Another difficulty for tourism companies is that there is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to providing customer travel services. There are many factors that make our needs change over time, such as how much income we have, how much free time we have, whether we have children or not, and it means that in fact every holiday requires something different.
For tourism companies, trying to meet the needs of different clients is a constant challenge. Now, with the advent of the internet, customers have a very powerful tool for making their own holidays - and this is what they are doing at a rising price.
A large number of online travel companies have emerged over the past five years offering components that will make the holiday (flight, transfer, hotel) but this seemingly endless choice can lead to online misconduct. Experience. After so many hours spent researching online and trying to book with two or three different providers, potential customers sometimes rightly conclude that half an hour spent with a regular highway travel agent might look like a better deal.
Helping you get through the process and minimizing time is really helpful to think something through first. In addition to the obvious things like where and when you want to go, it is helpful to answer the following questions:
1. Do I want to purchase a package (flight, transfer, accommodation booked as a single item) or do I want to try to save money (or adjust the holiday to suit my specific needs) by booking my holiday parts separately?
2. Do I want a confirmation to book a holiday in a way I know, or am I excited to try someone new?
3. Am I confident enough to deal with any problems that may arise while at the hotel (since, unlike a package holiday, there will be no one to turn to for help)?
4. Do I want to book a holiday covered by a type of security scheme such as ATOL or do I have any problems in any way?
There is no doubt that one of the most important things for customers to do when booking online is between how much “guarantee” and “supplier accountability” they want (if anything goes wrong) compared to how much “tailor-made” and visual. Which want to save costs.
There is a spectrum that shows this trade from, at the end of the scale, buying a package with a two-week booklet from one of the major players like First Choice (firstchoice.co.uk) or Thomson (thomson. Co.uk) to the other end of the scale there person to British Airways (ba.com) to buy a plane, Sol Hotels (solmelia.com) hotel and Holiday taxis (holidaytaxis.com) for transfer.
Throughout this forum, there are many, nomrious other providers and online companies that provide services that fall between the two extremes. Well-known examples of this would be Expedia (expedia.co.uk) and Opodo (opodo.co.uk) which are examples of sites that offer "one-storey" to give customers the feeling that they are "building" a holiday and making good savings but still giving customers the feeling. That, because they work with a single tourism agent, a “safety net” exists.
Then there is the exciting new kind of online travel companies that are different and depending on what they offer. This group is different in many ways:
1. They are often arrested by ATOL which means there is a financial guarantee available in case of financial problems (details caa.co.uk).
2. With advanced technology, they link multiple flight options with hotels just like any other site - they usually share the same hotels.
3. They provide an "on call" service at the resort, so they are only nearby if you need them.
4. They offer "package" holidays, but their packages are made into "parts" from many providers and are presented to customers in a single transaction. A recently introduced example of this is New Holidays (freshholidays.com)
All the sites mentioned above have the ability to book online and all work satisfactorily. Most travel websites are now clever in the way they take customers to the booking system which means the time-consuming part of booking online is now a research phase.
Many shopping comparison sites such as Holiday Watchdog (holidaywatchdog.com) offer ideas from people who have lived in different places but are best known for researching Trip Advisor options (tripadvisor.com). This is a popular site that offers rich commentary to many of the world's largest hotels and is always a good place to start.
Good luck with your work!
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