Heads up tour operators. You may have heard of the latest news in the travel and tours online sales and business. GetYourGuide now offers an online ticketing solution for tour operators - with an engaging booking widget in a touchless ticketing solution.
What does this mean for tour operators? How can tour operators better decide?
Let us walk you through the GetYourGuide ticketing solution.
GetYourGuide Ticketing Solution: A Comprehensive Review for Tour Operators
Getting more direct bookings is every tour operator's dream. However, a lack of brand exposure and organic marketing may hinder a tour brand from getting it.
That's why many turn to OTAs or online travel agencies in exchange for exposure. And it's a good thing!
OTAs have access to the widest customer base worldwide. They have access to the best rankings and search visibility on search engines.
On the flip side, OTAs get a hefty amount of commission fee per booking. Prices start at 20% per booking and that's a lot! But how about GetYourGuide online booking engine solutions?
GetYourGuide, one of the world's largest OTAs, now offers a booking engine for their operators. This means if you're an operator, you can have direct online sales from GetYourGuide's ticketing solution right on your website and have your tours listed on their marketplace at the same time - pretty promising, isn't it?
The 'simplest solution'
GetYourGuide claims its widget as the simplest solution with an engaging checkout widget. Something that operators want and customers love.
Operators can even customize the widget and have it in tune with their own branding. It's easy and it's pretty too!
With it, you have your tours listed in one of the world's biggest OTA players' marketplaces and have a cool booking widget powered by them right on your booking site.
Simple. Fast. Cool branding.
Check out how TicketingHub helps in enabling customers on site checkout easy and fast in just 5 steps! Free demo here.
Setting features aside, tour operators must also think about the gains and losses.
Since you are under the OTAs system, this also means that you subject your business to its terms and policies.
So, let us help you weigh things out.
Pros and Cons
Joining GetYourGuide ticketing can be a great way for tour operators to streamline services and offer customers convenience - but it pays to do your research first.
This is where we dived in and did all the heavy lifting. Hope this helps you our dear tour operators - better decide whether GetYourGuide ticketing is for you or not.
Direct bookings and fees
GetYourGuide has not yet shared its exact rates. But according to Arival's report with GetYourGuide's spokesperson, they "can confirm, based on feedback from 'their' partners, that 'their' fee structure for booking engines is very competitive."
Sure, an OTA-provided booking solution may offer a lower charge per booking, but how about earning money from direct sales and bookings? Will guests that book via the booking widget on your website be your customers? Who owns customer contact data?
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As mentioned, earning direct bookings is every tour operator's best achievement. So each should seriously consider this.
Takeaway:
- Make sure to count the costs per booking - that includes not only the commission or service fee but also the cost of customer data. Thus before you sign the dotted line, weigh the difference in your pricing models and structure when you integrate with an OTA-provided booking solution or when and if you use reservation systems. Lastly, consider customer ownership terms.
Learn how to boost your travel website by conversion rate optimization tips.
Marketing with other OTAs
Another marketing strategy that most operators take advantage of is marketing their tours in different OTA channels. Aside from GetYourGuide, more OTAs offer more customer visibility for your tours.
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Do you want to integrate with them? Since you are connected to an OTA-provided booking platform or site, chances are, your distribution opportunities will be limited.
If they allow it, then that's great! Then now, consider the costs again. Will they get a commission per booking via these channels too? What are their terms?
Takeaway:
- When choosing a booking solution, make sure that integrations and your distribution options will not be limited or hindered. Again, read the terms and policies, count the costs, and compare. Are you selling unique experiences? Airbnb Experiences is your platform to go. Check out our blog about listing attractions and tours with Airbnb.
Business needs
Lastly, know what it can do for your business. Aside from catering to your booking process on your website, how about its features?
- Does it offer what you need for optimizing backend tasks - like customer service, automation, and email campaigns?
- Or do you still have to pay for another software to address these needs?
On the other hand, complete reservation system for tour operators offers almost everything a tour business needs to operate altogether. From SMS and email messaging, language options, self-book, and rebooking requests services, faster checkout, upselling and cross-selling, OTA integration, low infrastructure POS solution, and multiple online payment options gateways - they've got it all!
What's more, ticketing platforms like TicketingHub do not charge for these features. Not to mention TicketingHub only charges a 3% fee per booking - which is half the price of most booking system providers today. With it, you get a full-featured booking system that can get you up and running in no time!
Takeaway:
- Whether you are a seasoned operator or a startup, get to know what your tour business needs from a booking system. Start from the basic processes, backend functionalities, and automation tools and features. Does the booking solution offer these? If not, then are you willing to pay for another system to cater to these processes and integrations? Weigh the costs and calculate your ROI if it's worth the risks.
See TicketingHub's payment options - from ticket scanning, chip and pin, to hardware POS solution.
More options, the better
As a tour operator, the choice is up to you. But having a lot of choices is actually a good thing!
As long as you know what you need from a booking system and you know what each option offers, you can make a smart decision.
Each tour business is different - in needs, features, functionalities, backend support, and integrations. But every operator is the same in their end goals, to make it easy for their customers to find and book with them and to simplify their backend as much as possible.
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