How would you recognise a good travel website? To some extent, of course, that might depend on whether you are a customer or the travel agent:
The customer
• ideas for travel to other parts of the world, whether on holiday, shorter weekend breaks and business trips;
• what are the travel options in other words – in terms of destinations, flights, sea crossings, road and rail journeys;
• what are the options for tailoring a package to suit my particular preferences – by incorporating multi-centre holidays, for instance;
• what is the choice of hotels, villas and other accommodation to stay in;
• are there activities available – of the more extreme and strenuous nature or more relaxed and sedate kind;
• how is it possible to get about locally, what’s the availability of buses and hire cars;
• can organised excursions and day-trips be included in the package;
• what are the prices; and
• is it easy and straight forward to make a booking online, put down a deposit to secure it and pay the final balance when it falls due;
The travel agent
• does the website provide all the information the customer wants – can the questions just asked be answered in a satisfactory and helpful way;
• can the website feature current offers, promotions and the use of voucher codes;
• is the website capable of handling the entire catalogue of travel solutions offered – with all the various permutations and combinations of the separate elements of any given package;
• can the cost of each element be aggregated into a single package, which can be priced simply by applying a chosen mark-up or profit margin;
• is the database of customer requirements constantly updated, with the capacity to respond quickly to new travel destinations, resorts and hotels that are opened – does your website control panel allow you to quickly and easily manage and edit the content of your webpages;
• is there a facility for visitors to add their own user-generated content, such as pictures they have taken on holiday, to their reviews and feedback – and, if so, are you able to filter the reviews themselves (it is your website, after all);
• is there a real time interface with your suppliers of travel facilities and those for whom you are redistributing travel packages;
• above all, is your website an attractive and user-friendly site for your existing and potential customers to visit, so that they can find all the information they need in one place, tailor your offering to their particular travel need, and make the necessary bookings and payments in a reliable and secure manner online.
Travelberry by CSI Media
If all of this seems too tall an order, here at CSI Media we know we have found the solution you and your customers probably need.
The point is that the platform you choose has a major impact on the functionality of your website – its capacity to do all the things you want it to do.
In a platform called Travelberry, we believe we found just that – a dynamic packaging engine which provides all the information your customers need, with the functionality your business requires. Add that to our carefully bespoke travel website design, and you have a website which your travel agency deserves.