The Air Booking Engines available in the market today are the result of decades of technological improvement. Originally designed to as a Flight Reservation System to automate the booking process for airlines, these applications have evolved over the years and have been a driving force behind the sale of travel products online today.
Airline tickets are a crucial component of most travel plans today and have always been a crucial part of any business selling travel. Once considered the “bread and butter” of a travel agent’s business, recent airline commission cuts have forced travel agents to find new and more cost effective ways to sell airline tickets.
Today, a Flight Booking Engine can provide Live access to airline content via direct connections or Global Distribution Systems and provide Users with the most up to date content, availability and pricing. Some Booking Engine even have the ability to simultaneously search multiple content sources for the best price, allowing business owners to combine their own fares with the fares of one or more consolidators.
Many applications allow for the headers, footers and style sheets to be customized to maintain an individual business’ own brand identity and provide a seamless online experience for customers right “out of the box”. Others offer customized private label versions where the complete layout is customized to meet your specific requirements.
Most Flight Reservation Systems include Revenue Management Tools with the ability adjust price and inventory, including marking up or marking down a selling price by airline, itinerary, class of service, dates and more. It should also allow for you to setup special promotions or offers that can be redeemed during the booking process. Reporting capabilities can be a crucial tool when evaluating how any online business is performing and a Flight Booking Engine is no exception. Business Managers need quick and easy access to the information needed for them to properly manage their online travel business.
To reach those customers always on the go, you will want to make sure that your Booking Engine is mobile ready and can support various mobile and tablet screen sizes used today. Customers need to be able to easily view and navigate through the booking process regardless the type of device they are using. You may even want to consider adding a dedicated Mobile app to offer to your regular customers “on the go” and increase your brand awareness.
Or if you are looking to control your own User Interface screens, you may want to consider one of the Booking Engine API products available in the market. These products allow you to develop and host all air booking engine User interfaces on your own servers while using the existing connections, powerful features and robust business tools that an established Flight Booking Engine has to offer for business logic and live Pricing, Availability & Booking.
Identifying the right combination of content and product features for your Flight Reservation System can be a critical decision, finding the right technology partner can be just as important.
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