This article is co-authored by Gabriela Cofré, Copywriter and Laura Fres, Product Marketer at TrekkSoft.
Working in the tourism industry, you have learned that selling tours and activities is part of a larger strategy. As a tour operator, you can sell tours using social media, email marketing, your own website, OTAs, Google Things to do, and more.
One way to boost bookings is to partner with local and international travel agents and resellers. They play a critical role in travel and tourism, acting as valuable partners who extend your reach and expertise to a wider and well-qualified audience.
Despite the advantages of partnering with agents and resellers, it can pose significant challenges. Coordinating sales involves complex communication, managing bookings and ensuring that information is always up to date across all channels. This complexity can lead to errors, slowdowns and, if not managed well, can frustrate partners and lead to missed sales opportunities.
In this article, we will explore how TrekkSoft's Agents & Resellers management solution tackles these challenges and how you can simplify complex processes for good.
What are travel agents and resellers in the tourism industry?
Before diving into TrekkSoft's solutions, let's understand the role of travel agents and resellers. There are different types of travel agents.
There is the independent travel agent, who is self-employed and does not work with any particular agency. It usually provides customized and personalized experiences for tourists who want to book their next vacation.
There are tourist information offices located in the destination. These centers receive many tourists searching for attractions, transportation, activities, and any other relevant information that can help them have the best experience. For tour operators, working with the centers can increase bookings and improve reach. Tourists who seek out offices are searching for safe and recommended experiences so that they can make informed decisions.
Another type of travel agent is the hotel and concierge service, where they help guests with their travel arrangements.
Also, B2B travel packages are sold by travel agents. These packages require great organization, communication, and fair commissions.
Challenges of managing agents and resellers manually
While agents and resellers provide significant value, many tour and activity operators find collaborating with them to be a constant juggling act. Managing these partnerships manually can lead to several challenges, such as:
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Time-consuming communications. Booking confirmations often involves back-and-forth emails or phone calls with agents, leading to delays and inefficiency.
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Manually updating booking availability across different channels is prone to errors. This can result in overbooking, frustrating both your company and your partners.
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You have limited control and transparency. Overseeing reseller activities becomes difficult. You might have limited visibility into their sales and struggle to prevent unauthorized actions.
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Complicated payment and commission processing. Processing payments and calculating commissions can be a complex task, especially for in-person agents or those located in different countries. Manual calculations can lead to errors and delays, creating friction in your partnerships.
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Limited promotion information. Agents and resellers often lack the necessary tools to effectively promote your tours and process bookings seamlessly.
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Limited performance insights. Without proper tracking tools, it's challenging to analyze the effectiveness of your partnerships. You might struggle to identify high-performing agents or areas for improvement.
Using TrekkSoft to address challenges with Agent & Resellers management
Trekksoft's Agent & Reseller management solution transforms the way you collaborate with your partners and is perfect if you are looking to streamline your booking processes.
Imagine giving your partners the key to your booking system, where they can view real-time availability and manage bookings directly. This direct access eliminates the cumbersome need for back and forth communication, making the entire process smoother and much more efficient.
By integrating your partners directly into your booking platform, you not only facilitate operations, but also extend your market reach. Local and international travel intermediaries become an extension of your sales force, accessing new customer bases and extending your visibility far beyond your usual channels.
Here's how it can effortlessly integrate with your business:
Set up partner accounts
Eliminate the clutter of endless emails and phone calls by giving your partners direct access to what they need. With TrekkSoft, setting up accounts for your partners means they can see their availability, schedules and pricing in real time, making the coordination process easier.
Real-time inventory sharing
Gone are the days of communicating to confirm reservations. Your partners will have access to your inventory in real-time, paving the way for instant bookings and confirmations. This not only eliminates unnecessary delays, but also significantly improves the booking experience for everyone involved.
POS and mPOS access anywhere
Giving your partners access to our POS Desk and mobile POS systems means they can manage bookings on the go, whether they're at an airport counter or in the middle of a city tour. Setting up user permissions is simple, ensuring they can manage bookings efficiently and seamlessly.
Manage permissions with precision
You decide the level of access and control each partner has. Whether it's adjusting prices, creating customised trips or modifying bookings, you can tailor these permissions to your company's needs. This granularity ensures that your partners can efficiently serve their mutual customers while maintaining your overall vision and standards.
To learn more about the agent permissions, check our support page.
Transparent commission management
Our commission management system is designed to be clear and simple. You can set specific commission rates for different partners and manage them easily. The aim is to automate as much of the process as possible, reducing your administrative workload and ensuring timely and transparent compensation for your partners.
Detailed sales reporting
It is critical to understand your business performance through the perspective of your partners. Our reporting tools provide detailed transaction information, helping you and your partners stay aligned. These reports are invaluable for reviewing performance, managing sales and maintaining strong partnerships.
Final thoughts
On the road to growing your tourism business, it is essential to create effective partnerships. However, managing these partnerships can often be complex and time-consuming. That's where TrekkSoft comes in. Our platform is designed to simplify the management of agents and resellers, transforming a potentially time-consuming process into a simple and efficient one.
Interested in seeing how TrekkSoft can be tailored to your company's specific needs, why not schedule a demo with us? We'll explore how our platform can make partnership management simpler and more efficient, helping your business scale smoothly and sustainably.
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