In 2004, the travel agency I worked for printed “East Coast Cheap Skate” package deals onto black and white pages and physically delivered them to local hostels to hand to their guests. The hostel reception would take a deposit on the booking and FAX (yes, FAX) the confirmation so that the customer could walk in-store and physically pay the balance.
In 2008, the Website Travel development team printed off a meeting agenda with a large, bold heading across the top of the page, it read, “How do we streamline all Travel Agency procedures for complete hands free sales?”
For an industry built on personal interaction, it has given me so much pride over the years to see how the tourism community have rallied to innovate alongside the freight train of digital progress. From utilising social media platforms to the act of digitally marketing a consumer right into your store, the industry never ceased to amaze me by how they embraced the inevitability of online transactions.
All of this being said, we still hear the same questions being asked; will bricks and mortar travel agencies become obsolete? At what point will our industry be consumed by online transactions? The questions are undoubtedly upon us, and as a company who pride ourselves on innovation and a commitment to providing solutions for our industry – we are one step closer with each API connection we facilitate.
What is an Agent/Sales/Core/Master API and how can it help your travel business?
The Website Travel Agent API houses the largest cloud database of travel product and provides real time availability, dynamic pricing & content, and instant confirmation from hundreds of agents.
Ok, now in English please?
The Website Travel Agent API is for a business wanting to on-sell tours, activities and accommodation through their own website or internal reservation platform.
I have a perfectly good, fully functioning travel website. why do I need the API?
Website navigation and product presentation is important, yes. But according to Travel Market Research Guru’s “Phocuswright”, 38% of travel bookings are happening same day or up to two days before the activity. That number grows to 53% when looking at bookings within a week of the activity, while only 19% of these activities were booked more than a month in advance.
Can you say that your travel website facilitates the spontaneity of the travel booking community? Are you aware that our API connections provide up to the minute availability and pricing? If you’re plugged in to our platform, then your users/consumers can have access to this availability at the click of a button.
You can also expect content, images, itinerary information for over 24,000 listings, excellent wholesale rates and ability to access dynamic pricing, a slick and easy booking confirmation process along with all accounting automatic reconciliation.
To take the next steps to expanding your travel sales opportunities, apply below, and we’ll tailor the perfect solution for your business.
