How to Setup a Professional Global Travel Agency

A global travel agency is a company that offers worldwide travel management services. These organisations vary in terms of size and scope, as well as the services they provide. Companies and organisations that travel internationally and require professional assistance use these agencies.

What is the role of a global travel agency?

Global travel agencies assist companies and individuals in coordinating their travel plans. A global travel agency may provide the following core services:

• Full-service international travel planning
• Flights \s• Hotels
• Additional transportation services
• Rent a car

What is the distinction between a global and a corporate travel agency?

A large team of corporate travel agents typically makes up a global best travel api agency. These agents collaborate to achieve a common goal and are part of the same company. Some corporate travel agents, on the other hand, may work as consultants or run their own businesses.

What are the benefits of outsourcing corporate travel management?

Booking travel, especially for large companies, can be difficult. This is why, in the past, a large number of those businesses chose to hire a travel agent. Technology advancements, on the other hand, have made internal travel planning easier than ever before.

Is working with a global travel agency expensive?

Because much of the work is done manually, businesses and organisations may find that working with a global travel agent is costly. This indicates that overheads are high, which is reflected in the final cost of services provided.

Technology advancements have resulted in a significant increase in the use of booking tools. These tools make booking travel easier and less expensive. Rather than using travel agencies, many companies and travel managers are turning to these tools to meet their travel needs.

What are the Benefits of Travel Agencies?

The significance of travel agencies in the modern world for travel companies is difficult to overstate, because they essentially serve as both a marketing and distribution channel. This means that a travel agency can help spread the word about a particular travel product or service while also allowing customers to book it. Customers frequently use travel agencies because of the convenience they provide. Customers who use a travel agency benefit from their expertise and can book all aspects of their trip in one place. Arranging travel can take a lot of research and often has many components, whereas customers who use a travel agency benefit from their expertise and can book all aspects of their trip in one place. Travel companies will then receive incremental bookings as a result of this. In some cases, ensuring that a travel company's products are available through travel agencies can actually help to increase direct bookings. This happens because some customers use travel agencies to look for airlines, hotels, and other travel products, but then book them directly at a later time. Furthermore, travel agencies that specialise in providing services for specific types of clients, such as corporate travel agencies, can help with business travel management. These travel agencies have the potential to increase bookings from that demographic, allowing hotels, airlines, and other businesses to maximise revenue.

Travel Agencies: A One-Stop Shop for All Vacation Reservations

In the past, online travel agencies tended to specialise in specific aspects of the travel industry. Booking.com, for example, began as a hotel booking api free platform, while Skyscanner specialised in airline bookings, Airbnb specialised in homestays, and Hostelworld specialised in hostel bookings. Online travel agencies, on the other hand, are increasingly becoming a one-stop shop for all vacation bookings. Platforms like Airbnb and Hostelworld now allow users to book a wide range of accommodations, including homestays, hostels, hotels, bed and breakfasts, and even camping trips. Booking.com and Expedia, for example, now allow you to book a wide range of accommodations as well as flights, taxis, car rentals, cruise tickets, and even travel experiences. As a result, a growing number of travel agencies now allow you to plan and book your entire trip in one location. Travel Agencies List for Travel Companies to Increase Bookings Travel companies should partner with relevant travel agencies that have access to clients in target groups in order to maximise bookings. To help you out, we've put together a list of some of the most important travel agencies to be aware of, organised by specialisation.
Accommodation-focused travel agencies are listed below.

While they may offer a variety of other travel products, the following online travel agencies are known for their expertise in api booking hotel, hostels, homestays, and other types of accommodations.
Booking.com is number one.

The Booking.com platform, which was founded in 1996 and is owned by Booking Holdings, specialises in accommodation bookings while also offering a variety of other travel products such as flights, cars, and taxis. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam, and the service caters to customers looking to book hotels, resorts, villas, apartments, hostels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, and a variety of other lodgings, with listings coming from nearly 200 countries.

Expedia is number two.
Expedia was established in 2001 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The platform, which functions as both an OTA and a metasearch engine, has over 40 localised sites and offers options to book hotels, B&Bs, holiday homes, motels, cabins, and other types of accommodation, as well as additional travel bookings like car rentals, airline tickets, cruise line tickets, and travel packages, providing excellent all-in-one convenience.

Hostelworld is the third option.
Hostelworld is an online travel agency based in Dublin with offices in London, Sydney, Porto, and Shanghai. It is primarily focused on providing customers with access to hostels, making it an important OTA to target for travel companies in that sector. However, the service has grown to include hotel api and B&B reservations in addition to hostel bookings all over the world.

Airbnb is number four.
Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, is primarily a homestay marketplace where users can list lodgings for overnight stays or book stays in other people's homes. As a result, the service has expanded to include listings for properties such as hotels, as long as they meet the platform's basic requirements. It's a great OTA to target for travel companies that offer unusual accommodations and can provide a one-of-a-kind experience.

More Accommodation-focused travel agencies

It makes sense to connect with as many travel agencies as possible in order to optimise demand and increase the number of bookings you receive from them. Some travel agencies allow you to customise your own accommodation listing on their platform, which can help you showcase your property and make it stand out. For a more comprehensive list of OTAs that place an emphasis or focus on accommodation bookings, such as hotels, homestays, hostels, and B&Bs, see "12 Online Travel Agents (OTAs) to Increase Your Hotel Bookings api provider."

The following is a list of cruise travel agencies. Several travel agencies specialise in the cruise industry, and many customers looking to book a cruise turn to online travel agencies for help. Some of the most well-known OTAs that specialise in cruises are listed below.

1. Keep an eye on the cruise ship In 2016, the Cruisewatch platform was launched with the goal of allowing users to compare and book cruise packages. Customers can use the service to search by date, destination, cruise line, and other criteria. Unlike many other online travel agencies, Cruisewatch focuses solely on the cruise industry, with no options for booking hotels, flights, rental cars, or non-cruise-related package vacations.

2. Avoya Travel Avoya Travel is a web-based travel agency based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company focuses primarily on ocean and river cruises, but users can also search for tours and resorts. It's also notable as an OTA integration that's still focused on providing expert assistance through travel agents or vacation planners, rather than focusing on the self-service model. There are, however, self-service options available.

3. CruiseCritic- CruiseCritic launched in 1995 and was purchased by TripAdvisor in 2007. The service is based in Pennington, New Jersey and provides users with options to find cruises, based on popular destinations, popular cruise lines and popular ships. In addition to these search and booking options, CruiseCritic is notable for the amount of extra content on the site, including more than 350,000 cruise reviews and expert advice on the different cruise types.

4. Costco Travel - Costco Travel is owned by Costco Wholesale Corporation and was created in 2000. The platform is exclusively aimed at Costco members and provides travel bookings for users in the United States and Canada. The service emphasises both quality and value and places a strong focus on the cruise market. With that being said, Costco Travel also caters for hotels, airlines, car rental companies and various other travel businesses.

If you are running a cruise line or similar business, increasing your reach by connecting to multiple travel agencies can be vital. Essentially, the aim should be to ensure tickets for cruises are easy for customers to find, even if they are unfamiliar with your business, and OTAs are ideal for this. In “Cruise Industry: Everything You Need to Know About the Cruises”, you will be able to find a list of some of the other travel agencies that either specialise in cruises, or place a significant emphasis on selling cruise tickets.

List of Travel Agencies Specialising in Corporate Travellers

Some travel agencies specialise in dealing with business customers and some businesses outsource travel management responsibilities to these agencies. Below, you can find four of the biggest examples.

1. American Express Global Business Travel - American Express Global Business Travel, or Amex Global Business Travel for short, is a corporate travel management company, which is based in Jersey City, New Jersey. The service offers 24/7 personalised support, allowing business travellers to easily make bookings, adjust their plans and optimise spending. It is an especially useful platform to target for hotels, airlines, transport and event companies targeting the business demographic.

2. HRG Worldwide - HRG Worldwide is based in Basingstoke, England and is now under the ownership of Amex Global Business Travel. It operates as a corporate travel api integraton management and expense management company, providing business customers with access to important travel services at affordable rates, on demand. Meanwhile, among the travel companies that benefit from its travel agency services are hotels, airlines and rail companies targeting business customers.

3. BCD Travel - Located in Utrecht, Netherlands, BCD Travel is a corporate travel company with extensive global reach, offering services in more than 100 countries. While the company primarily works with other businesses or with individual corporate travellers, managing their various travel needs, it also works with hotels, airlines, car rental companies and other suppliers, in order to gain access to favourable rates in exchange for generating bookings.

4. Carlson Wagonlit - Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) is a global travel management company, which is able to provide support for business clients in more than 140 countries. Customers are able to benefit from a range of services all in one place, including bookings for flights, hotels, car rentals, train tickets, offering maximum convenience. This convenience helps CWT to generate bookings for other travel companies that may otherwise have been missed.


Corporate travellers can be especially valuable for many travel companies, because they make use of different services than tourists. For instance, in hotels, there may be opportunities to sell conference rooms, while airlines can sell business class seats. This helps to highlight the value of travel agencies focused on corporate travel. Read “8 Corporate Travel Agents for Hotels to Gain More Business Travellers” to find more travel agencies that can be useful partners if you are looking to attract bookings from corporate travellers.

List of Travel Agencies Specialising in Airline Tickets

Airlines are travel companies that can benefit enormously from partnering with the right travel agencies. Below, you will be able to learn more about four of the most popular travel agencies focused on flight ticket api free.

1. Skyscanner
Established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2002, Skyscanner is an online travel agency and metasearch engine, which is now owned by Trip.com Group. It was originally created to help customers to find cheap flights and is a major OTA for airlines and similar travel companies to target. Nevertheless, it has since expanded operations and it does now also include facilities to book hotels and hire cars, along with other travel products and services.

2. Cheapflights
Cheapflights was established in 1996 and has its main office in London, England. The platform primarily operates as a metasearch engine, with a particular emphasis on airline tickets. Essentially, Cheapflights draws flight listings from airlines, travel agents and api travel website, allowing customers to easily compare prices and find the cheapest flights. The service does also provide options for hotels, car rentals and package deals too.

3. Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com was originally known as Skypicker.com and was created in 2011. The main emphasis of the platform is the sale of airline tickets and, on average, Kiwi is responsible for the booking of around 35,000 seats on aircraft every day. While flights are the primary focus, the platform does also provide users with options to book hire cars, rooms and other travel products, meaning it can be a useful OTA for companies offering those products or services too.

4. LowFares.com
Launched in 2001 and based in Los Angeles, California, LowFares.com is a travel website that aims to provide customers with access to affordable flights to destinations all around the world. On top of this, the platform has partnerships with Priceline, Expedia and many more, allowing it to provide access to affordable travel bookings of all kinds, including hotel rooms, cruise tickets, package holidays, car rentals and more.

More Travel Agencies Focused on Airline Tickets

For airlines, connecting with as many different travel agency platforms as possible can be important. After all, customers use a variety of different methods to book flights and you need your business to be as visible as possible in order to compete. In particular, the focus should be on agencies that specialise in airline tickets and flight information.

In “Airline Industry: All You Need to Know About the Airline Sector”, you will find a larger list of the different travel agencies that are primarily focused on this area of the travel industry.

List of Travel Agencies Specialising in Tours and Activities

Some travel agencies offer the possibility for consumers to book tours and activities, offering them things to do after they arrive at their selected destination. Some examples of this are as follows:

1. TourRadar
Based in Vienna, Austria, TourRadar launched in 2010 and provides users with access to bookings for tours and other travel experiences. The website showcases offerings from a wide spectrum of different trip companies. Furthermore, TourRadar also relies on a lot of user-generated content, including customer travel reviews, making it easier for travellers to select and book the vacations they have always wanted to go on.

2. TourScanner
TourScanner was created in 2018 and is a metasearch engine, which is targeted towards tours and travel experiences. The service collects results from thousands of web platforms and presents them in an easy-to-read format, allowing customers to select the finest tour packages, compare costs and book, all in one spot. It is an extremely helpful platform to engage with if you manage a tour operator firm or a visitor attraction.

3. Tour Amigo
Tour Amigo is situated in Brisbane, Australia and began in 2015. It allows consumers to see and compare travel packages and make bookings from a central point. The service has access to listings from more than 40 top tour operators and advertises more than 7,000 itineraries in total. Moreover, aside from it’s tour-based offerings, Tour Amigo is also ideal to link to if you are a travel firm offering insurance goods or aeroplane tickets.
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4. City Unscripted
Based in London, England, City Unscripted is a unique online platform, which strives to link passengers with private city tours, organised by the local inhabitants who know and understand those cities best. The service began in 2014 and also gives passengers with options to find and book unique city experiences. As a result, it is an excellent service to connect to if you are a tour operator, tour guide or vacation host.

List of Agencies Specialising in Meetings

Some travel firms are able to offer useful amenities to customers and conference rooms are an excellent example of this. Hotels and other venues may elect to connect to the following travel agents, with a view to raising demand.

1. Cvent
Founded in 1999, Cvent is situated in Tysons, Virginia and works as a hospitality and events management firm. The firm is primarily dependant on its software solutions and gives businesses and professionals with access to sourcing choices for meetings, business events, conferences and trade exhibitions. It is a solid option if you are looking a travel agency that can create bookings for venues, hotel conference rooms or similar facilities.

2. MeetingBookers.com
Meetings are a big element of business travel and MeetingBookers.com caters for this audience first and foremost. The platform gives users with alternatives to arrange meetings in destinations all around the world and it is estimated that it currently lists close to 140,000 venues in total. With that in mind, it is an example of a travel agency able to promote and generate bookings for meeting rooms, venues and other comparable places.

3. VenueFinder
VenueFinder is situated in London, England and is largely focused on the UK market, although it also allow bookings for venues all across the world. The locations that are accessible for travellers to book cater for business gatherings, conferences, trade displays, exhibitions, weddings and more. It has a track record of generating bookings for best hotel api, conference centres, country clubs, golf courses, castles, leisure facilities, taverns and restaurants.

4. Meetings.com
The Meetings.com platform is owned by the same business that runs HotelPlanner.com, but while that platform is concentrated on hotels, this one is focused on meetings and events. Its main office is located in West Palm Beach, Florida and the business itself debuted in 2002. Unlike many similar platforms, Meetings.com has a team of experts who study and compile a list of viable venues, often earning reservations for travel businesses by offering recommendations.

List of Agencies Specialising in Car Rental

Car rental is an important aspect of the travel industry and clients typically use online services to get the best offers available. For this reason, it can be good to connect with the following agencies specialising in this area:

1. Rentalcars.com
Founded in 2004 and previously known as TravelJigsaw, the Rentalcars.com platform is now part of the Priceline Group. It operates in more than 60,000 locations around the world, across more than 150 different countries, and the business is responsible for generating approximately 8 million car rental bookings every year. As a result, it is an extremely valuable platform for car rental businesses to connect to.

2. CarRentals.com
CarRentals.com is an e-commerce platform that revolves around the car rental sector and the business forms part of the Expedia Group. It lets consumers to search and compare automobile rental providers in their selected destination and pay in advance, in order to lock in discount prices. For automobile rental firms, connecting to the platform can help to improve bookings and the platform caters for luxury, economy, van, SUV and special vehicle segments.

3. HappyCar
Based out of Hamburg, Germany, HappyCar is a vehicle rental metasearch engine, which was launched to the public in 2013. Users select their chosen destination and the service provides listings from car rental companies in the area, allowing travellers to easily find the best prices or the most suitable vehicles. Although it was originally aimed at the German-speaking market, it has since expanded operations to countries like the United States, Spain, France and Italy.

4. AutoRentals.com
The AutoRentals.com platform began in 2012 and was originally focused at the United States market only. However, since that time, the service has evolved and it is now focused on delivering automobile rental bookings on a global basis. The service gives consumers with access to real-time information on availability and cost, and links to booking engines on third-party platforms, with AutoRentals.com receiving a commission for bookings generated.

List of International Booking Websites for Restaurants

Restaurants represent another major area of hospitality management, and there are a number of booking websites that can assist you with attracting more table reservations, including the following three examples:

1. OpenTable
Founded in 1998, OpenTable is an internet firm that specialises in restaurant reservations. The company itself is situated in San Francisco, California and is owned by Booking Holdings. While its services are mostly centred on the United States, it is also a beneficial platform for restaurants in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Japan and Mexico. It is estimated that the service is used by 30 million restaurant diners every month.

TheFork 2
TheFork, formerly known as Dimmi, is now part of the TripAdvisor portfolio and has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia. It functions as a cloud-based restaurant reservation system, with restaurants connecting to the platform, in order to increase the number of reservations they generate and TheFork charging a commission for bookings generated in this way. Connecting with the service can also make restaurants more visible on TripAdvisor too.

3. Quandoo
Founded in 2012 and based in Berlin, Quandoo is a service used by approximately 17,000 restaurants worldwide, in order to boost distribution and attract more reservations. It is primarily targeting customers and businesses in Europe and is currently used by restaurants in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Finland and more, but its global reach has also expanded to Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia too.

Metasearch Engines vs. Travel Agencies
For customers, online travel agencies and metasearch engines often function in a similar way and some platforms actually operate as both. However, there are crucial differences between them and these differences are especially important to understand for travel companies looking to generate supplementary bookings. A metasearch engine retrieves information from other websites and presents the information in an easy-to-digest format. Within the travel industry, this will typically mean drawing information about flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, restaurants and travel packages, and presenting them in a list format, making price comparisons easy. Yet, metasearch engines do not actually sell inventory directly and instead link users to external booking platforms. By contrast, an online travel agency will actually sell inventory on behalf of travel companies, in exchange for a commission. They will usually have their own in-built booking engine and travel companies pay the commission in order to benefit from the increased number of bookings, even if direct bookings would be preferable.

Metasearch Engines Examples

Despite the fact that travel agencies are one of the most important distribution channels, metasearch engines can also help generate additional demand for travel products and services. Learn more about some of the most popular metasearch engines that give travel customers with pricing comparisons and booking links in the sections below.

1. Hotel Ads on Google
Originally known as Google Hotel Finder, Google Hotel Ads is a big target area for many travel companies, because it interacts extensively with the main Google search engine. This allows hotel adverts to display on search engine results pages and Google Maps, boosting visibility. It is vital to note that, for many consumers, Google is the default search engine and consequently the major starting point when searching for travel products.

2. The TripAdvisor website
TripAdvisor, based in Needham, Massachusetts, was founded in 2000 as a review platform, with the goal of allowing customers to leave publicly accessible reviews of hotels, restaurants, and travel destinations. Although that remains a major feature of the site, it also functions as a metasearch engine, allowing users to find, compare, and book hotel rooms, vacation rentals, package deals, flights, rental cars, and cruises.

Kayak.com is number three.
Kayak.com is a metasearch engine owned by Booking Holdings that was first launched in 2004. The service is available in over 20 languages, and there are over 60 international locations. It allows customers to search for, compare, and book flights, hotels, vacation packages, car rentals, travel insurance, and more. It also allows travel companies to connect with a booking engine so that real-time inventory information can be shared.

More Metasearch Engines for Travel

There are a plethora of travel-related metasearch engines, each focusing on a different aspect of the industry or offering unique benefits to both travellers and travel companies. Some platforms make money primarily through pay-per-click advertising, while others profit from sales commissions. You can find a longer list of metasearch engines that are relevant to the hotel industry and other parts of the travel industry by reading "List of Hotel Metasearch Engines to Grow Your Hotel Bookings."

How to Make Contact with Travel Agents

You must connect with the travel agencies you believe will be best equipped to assist you in increasing the number of bookings you receive, and there are several options available here.

1. Make direct contact with travel agencies The first step for a business looking to connect with a travel agency is to contact them directly. Many OTAs offer this feature, which allows companies to connect their own hotel, airline, car rental company, cruise line, or other service to the platform. In the majority of cases, a commission fee will be charged for any bookings made.
Connecting directly may give you the ability to customise and manage your company's profile on the platform, which can help your company stand out from competitors in the same area.

2. Establish a connection through global distribution systems A global distribution system, or GDS api for short, is used by an offline travel agent to look up information about the availability of flights, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other similar products or services. Travel agents can easily compare pricing and view real-time availability with these tools, which are also utilised by OTAs.
With this in mind, you should connect with all of the major global distribution channels in order to attract more travellers to your organisation. You can significantly increase the number of bookings you generate from travel agents if you do this and make your inventory and pricing information available to them.

3. Establish a relationship with metasearch engines Connecting may be slightly different if the platform you're seeking is largely a metasearch engine rather than an online travel agency. Although some of these platforms still allow for direct connections, they rarely use sabre gds api systems. Instead, they will find results by searching OTA websites. However, metasearch engines all search different platforms and some give priority to one OTA over another. Therefore, in order to show up in as many metasearch engine results pages as possible, you should connect your travel company to a range of various OTAs. If direct connection is an option, you should also take advantage of that chance.

How to Manage Your Inventory With All Travel Agencies

One of the potential difficulties for travel companies involves managing the distribution of inventory across a wide number of different channels, because each channel needs to have up-to-date information about how many hotel rooms, airline seats or other inventory items are available for sale. For most instances, the ideal answer is to obtain reliable distribution channel management software. For instance, if you are involved in hotel management, you may utilise a hotel distribution channel manager, and there are solutions for other travel organisations too, allowing OTAs and worldwide distribution systems to receive real-time data. Working with travel agencies is useful for many organisations trying to promote travel products and services to a wide audience. Travel agents are able to reach people who may otherwise be unaware of your business and, using the list of travel agencies provided, you can increase demand, which can help you to optimise revenue and occupancy.

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