Direct bookings are the foundation of a successful tour business—but agents can play a strategic role in expanding your reach when used correctly.
In this article, you’ll learn why joining forces with agents can help you grow your business. Direct bookings may yield greater profits and give you more control over the customer relationship. But they are not the only way to achieve sales.
Partnering with agents in tourism can help you reach untapped markets and increase your audience. This can complement your efforts to maximize revenue and make your business a success.
Rezgo is a solution that helps you manage your relationship with agents while keeping your direct booking strategy strong. While partnering with agents in tourism can help you grow your business, the benefits of Rezgo can help with much more than that.
How Agents Can Complement Your Direct Booking Strategy
Let’s start with a rundown of how partnering with agents in tourism can boost your business, empowering you to grow in new and unexpected directions:
- Expand your reach. Agents can introduce your business to customers you might not reach through direct marketing—for example, international tourists or niche audiences. You can take advantage of the agents’ established client base, while they get to offer activities tailored to the customers’ interests.
- Fill gaps during low seasons. They can also help you maintain bookings during off-peak times when direct sales might slow down. This helps even out your bookings across the year and avoid those off-season slumps.
- Boost awareness for first-time customers. Agents serve as a bridge for new customers who may later become loyal direct bookers. Partnering with agents is a great way to make new relationships, which can last into the long term.
- Take advantage of group and corporate opportunities. Large groups and corporate events can be your most lucrative business. Agents are often critical for securing these types of bookings, which may also be repeated.
Balancing Direct and Agent Bookings
Partnering with an agent while maintaining a healthy level of direct bookings is a balancing act. Approach it strategically to get the best of both worlds:
- Prioritize direct bookings on your website. Direct bookings are generally more lucrative than agent bookings, as you won’t be paying commission—so make them your priority. Offer incentives like discounts or loyalty programs to make direct booking the most appealing option.
- Be selective with agents. Partner with agents who target audiences you don’t already reach, avoiding overlap. This will also open up new and exciting markets that you may not have considered before.
- Use agents strategically. Position agents as a way to test new markets, expand awareness, or fill hard-to-sell slots rather than relying on them for regular bookings. This helps you work out new directions and goals for your business.
- Track agent vs. direct performance. Regularly review data to ensure agent bookings complement—not cannibalize—direct sales. With Rezgo, you can keep track of bookings by agents and use reports and analytics to understand how they compare to direct sales.
Why Direct Bookings Should Be Your Priority
It’s good to work with travel agents to capture those hard-to-reach audiences and help plug out-of-season gaps. But direct bookings should always be your priority—here’s why:
- Higher profit margins. No commission payouts mean you keep more revenue from direct bookings. Keep your focus on those higher profit margins to help you grow your business.
- Owning the customer relationship. With direct bookings, you control the customer data, enabling better follow-up marketing and loyalty-building opportunities. It’s a way of managing your business how you want.
- Brand trust and loyalty. A seamless direct booking process gives your customers what they want—a hassle-free way of booking their desired activity or experience. This helps to build your reputation as a trusted provider.
Rezgo’s tour operator software makes direct booking easy for you and for your customers. Branded, user-friendly booking pages and automated tools ensure that your business is easily recognizable and make the booking process smooth.
Customers can make their bookings any way they choose—through a desktop or laptop, their cell phone, or even by emailing or calling you.
Payment is secure and easy thanks to global payment gateways. You can also make secure payment requests for your phone and email customers’ peace of mind.
These features ensure that booking directly with you is safe and easy for customers and efficient for you.
How Rezgo Helps You Manage Both Direct and Agent Bookings
The beauty of Rezgo tour operator software is that it helps you manage both direct and agent bookings equally, eliminating manual work and reducing errors. Here’s what you can do with Rezgo to manage both types of bookings efficiently:
- Streamline booking management. With Rezgo, you can automate agent commissions and booking processes alongside direct sales in one platform. A single workspace helps you stay on top of admin and gives you a bird’s-eye view of all your activities.
- Use analytics and reporting tools. You can also gain insights into agent vs. direct booking performance, enabling you to optimize your strategy. Analytics allow you to identify top performers among agents, helping you to pinpoint successful partnerships and focus on areas for development.
- Personalize your site with custom branding for direct bookings. Rezgo lets you customize your direct booking site as much as you’d like, ensuring it’s attractive and easy to use. Using your branding makes you memorable to customers and helps you capture the most revenue
- Provide easy access. Depending on the complexity of your agent relationship, you can provide limited user access to your Rezgo account or use Rezgo’s reseller system to give agents full freedom to resell your activities.
- Avoid double bookings. Syncing your availability between agent and direct bookings is fully automated with Rezgo. This helps avoid conflicts and double bookings. It means customers benefit from a smooth booking process.
Get the Best of Both Worlds
Get the best of both worlds by optimizing both your agent and direct bookings. Finding the right balance between both types of bookings can help maximize your income and build your business to new heights.
Rezgo’s tour operator software offers all the features you need to harmonize agent and direct bookings. Get in touch to learn more about what Rezgo could do for your business.
Written By | Rezgo
