How to Choose the Right Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Software for Your Agency
How to Choose the Right Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Software for Your Agency According to industry reports, travel agencies are suffering $500-2000 in compensation and rebooking fees due to hotel booking failures. Indeed, the global travel agency services market size is expected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2035 and agencies can no longer put up with manual reconfirmation processes that lead to operational bottlenecks and customer dissatisfaction. Choosing the best hotel booking reconfirmation software should be followed by a structured assessment of what your agency needs considering available solutions and deployment prerequisites. This article has been written with a pragmatic approach on ensuring you make the best choice that maintains your revenue whilst improving the overall customer experience. Understanding Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Software Hotel booking reconfirmation software can help automate how you check with guests between the time they book and when they arrive at the hotel. More than just a basic booking confirmation, these systems reach out to hotels to confirm reservations are still valid and at the current pricing in hotels property management systems. Today’s reconfirmation technology processes enable tasks such as automated verification workflows instead of manual phone calls, real-time status monitoring across all booking channels and multi-lingual communication with international properties. They also include error identification and escalation when discrepancies appear, as well as the ability to integrate with legacy agency management systems. The Evolution from Traditional to Modern Systems Over the last 10 years, the hotel booking reconfirmation landscape has changed quite a bit. Previously, their methods were very manual in that the agents would have to place phone calls directly to the hotel 24 -48 hours prior to arrival at the property that could often be time consuming as the agent had to go through information such as room availability, guest details, special requests and rate accuracy with a staff member of hotel. This was fine when agencies were less busy, making fewer bookings and mainly in domestic markets. But the globalization of travel and explosive growth in booking volumes revealed serious flaws with traditional methods. With increasing geographical expansion agencies were going global, time zone management had to be solved but attempting to conduct all hotel outreach during business hours became nearly impossible. It resulted in miscommunication about booking details due to language barriers with hotel staff, and the inconsistent response time of hotels made it very tough at the operational end. This is where the modern automated reconfirmation systems come to fore as they leverage advanced integration networks with direct connects into hotel systems, Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). They regularly check the status of your bookings, automatically identify any discrepancies or problems that may arise, and warn their agents if something appears to be wrong before it affects guests. There is a huge performance difference with traditional and modern approaches. Labor-intensive manual processes yield an 85-95+% accuracy due to human errors and communication gaps, whereas with automated systems we see 99%+ accuracy in real-time verifications. Time taken to process each booking manually is 10-15 mins whereas time reduction by automation per booking is 1-2 mins that means time saved per booking is 80–90% Types of Hotel Booking Reconfirmation Software Solutions This framework of different types of reconfirmation software allows agencies to focus their evaluation on the type that fits their size, technical capability and mode of operation. Value-added resellers (VARs) find success with the market, which divides it into three primary categories tailored to specific agency types. Dedicated Reconfirmation Platforms Dedicated reconfirmation platforms are specifically focused to automate the process of verifying hotel bookings and not deal with the complexity of managing broader aspects of travel fulfillment. While these solutions are strong in their specialized capability, they generally offer quicker time to implement and easier adoption. Zeal Connect’s AI-powered automation platform removes manual calls and reduces processing time by 90% . The company announced it has processed over 10,000 bookings with no missed confirmations and offers plug-and-play integration with existing platforms as well as 24/7 support, handled by individual agents. It combines AI with human supervision, even for sophisticated cases demanding a tailored approach. rePUSHTI by Qtech Software is 1st of its kind AI-Driven Booking Reverification Platform. Tailored for the Travel Industry to Address Reconfirmation Needs the platform, which was launched in 2021, assists in determining the legitimacy of bookings on more than 50 parameters using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools. The pricing is also quite simple, $1 per booking verification with no setup fees and delivered via the cloud through API integration. Comprehensive Travel Management Platforms For agencies that want to pick up a reconfirmation capability along with broader travel management functionality, comprehensive platforms include innovative solutions that address multiple dimensions of travel operations. While these systems do offer economies of scale by combining different functions but they also tend to involve a more complex integration OTRAMS is one of the most effective travel ERP solutions available in 36+ countries with more than 50 plus travel companies currently relying on it completely . Offering 190+ supplier integrations and 600+ capabilities (from booking engines for hotels, flights, transfers and car rentals) aided by dedicated key account managers that provide customers with 24/7 support. Reconfirmation is just one piece of their broad operational management offering. GDS-Integrated Solutions Major GDS solutions have reconfirmation capabilities bundled across their broad platforms, making them a fit for the agencies already leveraging GDS infrastructure and enterprise-level use cases. While these are largely travel solutions that integrate deep with systems in the travel industry, they demand considerable technical expertise to build and uphold. Sabre offers the largest travel management companies central booking platforms with pre-built integrated reconfirmation workflows. Available as an integration via the API from. Travelport, using productivity automation features can automate reconfirmation processes. Amadeus offers enterprise solutions with rich hotel content and verification functionality. These are best established for the large agencies who were already within those GDS ecosystems to begin with. Assessing Your Agency’s Needs and Requirements for Hotel Booking Reconfirmation
