ONLINE BOOKING PLATFORM AND TOUR OPERATORS.
If you ask anyone what an Online Booking Website means for a Tour Operator, you will get an answer similar to “Online booking platforms are enemy of Tour Operators”
In practice, this answer is right. Online booking platforms are focused on clients to make a booking directly to the Hotel. The clients booking directly to the hotel means bypassing the Tour Operator. If the client contacts Hotels directly, the Tour Operator is out of tourism play.
But on the other side, the Tour Operator is a very important player in Tourism Business. Tour Operators bring a massive number of tourists to destinations, not Online Booking Platforms. Tour Operator organizes charter flights, busses for transportation, Hotels for accommodation, guiding services, etc. The Tour Operator faces clients and resolves their problems if unexpected things happen during the client's holiday.
Working with some Tour Operators is a dream for most Hoteliers.
HOW THE TOUR OPERATORS WORK?
The Tour Operator makes contracts with multiple Hotels from multiple destinations, prepares a catalog/offer. They take this catalog/offer to as many Sale Agents as they can of the country where they operate from. And asks them to book any of those hotels for their client's holiday with a certain percent of booking amount as commission.
The clients that the Tour Operator brings for holiday, the very vast majority of their bookings are made by Sale Agents across the country. None of the Tour Operator has its own office across the country where operates. The only thing a Tour Operator needs is to have a good Sale Agent network.
This is how a Tour Operator operates. Everything they do is based on a contract with another side. They bring clients with rented charter planes, busses. And they bring clients to the Hotels that are also not theirs.
WHAT THE TOUR OPERATORs DON’T DO?
Despite the fact that they bring massive clients to hotels for holiday, Tour Operator becomes antipathetic too for some of their behavings.
The Tour Operators never make marketing for an individual hotel, destination or country. They don’t care about where or to which particular Hotel the tourist will go on holiday.
It is very common that the Tour Operator doesn't allow the hotel that they signed a contract with, to have a contract with another Tour Operator for the same market.
The Tour Operator becomes the monopoly way of clients to come from the country which signed a contract. Because from the Tour Operators country of operation, the Hotel doesn`t have an option to reach clients.
WHAT IS HEBERI ROLE?
We as www.heberi.com developed an online booking platform in which all players in Tourism can play the role that the way they are. The tourist supplier agent is a user as Sale Agent and the Service Provider (Hotelier, Excursion-Cruise Journey Organizer and Touristic Shopping (including the Tour Operators)).
Those are the real players in the Tourism business. One provides tourists and the others provide service for tourists.
How the TOUR OPERATOR can benefit from HEBERI?
The hotelier wants to reach the Sale Agents network and advertise his Hotel for bookings. This is the main goal for every Hotelier.
On the other side, tourist providing agents are the second user as Sale Agent. They can also sign up and upgrade to Sale Agent.
Signing Up, upgrading for both users is automatic and 100% free.
Two users are on the same platform. They can contact each other directly without the interference of the third party. One(Hotelier) can advertise his Hotel directly to tourist supplier agents (Sale Agents) that are making clients bookings for the Tour Operators.
The Hotelier may offer(optional) an extra commission for Sale Agents from his end to attract his hotel for more bookings even through the Tour Operator that he works with. Remember, Tour Operator pays the same percent as commission to Sale Agent for every Hotel booking. It is not important the booking is conducted to which particular hotel. But for Hotelier, the booking is meaningful, if it is to his hotel only. Now the hotelier can add some extra commission from his end to make a booking to his hotel more profitable for Sale Agent.
Some suggestions for how the Tour Operators can benefit from www.heberi.com
1-The Tour Operator may conduct their products marketing much more effectively to Sale Agents with heberi. Making marketing through www.heberi.com gives the option to reach the Sale Agents that –possibly- are currently not working even.
2- The Tour Operator may ask hoteliers to conduct his hotel marketing to Sale Agents on his own with his expenses and show Sale Agents through which Tour Operator they can make a booking. That will eliminate the hotelier's complaints of bringing clients to other Hotels but not to his.
3-The hotelier can step in marketing his hotel individually. For attracting his hotel he may add some commission from his end (optional) too. This will increase the total commission to Sale Agent and will attract Sale Agent to recommend. It will be paid for the booking that is conducted at his hotel only. In that case, no hotelier will complain of bringing or not bringing clients. The hotelier will make his hotel's marketing. The Tour Operator will bring the client when Sale Agent makes a booking.
4- The Tour Operator may provide more booking options such as excursion bookings and offer Sale Agents a commission for excursion bookings too through www.heberi.com That will make the cooperation with Tour Operator more profitable for Sale Agent. That will bring more Sale Agents to cooperate.
5-Excursion bookings by Sale Agent will increase excursion sales for Tour Operator. Because Sale Agent meets clients before their go-to destination and finding other competitors with cheaper prices there. Tour Operator pays excursion booking commission anyway. Why not paying to Sale Agent? The Tour Operator has a team at the destination to meet the client when the client arrived to write a ticket and collect payment.
By providing Sale Agents to make excursion booking with HEBERI, the Tour Operator will know who, how many will attend each excursion long before they appear in the destination. The Tour Operator can make planning easily.