OHRS -Online Booking Engine enables your guests to book rooms instantly through website .

CRS Technologies releases app to help Chennai flood victims

  

As part of our continuing CSR initiatives, CRS Technologies (Web CRS)has created a crowd sourcing web platform as well as Android app called ReachOut2Help to aid the Chennai flood victims. This online service enables those affected by the flood connect with people offering help. It has already gained popularity online, with celebrities and IT professionals spreading the word.

ReachOut2Help is a map based service that shows exactly what kind of help is available at a particular location. Anyone can lend a helping hand by posting what they can offer to those in need. In addition, those in distress can request specific help too. It also contains emergency numbers and is proving to be a great boon for volunteer efforts. Those who want to volunteer online or on field can sign up easily to meet the needs of those in distress.As an online volunteer, you can assist in coordinating the relief efforts and simplify the work and save time and resources of volunteers/aid workers on the field.

The service caters to relief operations in Chennai,Pondicherry and                                                  Cuddalore locations.

Already, an outpouring of support in the form of relief materials, accommodation and services can be seen offered through the app. WebCRS hopes that this app will help alleviate the situation and help better coordinate the relief efforts.It also ensures that efficient distribution is happening where it's needed the most as well as to avoid duplicity and wastage of resources offered. 

The links for the service are shown below:

Web App: http://webcrs.com/reachout2help/

Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.webcrs.reachouttohelp

WebCRS Travel - Store the entire hotel information in an integrated system

CRS Technologies Proudly presents Mobile Application for Channel Manager

CRS technologies India Pvt Ltd has recently made announcement about the launch of the Mobile Apps of its ground-breaking software technology WebCRS Channel Manager, also known as WebCRS Travel Portal Manager.

WebCRS TPM APP

An innovative technology for management of online distribution channels in the Hospitality industry, WebCRS Channel Manager (Travel Portal Manager) from CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd helps the accommodation service providers, of different type and size in/with effective hotel online distribution and sales, via Online Travel Agencies (OTA) and third-party hotel booking sites.

WebCRS Hotel Channel Management System helps the hoteliers connect to online distribution channels, enabling them manage the booking extranets (OTA management) from a single interface with less effort and time.

Speaking about the WebCRS Channel Manager MobileApps, for OTA management and Hotel distributions, the Director at CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd, Anna George said, “With this mobile application, the hoteliers would be able to have better control of their electronic distribution.”

WebCRS Channel Manager (Travel Portal Manager) has been transforming the way, the accommodation service providers manage their properties and/or the online hotel distribution channels, to improve the business performance and outcomes.

For queries and consultation related to WebCRS Travel Portal Manager (Channel Management System), contact CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd at info@webcrs.com.

How to win back Direct Guests from OTA’s

Hoteliers its time that you win back your direct guests.
Hoteliers think that it is a very difficult task to get direct guests when compared to the guests coming from OTA’s. They imagine that a huge amount of money has to be spend in terms of online advisement to be at par with the OTA’s. But the fact is that by just being creative and optimizing your rates and availability you can get direct guests and increase your profit.

Here are some ways to win back your direct customers.

1.    Create a Direct booking button on your Website

Get a direct booking facility on the website with option to make online payments through credit cards, debit cards or   net banking. If it is for a hotel chain then give the direct guest to create his/her own packages by selecting the destinations, properties, room types and activities. Also give  give them facility to book cabs and add on services, which cannot be offered by the OTA’s

2.    Give promotions to guest booking through OTA’s      

When a guest has come through any channel other than direct booking give him a promotional incentive for his next booking which can either be a 10% discount or a complementary wifi or complementary pick up . This will make the guest to book directly with the hotel for the next time or he would refer anyone to take this promotion    

3.    Direct booking Incentives

Always incentivize your direct guest with any kind of extra services at the time of check out like offering a fruit basket or giving a direct discount on the booking for the next reservation, which will improve the direct bookings.

Conclusion

Hoteliers have more profit from the direct guests when compared to other channels so encourage hotel staff to boost the direct booking so that better revenue and better profits are made.  Give special training to hotel staff so that they concentrate more on the direct bookings and educate them about  the benefits they also gain for bringing in more direct guests.

At WebCRS, we provide solutions to increase the direct bookings of hotels by automating the whole process of sales and reservations. Our central reservation software has the capability of revenue management, promotional activities for the hotels as well as also distribute the inventory to any other distribution channels. For more details and demo of the product visit www.webcrs.com

Gain Business Control, Increase Traffic, Boost Online Sales and Maximize Business Profits with WebCRS

        With lots of online hotel booking sites and portals easily available online, finding a hotel/accommodation facility of one's choice is not a big task, anymore. People look for the best travel deals and packages, to save money. And the online travel agencies and third-party hotel booking sites come first thing in their mind, whenever they want to do hotel bookings or need help with itineraries and travel packages.

Thus, the hoteliers (that want to create/draw traffic to their business) should ascertain that they are tapping all the online hotel booking channels for attracting/getting visitors to improve sales leads and conversions, rather sticking on to their hotel website.

In order to increase online traffic, boost sales - the hoteliers should think about using a central reservation system with integrated booking engine and hotel channel management system. And thegroundbreaking WebCRShotel reservation software from CRS Technologies India Pvt is one of the kind, with rich features and easy to plug-in modules and add-ons.

The benefit of using an online hotel reservation system like WebCRS is that the hoteliers can manage their properties, hotel inventories/rates, suppliers/contracts and more in a hassle-free manner. Using the (centralized) WebCRS online hotel system, they can connect better to online distribution/booking channels to increase site traffic and simplify the hotel booking and reservation process for clients/customers, with less effort and time.

With WebCRS online hotel reservation software, the hoteliers can automate business process/workflow and increase productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Using the integrated travel portal manager (hotel channel manager), they can do effective hotel online distribution and manage online travel agencies and third-party hotel booking sites, the better.The WebCRS central reservation system brings down the connectivity cost to hotel booking channels and travel sites and help the hoteliers distribute inventories, rates and optimize availability on a real-time basis for increased web traffic, sales volume and business revenues.

The WebCRS onlinehotel reservation system with incorporated (hotel booking software and) channel management system ascertains that the hoteliers get to maintain rate parity across the online distribution channels (hotel booking sites and portals) with a click of the button and have confirmed reservations always, avoiding the hotel overbooking issues.

Through the central reservation software and by applying revenue management rules, the hoteliers can dynamically control their rates and inventory, seasonally by evaluating market demand, the traffic generated through online channels and assessing the buying behavior of consumers.

With the WebCRS online hotel reservation system, the hoteliers can have a bird's eye-view of different aspects of business, boost online sales by directly selling via the hotel booking engine and get traffic also through hotel distribution channels.

Thus, the hoteliers that have been using a different hospitality management system (or managing a business with outmoded/less advanced systems) from multiple vendors to run a business, can consider WebCRS online hotel reservation system to gain full control of their business and to centralize the reservation/booking process for improving performance and yield.

For more information on WebCRS, please contact CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd at info@webcrs.com.

Why hoteliers should forecast Market demand and dynamically control the Rate?

Revenue management in hotel industry is important, considering various distribution platform available in the market, today. When the hoteliers do business in a perfectly competitive industry, they have to carefully determine their prices in the market.

Hoteliers can increase room occupancy rates and enhance business profits only when they have competitive rates. Captive product pricing can help hoteliers drive customers better, this can be done only by constant evaluation of the market and fine tune ones own business strategy.

By forecasting the demand and evaluating the pricing strategies, hoteliers can dynamically control rates. This way, they can ascertain higher room occupancy rates and increased business profits.

With a dynamic pricing strategy, the hoteliers can control the rates of their properties for different periods and seasons. By forecasting demand well in advance, the hoteliers can allocate rooms at their convenience. They can hide/block (hold back) certain rooms, limit/restrict visibility on different online travel portals and third-party booking sites for a specific period and release the properties, only when the demand is very high. In this manner, with higher demand the hoteliers can quote higher price for their properties and generate more revenue.

By estimating demand, the hoteliers can even create special rates, discounts, packages and offers for the early/advance bookers for improving customer engagement rate and in creating brand loyalty.

In order to increase the occupancy rates, most hoteliers try to sell their unsold inventories/properties for lower cost and incur loss. However, by forecasting demand in advance, the hoteliers need not sell their unsold inventories at less cost, any more. Through the revenue management tool incorporated to the hotel's property management system, the hoteliers can monitor and track the market competitors, their pricing strategies and also analyze the buying behaviour of customers. The hoteliers can identify the factors that influence the buying decision of customers and extend competitive rates, based on preferences (willingness to pay measures) and seasonality.

With hotel revenue management system, the hoteliers can do effective competitor price comparison. They can evaluate their old pricing policies and based on the market demand, alter and devise a better pricing strategy. By knowing, what the future holds one can plan and make better decisions and hotel revenue management tool is one such that helps the hoteliers have a look into the future, to plan things in a better way.

And the hoteliers that want to gain a competitive edge in the market should delay no further in adopting the right 'competitive analysis and revenue management tools', for their business. WebCRS from CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd has been helping the hoteliers with effective market intelligence, yield and revenue management on real time basis. It gives hoteliers a competitive edge in forecasting the demand and apply revenue management rules in real time

With WebCRS, the hoteliers determine better product prices in the each distribution channel and ensure increased profit margins. WebCRS has been transforming the way, the hoteliers do business today.

For more information on WebCRS, visit www.webcrs.com or write to info@webcrs.com.

Traditional travel agencies can stand tall against online travel companies with confidence, now

While deciding to take a trip  (whether individual or family/group tours), the modern-day travelers no longer think about (or consider) traditional travel companies, because they know there are infinite on-line companies, on the web space that charge 'less' and that too without sacrificing the product quality or service.

Unlike traditional travel companies (that are) confined to a specific location with limited contacts, the on-line companies offer better options/choices to the customers. The on-line agencies not only save customers the 'valuable time' but even help them with cost saving packages, though they (agencies) are often blamed for the 'hidden charges' involved in/with the products on sale.

On the other end, the traditional travel firms even though use direct and personal approach with customers and go beyond the call of duty for price negotiation with suppliers, are preferred less to the on-line companies.

A few of the reasons that make on-line travel companies a hot-favorite of customers are: instant response to customer queries, better options/choices, convenient (on-line) payment methods, flexible booking/cancellation and refund policies.


And, with plethora of on-line travel companies around (and the mushrooming ones), the traditional travel companies find it very hard to survive and are losing the grounds to the market competitors. However, they can stand tall and gain a competitive edge by seeking WebCRS UniLogin technology. An innovative product from CRS Technologies, WebCRS UniLogin provides an on-line platform to hoteliers and travel agents, for connecting and doing business with each other.

By using the WebCRS UniLogin technology, the traditional travel companies would be able to have access to over 400-plus different types of accommodation service providers (bed and breakfast, boutique, resorts, budget hotels etc) from a single interface. Through the secure and reliableUniLogin account, the travel agencies can log into their respective accounts and send requests to hotels in the network.


Once approved by and connected with the accommodation service providers, the agents can have real-time access to the inventories and special/negotiated rates of the hotels and be able to effectively manage itineraries and packages of their customers/travelers.


Hundreds of travel agencies are benefiting from the WebCRS UniLogin platform already and are witnessing better business results. Traditional travel companies, if are concerned about higher operating cost and lower profit margins should think nothing otherwise and go about adopting WebCRS UniLogin, with confidence.

WebCRS UniLogin has been creating a level-playing field and giving opportunities to companies in the travel and tourism sector to develop and grow their business to new markets and territories. 

For more information, on how WebCRS UniLogin can add value to your travel business, please contact CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd at info@webcrs.com.

Managing travel content is easier than you think, now with Tour CMS

A professional looking website is the face of every business. While being in tourism sector, the travel companies and tour operators require managing lot of itineraries and of course present those packages to guests in a professional manner, through their website.

Similarly, from a customer point of view - with too many travel portals around, the guests look for websites that are one-stop solution for all their travel needs. Guests prefer sites, where they could search for different itineraries, packages with less effort and even post enquiries directly to the company.

In order to serve the needs and wants of travelers, the travel companies and tour operators require working with nothing but the highest quality website, which they could use for dynamically controlling all the content of their site. The WebCRS TourCMS is an answer for travel companies that require publishing lot of tour itineraries and packages on their site on a daily basis.

Site content management is not a one-day affair, as it is a continuous process, which requires too much of time and labor. Hence, the travel companies need to go for WebCRS Tour CMS to have more control of their website and the content across all the pages.

By adopting Tour CMS, the companies would be able to manage all their itineraries and packages, with less effort, without requiring any technical knowledge or expertise.

With the TourCMS, the travel companies and tour operators would be able to upload and manage as many itineraries they want from a single platform. Both basic and advanced versions of WebCRS Tour CMS are available, which the companies could use to publish itineraries with and/or without price values to manage their content.

On the user front, the guests (using the Tour CMS supported site) would be able to search and map itineraries effectively, request brochures up-front from companies to plan holidays and dynamically create different tour packages, at ease.

Thanks to the technology effectiveness, the Tour CMS from WebCRS is a huge success already in the travel and tourism market and is one of the favorites of travel companies across India.

Travel companies that used the Content Management System (Tour CMS) of WebCRS have been able to overcome business challenges and enhance organizational efficiency.

For more details, contact info@webcrs.com.

Gain a Competitive Edge over your Competitors and their Business Strategies

In a cutthroat market, to keep going - every business needs to have a competitive edge over contenders. The scenario in the Hospitality and tourism sector is nothing different, where lot of players can be seen battling for customers and for the bigger market share.

Unlike before, with too many Hotels around competing with each other, the customers have a lot on platter to choose from and almost everyone today has the tendency to select nothing but the best service providers in the market.

Price was, has been and would always be a prime concern for customers. Earlier when the choices were limited (in terms of service providers), the customers had no option than going for whatever they used to get in the market at the FIXED price asked by the suppliers.

However, with the change in market scenario and entry of new players (and the trend is continuing), the customers have the power and they are the ones that have the final say in everything. In such a scenario (in an exclusive buyer’s market), it becomes imperative for Hotels (companies) to be flexible in/with their approach towards customers.

Irrespective of income group or standard of living, every customer has concerns about pricing. Who does not like best deals in anything? The customers would always look for highest quality products/services that come with the best price tag. The Hotels that befit the requirement of customers with respect to quality and pricing have fair chance of winning them, at the first place.

In order to price better and win customers to their business, the Hotels need to know what their competitors are doing and what their pricing or customer strategies are. Watching and following business rivals is very important, because if both (hotels) are offering similar quality services and if one has a better pricing then customers would go with that supplier where they are getting better deals.

Hence, to avoid losing customers to business rivals, hotels need to stay ahead of competitors and try to keep a close eye on all the business rivals (small and big) they have in the market. Doing market research and analysis would always help in knowing the number of competitors one has and about their strengths and weaknesses. Hotels need to evaluate all the aspects of their competitors, as this would make them compare their business with others and devise better strategies, accordingly.

In a business deal, at the end – it is ‘better pricing’ that scores over everything else. Hence, hotels need to know how their competitors are targeting customers and what their pricing strategies are. Visiting websites of all the competitors or comparing the price in all the portals on a routine manner, to know the offerings or prices is not an easy job, as it incurs lot of time and labor. However, hotels can overcome this challenge now, by adopting the WebCRS Market Watch technology, using which they would no longer require visiting hundreds or thousands of websites of where the competitors have displayed the rates and availability.

Kuoni moves out from the Indian tour operating business

Kuoni - the Zürich, Switzerland based Travel Company chooses to move out from tour operating activities in the Indian market. The company plans to concentrate efforts on its core business as a service provider, to the worldwide travel industry, governments and be a leading B-to-B player.

In the new set-up, Kuoni plans to reform its business in three divisions, viz. Global Travel Services, Global Travel Distribution and VFS Global. Long-standing growth is in the agenda of Kuoni, as the firm looks ahead focusing more on attractive and potential markets like Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The travel and tourism sector has been constantly changing, with more and more companies going digital, to harmonize with the current market trend. Companies that are doing business still the traditional way are having the tough time, in the segment. As the travel portals equipped with most-recent technology have started generating good business, many companies that used to follow the conventional approach felt the need of redefining their business models.

The tour operating business of Kuoni was one, which got ‘affected’ the most by the changing market scenario in India. (Before divestment) The firm generated revenue about $2.15 billion in 2014 from its tour operating business.

The market did not affect Kuoni only, as even the British global travel company, Thomas Cook moved out from the Indian travel business, recently, signaling the threats that many foreign enterprises now feel from the local (Indian) companies.

Kuoni entered the Indian market in 1996, by buying 51 percent of stake in SOTC (which was already an established firm, then). In 1997, it acquired 100 percent of SOTC and established an identity as Kuoni Travel India. Sita World Travel joined the brigade of Kuoni in 2000 and the latter became one of the largest travel companies, in India. To address travelers in the Middle East market, Kuoni acquired the destination manager ‘Tour Club’, further.

During the course in the Indian market, the firm even launched FIT holidays for individual travelers, entered the domestic tourism segment with SOTC Holidays, opened an academy, initiated its luxury holiday brand in India and got hold of Distant Frontiers (in 2006).

After plans to divest the tour operating business in India, Kuoni expects to make profits through the reduced portfolio that it has now, comprised of Sita, Distant Frontiers and VFS Global.

Booking Apps for the Last Minute Deals and Offers on Hotel Accommodation

For last minute hotel deals and offers, travelers most often rely on mobile apps, as the applications at all times help them in finding the best hotels for accommodation, in various destinations.

Whether to search by location (city or landmark) or to find the hotel properties nearby any region, the hotel booking apps make it easier for the travelers in finding the best properties. Similar to any booking website, the hotel booking mobile apps help the travelers filter the results based on price, hotel amenities and other attributes.

To serve the needs of guests, various booking sites in the market have started collaborating with big and small hotels at various destinations; so that guests using their booking apps get to find information about all the hotels at one go, without the need of going to other booking sites.

Various studies show that people use mobile booking apps more to do last minute hotel bookings and this trend has made the demand of booking apps soar in the market, gradually. With the apps, the travelers can alter or cancel their hotel bookings with a click of the button and always pick the best deals and offers available in the market.

Most of the travelers that need to book rooms in hurry prefer mobile apps, as the booking applications assist them evaluate through millions of (verified) customer reviews to make informed decision regarding any hotel property. Once a guest has booked a room through the mobile app, his/her booking details even get stored in the app, which they can access by signing in to the booking website of the service provider.

Whether the map view of any hotel or the colorful photos of the hotel properties, the guests accessing the hotel booking apps can bookmark their favorites and even get to find information in different languages, based on their country preferences.

The tech firm CRS Technologies India Pvt Ltd that offers innovative solutions to hotels, feels that the ‘ease of use and handy information’ are the plus points with booking apps. The popularity of booking apps among travelers is one big reason why many booking sites in the sector feel the urge to add up hotel inventories to their apps, so that the guests get to have the best search experience, all the time.

These booking apps integrate seamlessly with the bookingsystem of the hotel to offer better connectivity to the user. Whenever a guest clicks on to book a property, the booking apps redirect them to the hotelbooking system, making them reserve the rooms instantly, from there.

Ways to Improve Your Hotel Booking

Hospitality sector is one of the most competitive sectors, of today, with loads of players competing with each other for the bigger market share. To have higher occupancy rates all the season and business profits thereby are the prime objectives of companies in the Hospitality sector. In order to enhance online hotel bookings, the companies need to focus on some of these key aspects, enlisted below. By implementing these in their online strategy, the hotel booking sites will be able to increase sales. Let us look at those.

Maximize Distribution

Hotels can increase online sales and maximize revenues through their distribution channels. By associating with different channel partners, the hotels will be able to reach to the global audience and be able to drive traffic to their business from different sources. From the Channel Manager, the Hotels can determine that the property details are consistent across all the distribution channels and there are no discrepancies, whenever a guest is booking any property.

Client Reviews (Publish Client Reviews) at the time of Booking 

Reviews, Ratings and Testimonials help the businesses figure out whether their customers are happy and if they are heading on the right track (or not). Thanks to technology, the Internet users can get to know about any company ‘ahead of time’ through easily available reviews of companies, online. People check these reviews first and based on those, they make favorable decisions further. Hence, it is necessary for Hotels to ‘make the best use’ of positive reviews that they get from their clients and need to publish those through different available mediums, blogs, social media etc. Every time after sales closure, hotels need to request the clients to find time with reviews. These positive reviews on the booking sites will hold the interest of many new visitors, booking through the site of hotel.

Hotels can even integrate their social media profiles (e.g. Facebook) with their booking engines. The platform will work as a space for the followers (hotel customers) to share their experience and show approval by giving Facebook Likes to the business. WebCRS FB has been a similar concept, which is ‘well accepted’ by many companies in the hospitality sector.

Last Minute Offers

Thanks to Mobile Phones, booking the last moment is in the rage. Mostly business travelers do the last minute booking and it becomes very important for Hotels to hold the interest of such guests (and many others) with last minute deals, packages and offers. Hotels need to ensure that all their special ‘short time’ deals and offers are worth giving a thought by the last minute bookers.

Arrange transfers and sight seeing 

While visiting a Hotel booking website, majority of people expect to see options that could help them create a full package, viz. Hotel, Flights, Transfers (Car Rentals), Sight Seeing/Attractions and so on. Time is an important aspect, one reason why not many prefer visiting different sites to satisfy their booking/reservation needs. Hence, the Hotels need to make sure that their booking engine has the facility for guests to manage their ‘complete tour package’ from a single system with a click of the button.

Keep rate parity 

While serving the needs of guests through different distribution channels, it becomes necessary for the hotels to maintain rate parity across all the associated portals. If the details (availability and rate values) differ in all the sites, then that would confuse the bookers/guests and even show adversely on the booking process of the hotel. By leveraging Channel Managers, the Hotels can make certain that they have maintained rate parity across all the channel partner sites, to leave the guests with better booking experience.

Thus, give a thought to few of the tips mentioned above to engage the hotel guests, to enhance online bookings and for maximizing business profits, like anything.

Extend offers and Incentives to Make the Guests 'Book' Hotels,Directly

Who would like to pay high commissions to Online Travel Agents (OTAs), if the Hotel guests make direct bookings often? Of course, companies operating in the hospitality sector have similar problems.

If a hotel is associated with endless travel companies/agents, they require paying commissions for all of them for the traffic they receive, every time through them. Hotels can find a way around travel agents and make guests directly book with them. Here, is how.

The guests need to have reasons to book direct with the hotel. Hotels can attract customers, by offering incentives and special packages to them.

Thanks to technology, a majority of people stick to dotcoms (most often) for this and that. To entice people, hotels can extend the Free Wi-Fi offer (in the lobby and other regions of the hotel) to those who chose to book rooms directly, without going through travel agents or companies. This would work most of the times. However, as every customer is different and so be his/her needs and wants, the hotels need to test and try different offers and incentives to see what is working for their business, the most.

Regarding the offerings (other than Free Wi-Fi), hotels can even extend free food/beverage offers to guests who do direct hotel bookings. In Bed and Breakfast hotels, the package includes food (in general), so free breakfast may not be a big deal for the guest. However, for hotels falling in other categories, they of course can extend a Free Breakfast offer to their hotel guests.

A bottle of Champagne/Wine Free or Chocolates (if the kids involved) would bring smile on the face of many. Hotels can think of many novel ideas to make their guests feel special, whenever they book rooms directly with the hotel. Moreover, hotels can even offer free event tickets, which some may be interested upon.

Everybody likes money saving packages. These attractive offers and incentives would of course give reasons to the guests to think of visiting the hotel, all the time they are on a vacation or a business tour in that region or locality.

By extending the offers and incentives to their ‘loyal’ customer base, the possibilities are even that those customers would post positive reviews about the hotel, online. This way, the hoteliers would get more direct inquiries and hotel bookings from other (new) guests as well.

How to Grow Your Travel Agency in the Year 2015

Travel and tourism is one of the most competitive sectors of today, with many travel companies competing with each other for maximizing the business profits and for better market shares.

For higher returns on investment, businesses need to put in efforts in the right places that could yield better results. Technology is the forefront of everything, in today’s business scenario and travel companies that want to enhance business outcomes should be quick in adopting the ‘most recent’ technology available in the market.

Time is money and the guests approaching any travel company expect that agency to manage their itineraries in a particular period, without any delay. If the travel agencies fail to deliver results on time, then the prospects would most probably switch to other service providers in the market. Hence, the companies need to waste no time in offering services to the guests and that is possible only when the agencies have the best of technology, by their side.

Managing bookings/reservations of guests on paper is an outdated affair and the travel companies that follow this approach (even today) may fall behind in the competitive market.

In order to streamline their business operations, lower the operational cost, enhance productivity and efficiency of employees at workplace, for better and timely service delivery and for increased business outcomes – the travel agencies need to change with the current trend. The need of the hour for the travel companies is to stay ahead of the curve, by using the most up-to-date system and technologies for the business, to be able to stand tall against the market contenders and for better market share.

It is never too late for the Travel Companies that want to make a shift from a paper-based office culture to a technology-oriented workspace. WebCRS Travel is an answer to them, as by leveraging the technology, companies in the travel and tourism sector (agencies, tour operators, trip planners and so on) can restructure their daily business activities, achieve better results by saving time, money and human efforts.

By making the best possible use of WebCRS Travel technology, the travel companies will be able to reach larger markets, drive customers better by simplifying the reservation and booking processes and enhance the customer satisfaction levels, like never before.

Technology is always a boon to the society and the agencies that want to be at the pink of success should not leave any stone unturned in adapting their business with the latest technologies available, in their specialized domain.

The travel companies need to keep a watch on the emerging technologies in the sector and identify the best ones that could add value or have the potential of delivering better results for their business. One should not go after just any technology or system but should make the right choices and invest wisely. Businesses that chose WebCRS Travel had no looking back further and the travel companies that are thinking about adopting the CRS technology should not think twice to make the right decision for their business, to see it grow and scale new heights.

Collect Payments for the Travel Agency Services, On Time

Everybody who has invested money on the business has done that only to make profits out of those. Money is an important aspect to run or manage every business and by being in the travel sector, the travel agencies need to make sure that their business gets timely payment for the services they provide to the guests.

If the travel agency deals with many guests at a time, then it can at times be difficult for their business to keep a tab on payments from all the guests, whom they might have served at different periods. To make things convenient for everyone involved (both the agency and the guests), one needs to have a secure and user-friendly payment system, which could not only update one about due payments by giving an alert repeatedly to follow-up with guests, however it should also send reminder mails to the guests that their payment is due for a specific service.

This way, travel agencies would get to know who all require paying and who all paid already after availing the services from them. At times, due to lack of technology/system or security concerns, the guests/clients might be apprehensive about sending payment after the services received.

To overcome challenges of this sort, the travel agency needs to have an inherent payment gateway, which could promise secure payment dealings, be it through credit, debit cards or other banking facilities.

If the agencies have been having difficulty managing payment of services rendered, then they can think about adopting the WebCRS Payit system, which proved ‘a great success’ for many companies in the travel sector, already. The payment gateway incorporated with the system would help one keep a tab on payments of guests from a single dashboard.

The agencies can check the record/database anytime to see the collected and due payments of different guests. The Payit payment collection software would even remind the agencies occasionally regarding any payment request mails that they need to send to guests, who require paying.

With the WebCRS Payit system, the agency can send/email invoices (specifying service details) along with the link, which would enable the guests pay straightway by clicking the very payment link in a secure manner. The link would remain active only for a specific period, as if the guest fails to click it on time, the system would facilitate the agency with the option to resend the invoice with another payment link.

This way, travel agencies can even know the number of invoices they sent across to get payment and about the reminder mails that they need to send to guests, further. The payment invoices that agencies mail across will have the company logo, address and the terms of payment to make the guests comprehend the policy, better. At any time, the agency or the guests can take a printout of the invoice, if needed. Whenever the guests pay, they get instant confirmation and the money would ‘get credited’ automatically to the business account of travel agency, integrated with the system.

Anytime when the agency got payment from the guests, they would also receive automated SMS/email notifications from the WebCRS Payit system incorporated with their system. Hence, adopt the CRS payment collection software and never lose to keep track of the payments.

Sales Monitoring System to Never Losing Track of Hotel Leads for Improved Conversions

Sales and marketing are integral to every business entity. The hotels that require B-to-B dealings with Corporate and Agents have to follow up on queries on a day-to-day basis so that they do not drop any leads. Besides, they even need to supervise and manage the performance of sales representatives, executives and managers, on a routine manner.

Without a proper system in place to record the sales and marketing communications and interactions in between the employees and the business clients, the hotels may not be able to know whether the team is putting efforts in the right direction or not. Even the sales and marketing team members want to have a better idea about other departments and faucets, so that they could manage queries better.

In order to get the best out of the sales team and for streamlining the process, the hotels across the globe are switching to Sales Monitoring System. The ZIEL Sales Monitoring System from CRS Technologies is one such popular amongst companies in the hospitality sector.

The technology not just helps the hotels to monitor sales and marketing efforts globally, improve B-to-B (corporate and agent) sales, enhance Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), however, they even get to bring down the operational cost of sales and reservations.

By following the Sales Monitoring System, the hotels would be able to identify all their guests and bookers at different periods and know which representative, executive or sales manager handled that particular inquiry or call. Monitoring the performances of sales and marketing professionals within the organization for appraisals become easier with the system.

The ZIEL Sales Monitoring System never misses an inquiry and helps in assigning and routing the tasks (on priority basis) to different sales and marketing departments (professionals) of the hotel, ensuring that they get to address queries on a real-time basis. By leveraging the Sales Monitoring System, the hotels can make certain that they do not drop any leads and be able to convert prospects to customers, almost all the time.

Since the central reservation system integrates with the sales monitoring tool, the representatives using the technology would get to have real-time access (mobile access etc) to all the contact information, hotel inventories, reservation list etc, helping the employees make informed decisions, all the time.

As the system helps in improving the response rate to queries, the representatives, executives and managers working with the technology, even tend to be more efficient and productive and contribute better to the clients of the hotel.

The hotels that want to have full control of their sales and marketing team should not think any further and just go ahead adopting any reliable Sales Monitoring System, available in the market.

Travel Agents now can Quote Better with the Most Recent Hotel Rate and Availability

Every time when a guest approaches the travel agents regarding a hotel inquiries, in order to manage quests, generate better quotes and boost the booking process, the agencies require to be well acquainted with everything about the hotels they are associated with, i.e. room availability during a specific period, special rates and offers/deals (if any).

To check and enquire with hotels, the rate and availability (every time) is not a feasible option, as the guests most often in a hurry would not care to wait and would move along with other travel agencies. To overcome this challenge, the travel agents require a system from where they could access all the most recent information of the hotels in their panel.

Agent UniLogin from CRS Technologies is one such technology, which helps the travel agents keep tab and have secure access to room rates and availability of all the hotels in their network from a single platform.

The travel agencies with the WebCRS Agent UniLogin can send messages to hoteliers requesting the latter to add agents in the database of hotel. The hotels can accept the requests immediately, using the UniLogin technology. This way the travel agencies would have the right to access all the special rates and offers of hotels, during various periods.

In case the hotel denies the request of travel agency, the latter would not get to know offers from the hotel and not possibly be in a position to generate best quotes for the guests.

The WebCRS Agent UniLogin serves a different purpose, as the travel companies leveraging the technology would be able to create multi-users and let the agency staff members have secure access to all the hotels in the network, from a common pool. The agents can even add the hotels as Direct Channel, block rooms during a specific period (for guests), confirm rooms live and submit cancellation requests as well.

With WebCRS Agent UniLogin, the travel agencies can view all hotels in the network, check previous schedules, send recommendation and update payments made to hotels. The technology saves a lot of time, avoids overbooking and confusions of any sort with the guests. The agencies can enhance hotel room bookings by always ensuring that the prices quoted and the room availabilities shown to the guests are the most recent, leading further to customer satisfaction and better business outcomes.

Utilize the Facebook Power to Put Your Hotel Properties on the Market and Sell like Hotcakes

Social media is an effective marketing tool, which hotels and travel companies use amply for online branding and promotions. Amongst the most popular, Facebook is not only the favorite of people that like to befriend others online; however, the social networking platform is equally in great demand with businesses of all kinds.

Hotels can drive more customers to their properties through the Facebook booking engine and make their fans and followers book instantly right from there. Hoteliers can use the social platform for facilitating guest reservations, through the booking engine integrated with the hotel system.

On the Facebook page, hotels can display their properties and description (along with contact addresses), upload images, so that people interested in booking room get to have a fair idea about the hotel, room amenities and other services.

People following the page of Hotels there would be able to book at once through the inherent ‘Book Now’ button. When the users make initiative, the page would redirect them to the site of the hotel for further proceedings, where people can pay directly through the secure Payment Gateway, complete the transaction process and receive confirmation message as well.

As the hotel system ‘is incorporated’ to the social networking site, the hoteliers no longer have to worry updating Facebook every time when they have to promote or extend special offers to guests. Moreover, when a user logs in to the Facebook page of the hotel, the reservation team of hotel would receive complete details of the guest, making them save time in requesting details and so.

The benefit of trying to sell hotels through social media is even that, travelers that have booked earlier with the hotel can post instant reviews on the page, for others to see. Through ‘Likes’ people can show their support to the hotel and even share positive reviews with friends and family in the online network. This way, by making the business presence on Facebook, hotels would get to uplift their online reputation.

Facebook, being a popular site gets higher ranking on major search engines. By leveraging the platform, hotels can generate higher visibility for all their properties and sell their rooms like hotcakes all the time, both peak and off seasons.

The WebCRS FB technology is one of its kinds that hotels can adopt to enable guest bookings through their Facebook page and maximize their business profits.