Travel Manager



With the Resellers section of tours in TravelManager released this month we’ve already had some great feedback from resellers on how we could improve their experience and help them sell more tours.

This week we’ve added a grid facility for a reseller to see all the available tours and times on a per week basis so when selling to a potential customer they all the booking options available on one screen.

Reseller Availability Grid Tour Resellers in TravelManager – Quick Availability Grid

Reseller Availability Grid

Regards,

Eamonn

eamonn Tour Resellers in TravelManager – Quick Availability Grid

**We’ve also made a few API changes to expect an update to search facility on tours soon…

Every Bus and Tour Operator knows the value of getting your website listed highly on the search engines and this has driven the demand for companies to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services.

So when developing the latest version of Tours for TravelManager we wanted to insure that your tours would get indexed quickly by the likes of Google and Bing. To do this we create static HTML pages dynamically, which basically means that rather than having the pages created via a database when the customer makes a request, the tour pages are performed. (This is a big deal for search engines in helping them read the pages and for creating nice search engine friendly URL’s).

For example:

1) Traditional Solutions usually create a URL like this:

www.mytourcompany.com/search?&232-REF0013a.php (No SEO value)

2) while Travelmanager creates URL’s like this:

www.mytourcompany.com/tours/city-sightseeing-tour-of-copenhagen.html (Clearly shows it’s a City Sightseeing tour in Copenhagen)

**This also helps search engines categorize your web pages and along with some other proven techniques for tags and image labels we’re seeing our customers website shoot up the search engines.

TravelManager Tours Automatic SEO Tours in TravelManager – Helps your website with SEO

TravelManager Tours Automated Search Engine Optimization

Blog Post Update:

Here’s something nice that I thought I should update to this blog post regarding the channels used by Travel buyers…

Travel Buyer Channels Tours in TravelManager – Helps your website with SEO

Travel Buyer Channels

Source  - “Consumer Response to Travel Site Performance” – PhoCusWright, Market Research

Tours in TravelManager now supports resellers, where you can now set tiered commissions for resellers. The feature is an extension of online booking for tours so as well as taking credit card payment* Tour Operators can manage their network of resellers on one common platform.

See all your online sales, over the phone sales and now your reseller sells in one location. Manage availability in TravelManager and yield manage pricing and availability based on demand with access to reports on all your distribution channels.

Setting up a reseller is easy:

Resellers in TravelManager Get Resellers selling your Tours with TravelManager

Add Tour Resellers using TravelManager

And commissions can have up to 5 tiers either for every grade of reseller:

Tiered Commissions on Tours in TravelManager1 Get Resellers selling your Tours with TravelManager

Tiered Commissions on Tours in TravelManager

*If you’re interested in using TravelManager for Tours or to run your business we provide weekly webinars on TravelManager every Tuesday and Thursday email info@gotravelmanager.com for more information.

Regards,

Eamonn

eamonn Get Resellers selling your Tours with TravelManager

*Credit card payment’s processed via Paypal but TravelManager has the ability to use 3rd party gateways for companies with their own merchant account and service provider.

It’s been a busy few months and we’ve a lot of new features rolling out every week from now. The first major release of our Tours solution is now live and ready to use with our first customer the Global Passenger Network now accepting bookings online for their tours.

GPN Tours Large TravelManager Launches Tours for the Global Passenger Network

GPN Launch Tours with TravelManager

Over the next few weeks I’m going to take you through all the great features of this new Tour facility but for the moment we think the best thing you can do is have a look at the tours in action.

GPN Tours: Read More

Regards,

Eamonn

eamonn TravelManager Launches Tours for the Global Passenger Network

Here is a sneak preview of the tours sat within the GPN website design.

gpn tours Tours 2.0 Sneak Preview

We will have more screenshots within the week icon wink Tours 2.0 Sneak Preview

We have now started the next generation of tours functionality. Just as Easybusrental.com brings a new horizon for bus charter, so too will the tours functionality bring unrivalled levels of technology to the motorcoach industry.

Imagine being able to present your tours:

- in an SEO friendly way on YOUR website
- with full video capabiltity
- in over 20 languages
- with ratings & reviews from customers
- within an iPhone application

Imagine no more – its on its way icon wink Tours 2.0   The next generation

Sneak previews of the look and feel within the week icon wink Tours 2.0   The next generation

Oh, and did I mention we have a full suite of APIs so you can extend the solution with your own requirements including integration into ticketing machine, resellers and so much more…..

Tours 2.0 launches in BETA on 5th March 2010

3133924813 df166bd818 s Tours Aggregation coming soon!Imagine being able to cross sell your tours with other operators! Or being able to have affiliates and resellers selling tours on your behalf.

We’ll you wont need to imagine for long as we are currently working on a tours aggregator where you can pick and mix tours from your network of friends and sell tours on their behalf.

So selling tours to France from the USA will be quick and easy, likewise selling pan-european tours through Asia wil be a click or two away.

More information on this coming soon!

For the last few months we’ve been working with lead Motorcoach and Tour Companies in designing a new Tours module in TravelManager.

GPN Coach Tours TravelManager Tours 2.0 – Next Generation of Tours

Now that we have some of our users live with Tours on their website and with more to following in the coming weeks it’s a pretty exciting time for Tours. However this is just the starting point over the coming months we want to help more of our existing and new users to get up and running.

If you’re listing your Tours as PDF’s on your website, you’re missing a huge opportunity with the search engines. They love content and by using Tours in TravelManager you get to leverage that content to drive more traffic to your website.

Sample Tour TravelManager TravelManager Tours 2.0 – Next Generation of Tours

Our goal is bring new and innovative features to TravelManager that will really help sell and promote your Tours. For us this means really listening to your feedback and sharing ideas on how to market your Tours more effectively. Search Engines, Social Networks are potential growth areas for your business, let us help you get the most out of these.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Eamonn

TravelManager is providing the software solution for Arrow Stage Lines to handle their ticket sales on the new Shuttle Service launched yesterday for the Kansas City Chiefs Fans. By offering Motorcoaches rather than transit buses the fans are going to be upgrading their transportation to the Arrowhead Stadium for their teams home games.

Arrow Stage Lines Shuttle Service Arrow Stages Lines & Kansas City Chiefs

Arrow Stage Lines Shuttle Service for Kansas City Chiefs

We’re excited to be part of this growing area for private motorcoach companies to cater for fans left out in the cold by cuts in public transit services. The fans are in for a pleasant surprise with the quality of the vehicles they’ll be riding, Arrow Stage Lines have one of the best fleets in the industry.

For more information about the new service we recommend you watch the Kansas City Chiefs press release yesterday:

Screen shot 2009 09 29 at 17.28.32 Arrow Stages Lines & Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs - Press Conference

Or better still if you’re a fan why not book your ticket online:

www.arrowstagelines.com/kansas-chiefs

Best of luck to Arrow Stage Lines.

Regards,

Eamonn

TravelManager delivers another first for the motorcoach industry with its new affiliates / reseller solution for the charter and tours functionality. This functionality is now in closed beta trial with a number of European operators and we have a tentative launch date of October 7th.

We have built the capability to have resellers within TravelManager. You can give each reseller a different commission structure. eg. you can provide resellers with a fixed commission or a percentage commission rate. TravelManager takes care of the rest for you icon wink Broaden your reach with Affiliates / Resellers

resellers1 Broaden your reach with Affiliates / Resellers

Once a reseller / affiliate has been created they can start selling your tours or charters and earn commission. They can purchase services by entering in their unique reseller code and a unique PIN number.

More information and screenshots will be available during September. See keep watching icon wink Broaden your reach with Affiliates / Resellers

Regards

Dean