Building a relationship with travel agents, tour operators, ground handlers and DMCs is a great way to generate sales. In the past, these relationships were dependent on marketing teams interacting with agents which would stimulate email or telephone sales. This industry has changed the way they book and sell your product. Now, to generate sales with these business partners you need to:

1. Continue building a relationship with your agent.
2. Ensure your agent can access your rates, availability and bookings.

Why have your agents changed the way they do business?

To perform in a competitive space travel agents, tour operators and the trade have changed their business processes and models to offer better value to their customers / your guests. Many agents have implemented custom or commercial business management software system solutions to run their quoting and booking processes and many have extended their online services to offer fast and efficient booking services to their customers, who will become your guests.

ResRequest’s channel manager module includes a number of connections to make sure your marketing efforts with your partners can be supported by technology at the ‘Make Booking’ level.

What does this mean for you?

To continue generating sales from the trade, you need to connect to their business tools. Your agent needs a centralised booking process and if you’re not connected to their system, it’s likely they’ll slowly stop selling you – not because you’re not doing a great job building a relationship with them – but because their sales team need to be able to use one platform for quoting, availability and booking processes.

By connecting your ResRequest system to your Agent’s booking system, you empower your agents to view current rates, give accurate quotes to customers and even book your lodges with the security of knowing they are accessing your live availability.

Connect your stock to Agents

Connect your ResRequest stock, availability and bookings to your Agents via our API, ResConnect. See our Connect your stock to Agents tutorial for more information.

Give your Agent a login

If your agents do not have an electronic in-house system, you can offer them an Agent login to your ResRequest system so that they can view your rates, live availability and even make bookings. See our Give your Agent a login tutorial for more information.