Online booking software is better for adventure providers. First, it makes it easier for customers to book trips. It also benefits tour operators because it automatically collects, organizes, and centralizes important information needed to run a business.
What is Online Booking Software?
Online booking software is used for managing reservations. It is a self-service portal that allows for a customer to book and pay for an activity or service through a website. Customers can book trips that have open time/date slots suggested to them by the system.
Origin’s simple online booking software easily integrates into your website. It doesn’t need complex code or iFrames to work. Instead, we replace links in your buttons and pages through the onboarding process. Customers can visit your site, click the button, fill out the form, and reserve a trip immediately.
Finally, online booking software updates any change made in the system and centralizes all information. It automates the process of gathering customer details, updating booking information, collecting payment, and updating calendar and guide availability.
Tour Booking Software Makes It Easier for Customers To Reserve Trips
Using simple tour guide and operator booking software makes it easier for customers to reserve trips. When a customer finds an outdoor adventure as they’re scrolling through their options, they want to book at that moment.
The chances of a customer reserving a trip decrease if they are forced to wait until the next day during office hours or have to email you.
Simply put, the more steps it takes for a customer to book a trip with you, the less likely they will. The fewer steps required to reserve an activity with you, the better chance of them signing up for your next available tour.
With online booking software, it’s like having a 24/7 365 concierge staff that you don’t have to pay. Just like customers can browse your website to learn about your business and services you provide instead of needing a brochure, having an online option to reserve a trip creates more opportunities for customers to book when it’s most convenient for them.
Tour Booking Software Automatically Collects Important Information
It Saves You Time
Using a streamlined online booking system like Origin automatically collects important information you need to run your business. Our software obtains customer information, payment details, and schedules automatically from the booking process.
This means you don’t have to manually enter customer information, text or call guides for their availability, or process customers’ payment by hand. The software does the manual labor for you.
Instead of spending hours managing bookings, you can spend your time leading activities. Instead of chasing down guides for their availability to lead a tour, you can focus on growing your business while our system automatically texts guides for you. Rather than misplacing credit card information, the system stores it for you and charges the card through our secure payment processing platform.
It also means that you are paid immediately.
It Saves You Money
Not only does online booking software save you time, but it saves you money. You won’t have to pay for additional employees to sit at the computer or phone to take reservations. A unique aspect of Origin’s software is how our business model works.
We use a “Pay-to-Play” model which means you only pay the payment processing fee through our partner, Stripe. We pass along the 5% service fee to the customer. The benefit of this model is that you only pay when customers reserve a trip with you. Not only are you saving time using a streamlined booking process but you’re saving money through this model.
Information Is Centralized to Keep You Organized
Being organized is key to a successful business. When you use online booking software, it centralizes all the information you need. Having all the pertinent and current information in one, secure location means you won’t have to switch between checking emails, spreadsheets, and notes, or making phone calls, and trying to remember where everything is.
Additionally, you’re less likely to have to refund a trip because you accidentally overbooked or double-booked a reservation. When there’s no streamlined way to track bookings offline, customers are bound to slip through the cracks.
With a system like Origin, tour and guide availability is up-to-date. You won’t have to regretfully contact a customer to inform them that a tour is at capacity or that you can’t find an available guide to lead the trip.
Mistakes like these result in bad reviews online (which has become one of the first things customers review before booking a tour).
We developed Origin because we’ve experienced first-hand what it’s like when tour outfitters are using offline booking “systems.” We’ve received last-minute texts canceling reservations because they overbooked the tour. We’ve also learned the struggles of tour operators trying to run a business with limited time and money. It’s why we think it’s important for outfitters to implement online booking software so they can thrive.
