will have a much easier time making bookings. This is achieved by minimizing the steps involved in making a booking or payment.

No one likes to be inconvenienced, or have to search far and wide for info, so make sure that your booking system offers all of the information customers need upfront when booking a tour.

Easier payment management 

Payment systems don't just make your customers’ lives easier, they also have the power to improve your overall business efficiency.

Using the right platform can help you process payments faster and without any hidden costs or difficulties along the way. Basically, this means your travel business can get paid with less hassle.

What to look out for in travel payment systems 

Besides allowing travelers to make self-bookings, travel payment systems include a range of benefits for travelers and travel businesses alike.

When choosing a travel payment system, look for a platform that offers you the best functionality and features. Let’s take a look at what these include.

Automating repetitive tasks 

Task automation helps your travel business operate a lot more efficiently. The right travel payment systems can automate repetitive tasks, helping you accept and manage bookings without any manual input.

Not only does this streamline the payment and booking process, it also ensures total accuracy with every payment the system handles.

Access to the right information 

A respectable travel payment platform will help your business access and organize important data to help you make more informed decisions.

This is in regard to information that will help you understand your customers and provide more relevant experiences and offers to them.

For example, a tool like WeTravel gives you the option to implement seasonal price adjustments. This improves customer experiences while saving you immense time and effort.

Lead capture 

Your travel payment system can also help you with lead capturing. For example, the platform you use could offer downloadables, like a travel brochure, offered through a lead capture form.

This allows you to capture and retain high-interest leads, which you can nurture through tactics like email marketing and remarketing campaigns.

These are potential customers who have made it through to your booking pages, so they are clearly interested in what your travel business offers. Being able to capture those leads gives you a great opportunity to boost sales and make the most out of every website visitor.

With a platform like WeTravel, you can use the brochure download feature to share important information about your trips with customers (and simultaneously collect their email addresses).

Another impressive feature offered by this platform is the Trip Inquiry Submission tool. Here, you can add a “Ask A Question” function that will enable potential clients to send their contact information for a follow-up.

And the best part is that all this information is readily available within your WeTravel account.

Auto-billing 

A payment solution that offers automated customer billing is a game-changer. This means you don’t need to worry about invoicing customers for each booking, which can save you immense time and effort.

Invoices are automatically generated and sent to customers when they make a booking. Using a feature like this makes it a lot easier to manage all of your business’s bookings and payments.

An example of this would be WeTravel’s customer auto-billing tool. This feature allows you to create payment plans that will charge your customers automatically on predefined dates. You can even set it so that they still receive auto-email reminders. This will enable them to edit their payment methods at any time.

A one-stop travel booking solution 

An efficient travel payment platform shouldn’t stop at simply processing payments. Instead, the best systems should encompass the entire travel booking experience. 

This means you should be able to create travel booking landing pages, embed booking buttons wherever you want them, and set up customized travel booking journeys for your customers.

Always look for travel payment systems that focus on the entire travel booking process. This helps you improve business efficiency and offer a better experience to your customers.

WeTravel takes this a step further with easy-to-create custom booking pages, branded email communications, custom URLs (and branded login pages); as well as personalized T&Cs. Did we mention the branded customer dashboards?

Does the travel payment platform have fair booking and payment fees? 

Beyond different platforms’ unique features, you should also look toward travel payment systems that offer good rates, fees, and money management options. Here are some important elements to consider.

Booking fees and money management 

Always look for a travel payment platform that offers good rates for credit card payments, with no hidden service fees or extra fees for other payment methods. This lets you provide a better customer experience, avoiding cart abandonment and enhancing transparency on your website.

Eliminating hidden fees or additional costs makes it a lot easier for your travel business to market and sell tours.

A benefit of using a platform like WeTravel is that you have access to free and seamless refunds. Simply execute free refunds with a simple click in your dashboard.

Supports multiple currencies 

Running a travel business means that you’ll likely be dealing with clients from all around the world. Using a travel payment platform that allows you to collect funds in various currencies is ideal.

This means you can collect payments in the currency you and your customers want. It improves the customer experience and makes managing your payments and cash flow a lot easier.

Did you know that WeTravel allows you to price your offerings in 25+ currencies? We also hold funds for USD, GDP, EUR, CAD, and AUD.

Easy access to your money 

The whole point of using travel payment platforms is to help you get paid. This means you’ll want to use a platform that provides easy access to your money when you need it.

Being able to access and withdraw your funds without any issues helps improve your cash flow and makes it a lot easier to manage your business.

With WeTravel, you have the option to pay out your funds to a USD debit card instantly. This allows for immediate access to cash for ATM withdrawals.

And when it comes to international wires, you can send them directly from your WeTravel account. Another major benefit of this platform is that WeTravel’s exchange rate is approximately 2-3% better than wires sent via the commercial banking system.

Support 

Paying for a quality travel payment platform also means you’re paying for support - which is highly valuable when you need it.

You never know when you’re going to run into tricky situations, and having readily-available support will help keep your systems running smoothly. This makes it easier for your business to manage travel payments, and it helps you provide a smooth customer experience.

Use the best payment platform designed for travel businesses 

WeTravel is a travel payment platform designed for the travel industry. The platform includes all of the features mentioned above, and more, to offer the best possible travel payment solution.

The best part is that travel businesses can get started for free, with no subscription fee required. Then, if you feel like your business needs extra capabilities, you can always scale up to the Pro plan.

So if you want to optimize your travel payment and booking process, then get started with WeTravel for free.

Conclusion 

The best travel payment platforms are well worth investing in. They can help you provide a lot more value to your customers, gain a competitive advantage, and boost travel sales.

It’s essential that you carefully manage the customer journey for your travel business, and using the right payment platform can assist you in achieving this.

By using a payment platform that provides maximum value to your business and to your customers, you can expect to generate more tour bookings, increase brand recognition, and ultimately, improve your overall business growth.