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Why Online Travel Portals Are Better Than Travel Agents


Why Online Travel Portals Are Better Than Travel Agents

Planning a vacation is really exciting and fun until it comes to the actual planning part. You might find yourself neck-deep in options on various platforms telling you how you can plan your trip. You can either choose to go through the route of an online travel portal or use a travel agent. With the travel agent you can never be sure if the price offered to you is the best for your holiday package system.

Whereas with an online portal, you have the freedom to look at various hotels, flights, etc., read reviews and then make an informed choice. And Trip Mega Mart, a Travel Technology Company is your go-to travel website helping you with all this. In this article, we will list down the benefits of planning your travel through online travel portals as compared to travel agents.

Booking your travel through travel agents may seem like an easy task because you can offload your worries to someone else, but the confidence, relief, and convenience you get with take ownership of your plans, is unmatched.

Benefits of Online Travel Portals over Travel Agents

Now that we understand the hassle that one has to go through with travel agents on a macro level, let’s look at some of the areas where online travel portals have an edge over travel agencies.

1.)    Convenience

  • Travel booking with online portal can be made in a minute from any device from any place.
  •  Booking can be made at any time of the day and you don’t have to run around.
  • You don’t need to waste time visiting any office or branch because the booking can be done completely online with the help of travel portals.
  • Say goodbye to lengthy phone call with travel agents when everything has been made so simple with digital.

 

2.)    Large Inventory

  • Compared to travel agents, online portal can help you with numerous options ranging from hotels to restaurants to flight deals.
  • For a human, the information might be limited but the same is not the case with online portals. With flight and hotel API integration, online portals can easily give access to more information.
  • Even travel agents use the same database - GDS, XML & API Flight & Hotel Integration, as online travel portal to gain access to inventory.
  • Airline suppliers and hotel suppliers too can easily partner with online portals as compared to travel agents.
  • Looking at various travel deals online as compared to speaking with a travel agent will save you some time which can be put to better use.

 

3.)    Easy Cancellations and Reschedules

  • If you have any change in your plans, you can adjust you booking accordingly.
  • If your flight or hotel has rescheduled, travel portals take care of it, without you getting involved for the major part.
  • In case of travel agents, if any change is made in your itinerary, they charge a considerable amount of fee to make amends.

 

4.)    Deals and Offers

  • Online travel portals are continuously making efforts in order to retain regular customers.
  • You might be offered exclusive deals, loyalty points which can be used on your booking to bring down the total payable cost.
  • Along with offering deals, many travel portals also offer discounts if you pay for your booking through a specific credit or debit card.
  • No such exclusive offer or deal is offered by travel agents, even if you make your bookings through the same agent for years.

 

5.)    Reviews

  • On online travel portals, you have the option to view the reviews of people who had used the same service as you before.
  • This helps you understand the pros, cons, nature of the service before even witnessing it first-hand.
  • Reviews help you make an informed and calculated decision as you get to know if you wants will be met or not.
  • Bookings done through travel agents offers no reviews. You will have to take the word of your travel agent for the feedback they provide.

Few other benefits that you will enjoy if you choose online travel portal over travel agents are –

  • 24/7 Support will be provided on travel agency software.
  • You can track price of your package continuously without any third-party.
  • Online travel portals are cost and time efficient when compared to travel agents.
  • You can also look at car rental system on online travel portals.

With the help of tourism portal development, online portals have improved from good to best.  Online travel portals use flight booking engine and hotel booking engine to show you around the best places and flights to your destination. Keeping this in mind, it is pretty clear that choosing an online travel portal such as Trip Mega Mart will be more efficient as it provides all the above listed services which you would miss out on upon making a booking through a travel agent.

Posted on 08-Apr-2020

Travel Portal Development