How to optimize your Flight Bottom-Line revenue through Travel Technology Solutions?

Travel technology solution, specifically flight booking engine in this context helps travel companies not only to automate and book with multiple suppliers like Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport, Travel fusion, Mystifly, Flights direct connect – schedule carriers and LCC in a single window.

But also, with the flight booking engine, there are multiple ways a travel company can increase its sales and optimize its bottom-line revenues.

Some of the key pointers are as follows:

• Multiple GDS/Suppliers:

Flight booking engine solutions enable travel companies, TMC’s, DMC’s, Travel Agencies, tour operators, etc. to book with multiple GDS’s (Global Distribution Systems) in a single booking engine which is one of the limitations with GDS powered booking engines. Also, with supplier switch, you can plug multiple GDS’s, Flight Aggregators like Travel Fusion, Mystifly, and also direct connections with the schedule as well as LCC airlines. Also, if you are a tour operator you can manage your pre-purchased airline inventory through flight contracting solutions to be sold through the same flight booking engine.

• Multiple PCC (Pseudo County Code) Configurations:

PCC Configuring based of X Destination:

To gain the advantage of the X destination fare – or fair price for the origin-destination city will be cheaper than what you get outside the city. E.g. Dubai (DXB) London (LHR) fare will be cheap searching from Dubai than searching from India. So if you have multiple Office IDs or PCC you can configure and associate them with different cities to get the best fare. Configuring partners office ID’s for specific GDS airlines deals

Configuring partners office ID’s for specific GDS airlines deals:

In case you don’t have your own physical office in the city you can partner with other travel companies in the region to have the rate advantage.

• Managing Markups and commissions

Flight booking system or travel technology solutions will enable travel companies to pre-configure their markups region, Airline, and sector-wise as well – which will be auto-applied on the fares on the respective searches. You can also define the priorities of markups or commissions to be applied. No more dependent on the sales agent’s capability to apply the right markup. Automate the process, reduce human errors increase transparency.  Also, if needed travel agency can also manually do the markups.

• Managing modification & cancelation service fees:

Travel agency needs to make decent earning on the modifications and cancellations services over and above charged by the airlines. They can define their own service fees through the technology platform, which they can charge to make additional revenue.

As per my experience selling the travel technology solution what I have notices, every travel company ask for canceling the tickets through a technology interface   

• Managing Ticketing:

Auto Ticketing:

Auto ticketing is usually associated with the LCC (Low Cost Carriers) as there is no concept of on-hold booking. But for GDS airlines there are 2 steps – Hold PNR & Ticketing. So it’s up to the travel companies how they want to configure this setting for the B2B agents, B2C or corporate sales channel.

Offline Ticketing:

This is another venue of making additional revenue or increase profits for the travel companies, wherein they will issue the PNR against their own office ID’s but when it comes down to ticket issuance, they may do it on their partner PCC’s as to make additional profits and then manually update the ticket number. For the end customer, it doesn’t make a difference as long as he gets the confirmed ticket.

• Managing offline bookings:

Import PNR:

Travel technology system also enable travel companies to import their PNR booked directly on the GDS into the system automatically as long as the respective GDS API is integrated as a supplier.

Manual Booking:

For all other flight bookings where GDS suppliers are not connected or booked on any other system can be manually added in the order list to manage the documentation, accounting, customer details, etc.

• Managing flight cache:

Flight cache primarily helps for B2C websites or OTA with high search volumes or if you are working with meta searches like Wego, Skyscanner, kayak, etc. Cached results help to return the search results much faster to consumers and also helps in controlling look to book ratio with GDS or airline suppliers. As they charge travel agency if look to book ratio is poor.

• Enabling booking without payment or on hold bookings:

Through technology solution On-Hold Booking proves to be one additional motivator for both B2B and B2C buyers to search and hold the flight for which they don’t have to pay immediately, they get time till the cancelation deadlines from GDS. For retail or B2C customers they can make the payments offline and then tickets can be issued by travel companies. For B2B agents this gives them some time to make the payments to travel suppliers as well as time to make free cancelations.

• Selling through Metasearch’s Like Wego, Skyscanner, Kayak, etc:  

For B2C or OTA (Online Travel Agencies) these meta searched plays a big role to get the sales and new customers as long as your prices a competitive.

• Automation of deals & Discounts:

Travel companies get discounts or kickbacks from the suppliers which they can configure in their technology platform to avail the respective benefits automatically. They can also generate their own discount offers and coupons for repeat sales or boost their existing sales.  

• Access to Multiple Low-Cost Carriers:

Flight Aggregators:

Travel companies can get the LCC access through various aggregators like Travel Fusion or Mystifly which give them the advantage of not having direct commercials with the LCC so no legal formalities and at the same time they don’t have to maintain any deposits.

Direct Connect:

In case a travel company or agency has good sales with the respective LCC or airlines they can have a direct connection with the airlines using API integration and bypass the aggregators or suppliers and to avail the additional price benefits and access to NDC content as well.

• NDC Content:

NDC as it stands for New Distribution Capabilities, now starting to play a significant role in providing additional revenue to travel agency, selling ancillaries like Seats, Meals, Insurance, extra baggage, wifi, etc from the airlines during the booking process. Travel companies can access the NDC content through direct connection with the airlines or through suppliers offering NDC content Like GDS suppling NDC content for some airlines.   

These are a few of the additional revenue opportunities which travel companies get access to post implementing a flight travel technology solution.

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