online booking

[chitragurung]

Hi

We are tour company based in Kathmandu, Nepal. We would like to have online hotel and airline ticket booking system in our website. Can any body help us to find the procedure of this system.

[Karen Mac]

Re: Online booking

You would have to customize an order form and attatch it to the product to get the information you need for the booking/reservations. First create the form that you need in soho, then create the product and on the advanced tab click require data from: drop down form. This will attatch the form to their order. To add more than one person to the reservation you would set this up in variations, along with the price differences etc.

Karen

[chitragurung]

Re: Online booking

Hi Karen,

Thank you for your mail. But I want ready templates if possible so that I can just put date only. I prefer to do travel site as travelocity.com cheapoair.com etc. When visitors make booking they get confirmation of flights, e-tickets, etc. In this case I think supplier ( airline, hotel ) should be connected directly to our website's booking system. I would like to find those kind of service provider.

[Vasili]

Re: Online booking

When visitors make booking they get confirmation of flights, e-tickets, etc. In this case I think supplier ( airline, hotel ) should be connected directly to our website's booking system. I would like to find those kind of service provider.

Not possible.

As a tour operator, you are not permitted to collect money, create tickets, make reservations, or confirm travel. You need to not only be an IATAN agency, you must also be a full service ticketing agency with PLATES (which is the certified designation as a bona-fide ticketing agency).
You should look into what being a member of USTOA means and what benefits you might enjoy first. Another option for you to consider may be the IAITO (for internet operators).

If you have an IATAN recognized Agency status, you may be allowed to buy travel for clients through a wholesaler, and many have "partner" programs that allow you to have a banner over a website booking engine that they host on your behalf, so it appears that it is your own site, your own booking engine, but in fact it is their "co-branded" front-end that they maintain for you (they supply your clients with travel arrangements, book air, cut tickets, send confirmations, collect money, issues invoices, etc. and pay you commissions for the activity you generate). see an example here

If you reach a certain status with a wholesaler, they may allow you to use a proprietary script on your site, but is it still under their maintenance and control although it IS on your site and is branded with your brand wholly. But, this is for a select few, and usually for those who process a great deal of consistent business. see example here


The last alternative is to simply enroll in an Affiliate program that will allow you to make a commission for referring business to those organizations you mentioned above, but might also include Orbitz, Expedia, cruise lines, trains, charters, rental cars, and more. see this example how you might use an affiliate program(s)

The thing is, without being a full-services agency with plates, there is no way you can create any tickets, collect any money, or produce any paper. Period.

Your only other alternative is to follow Karen's suggestion by setting up a "proxy" booking service (basically an emailCommerce system) where you collect information from clients and manually book for them (usually from a wholesaler), but even then, there are protocols to follow that would not seemingly fit a Soholaunch/cart application.

[chitragurung]

Re: Online booking

Hi,

Many thanks for your mail. We are IATA agent which means we can sale airline tickets. As per Nepalese tourism act we can do all kinds of travel related services including tour, ticketing, hotel etc at a place. I think if we want to have subsidiary in USA in that case we may need some affialiation with USTOA or IATO. If possible we want to choose affiliate program but we do not how know it works. I saw website you recommended but how it works ? Please can you tell us, if possible so that we can consider it.

[Vasili]

Re: Online booking

Simply reply to the email for a definitive response!

1. Contact ARC to see how your authorization may extend to you according to whichever system you are using (WorldSpan, Apollo, Sabre, etc.). IF in fact you ticket, there are a few interfaces you may select to use a script to load onto your site.

2. If you can qualify, inquire with a wholesaler to use their booking engines in either of the two fashions I mentioned. (This would be your best bet if you cannot qualify for an ARC interface .... an affiliate program is really only worthwhile if you are interested in the most basic B2C type application).

There are a few wholesalers worth referring to you for your consideration upon replying to the email you already received.

[chitragurung]

Re: online booking

Hi

Thank you for your mail. I think I should consider affiliate program available.

[marcosdasilva]

Re: online booking

Hello Chitra. all of what's been said in prior replies is true and has tought us all on the "online booking" and "offline booking". So, we should be thankful to those who shared their expertise.
Here is my suggestion to you, though. Check out "YTB Travel Network". They offer a booking system where you may utilize your Company name and take advantage of a online booking system that compares to "flight search engine" mechanisms.
There is a small investment involved.
They also offer good customer services for the "RTAs" (Referring Travel Agents) who subscribe to their product and work under their rules and regulations.
Their site offers a International Flights booking thread that might just serve your purpose.
I use the system and it works out great for my Company.
www.worldtravelplanners.com

Good luck, friend.

Marcos.

[Watdaflip]

Re: online booking

Check http://hotscripts.com. There are several booking scripts that retrieve all the information (hotels, airlines, etc) from a central server so it automatically keeps it up to date for you.

[Vasili]

Re: online booking

Check http://hotscripts.com. There are several booking scripts that retrieve all the information (hotels, airlines, etc) from a central server so it automatically keeps it up to date for you.

These 'reservation scripts' would work only if they booked their own "in-house" supplied and operated tours or lodging, and did not try to get into other ends of the business they mentioned earlier (which is highly regulated).

If they want to appear to be more than they are, YTB might work, but they would need to be absolutely certain they comply with any restrictions that may exist being out of the country (the US) and in their particular country (both for funding issues and travel sales in general).

[chitragurung]

Re: online booking

Thank you all of you.

We are researching which one is best for our site. We appreciate your co-operation.

By the way we asked some developer they estimated few thousand dollar so we skipped it. We should consider something you guys recommended.

[chitragurung]

Re: online booking

Hi,

I try to visit YTB site but I could not find their contact email, etc.

Hello Chitra. all of what's been said in prior replies is true and has tought us all on the "online booking" and "offline booking". So, we should be thankful to those who shared their expertise.
Here is my suggestion to you, though. Check out "YTB Travel Network". They offer a booking system where you may utilize your Company name and take advantage of a online booking system that compares to "flight search engine" mechanisms.
There is a small investment involved.
They also offer good customer services for the "RTAs" (Referring Travel Agents) who subscribe to their product and work under their rules and regulations.
Their site offers a International Flights booking thread that might just serve your purpose.
I use the system and it works out great for my Company.
www.worldtravelplanners.com

Good luck, friend.

Marcos.

[marcosdasilva]

Re: online booking

Go to www.worldtravelplanners.com; Click on the "Help" tab and then International Flight Search FAQs - Click Here.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Marcos.

[chitragurung]

Re: online booking

I wrote mail to YTB but nothing happen.

How did you used it ?

[marcosdasilva]

Re: online booking

Hey good friend.
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.
I was out of the country for a while.
I would suggest trying the following:
Call this number for customer assistance: 001 800 243 4450
or log on to: www.ytb.com and go through the presentation process.

Good luck.

Marcos.

https://www.worldtravelplanners.com