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As the world becomes more digitized, consumers increasingly demand fast services, and the travel industry is no exception. Research shows that 43% of customers are willing to pay a premium for convenient services.
Thus, many tourism agencies have started managing their travel bookings through business process outsourcing (BPO). This cost-effective practice enhances operational efficiency, process scalability, and support availability.
If you want to learn more about how travel BPO can help streamline your agency’s booking processes, this article is for you. It explores the nature of the practice and its many benefits.
Understanding travel booking outsourcing
What is BPO, and how can it improve travel booking efficiency? It is the practice of delegating non-core business functions to a third-party team that acts as an extension of your in-house staff.
Instead of managing travel bookings in-house, the responsibility goes toward an outsourcing company. That’s how outsourcing works. In turn, the provider actively recruits qualified professionals for guaranteed accuracy and speed. They also leverage popular tools to seamlessly integrate with your systems, including the following:
- Booking software: automates flight searches, price comparisons, and passenger data entry
- Inventory management platforms: provide real-time information on flight availability, seat configurations, hotel room vacancies, and car rental options
- Automation tools: automates itinerary creation, document generation, and sending of email confirmations
With their resources, BPO teams can streamline booking processes by handling the following tasks:
- Accommodation reservations (e.g., researching, comparing, and booking airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and car rentals)
- Package deal bookings (e.g., developing, managing, and booking comprehensive travel packages)
- Customer support tasks (e.g., handling customer inquiries about bookings, assisting with reservation changes, processing cancellations, and issuing refunds
- Administrative tasks (e.g., inputting customer and booking data, creating itineraries, preparing documents, monitoring fares, and maintaining relationships with airlines, hotels, and other travel suppliers)
Benefits of managing travel bookings through outsourcing
Outsourcing is widespread across businesses of all sizes and industries. Statista states the global BPO market could reach $390 billion in 2024.
But what exactly makes BPO in travel and tourism popular? Let’s explore the various benefits of outsourcing travel booking processes:
1. Significant cost savings
Reducing overhead expenses is the most prominent advantage of BPO services. According to Deloitte’s survey, 83% of businesses report cutting costs after outsourcing. BPO companies leverage economies of scale to provide services at a lower price.
Here are factors that help you achieve significant cost savings when outsourcing travel booking:
- Lower labor costs: BPO providers operate in countries with lower living expenses, such as the Philippines and Mexico, which translate to lower wage ranges. For instance, a travel agent’s salary in the Philippines is around $412, ten times lower than the $4,000 salary in the United States.
- Minimized infrastructure expenses: Outsourcing mainly involves remote work. This allows you to avoid the costs of managing a physical travel agency, such as property rent, equipment, utilities, maintenance fees, and on-site infrastructure.
- Fewer technology investments: You won’t have to worry about investing in expensive tools for managing travel bookings since outsourcing teams have most of them.
2. Improved operational efficiency
Deloitte’s survey also shows that 82% of respondents became more efficient after outsourcing, partly due to access to specialized expertise. Travel BPO teams are proficient in the industry’s best practices for making reservations.
They also leverage cutting-edge technologies to optimize workflows, minimize errors that might cause service delays, and improve operations. With streamlined processes, you can provide convenient and efficient customer booking services, increasing satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability.
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, 43% of consumers are willing to pay extra for convenient services. With BPO’s cost savings and efficiency, travel agencies can increase their revenue and client retention rate.
3. Increased scalability and flexibility
The travel industry experiences transaction peaks and valleys due to seasons, economic conditions, and major global events. Managing travel bookings during high-volume periods can be challenging without extra staff. However, when travel demand declines, maintaining staff becomes costly.
BPO providers help scale operations without the overhead of hiring and training extra in-house staff. Their flexible outsourcing staff models also assist in managing travel bookings through seasonal fluctuations.
Examples include the following:
- On-demand staffing: hiring temporary or contract workers to meet seasonal surges in travel demand
- Part-time employees: offering flexible work arrangements to accommodate fluctuating workloads
- Freelancers: engaging independent contractors or gig workers with specific travel industry expertise
4. Round-the-clock customer support
Travel booking goes hand in hand with exceptional customer service. Reservations and scheduling bring inquiries and concerns, especially since tourist arrangements can be complex and often have unexpected changes.
Additionally, because travel is global, your business interacts with clients from various time zones. Your agency needs support staff ready to accommodate clients’ concerns anytime to provide a positive customer experience.
But what is customer support experience? It’s how a customer feels or thinks while and after interacting with your support team. Managing travel bookings, inquiries, and concerns around the clock is possible through outsourcing.
Here’s how:
- Global footprint: BPO providers have operations worldwide, giving them timezone advantages that aren’t always available when hiring a local team.
- Optimized shifts: Outsourcing teams leverage the follow-the-sun model, having customer support staff on duty at all hours and passing on work to the next shift.
- Technology: Customer service BPO teams use live chat software to connect with customers in real time, regardless of their locations or time zones.
5. Focus on core competencies
With specialized agents handling your booking tasks and advanced technologies streamlining processes, you can optimize your resources. Your executive team and in-house employees can focus on higher-value activities that drive profit and contribute to your business goals, such as:
- Travel package creation
- Group travel planning
- Travel consulting
- Crisis management
- Customer relationship management
Additionally, you can use the savings through outsourcing to fund market research and service development. An increased focus on core competencies leads to improved productivity, efficiency, decision-making, and innovation.
The bottom line
Outsourcing travel booking processes is an invaluable strategy for meeting fluctuating and changing client demands. It provides your travel agency with qualified agents and cutting-edge tools that increase efficiency, scalability, and service availability at a competitive rate.
As a result, your internal team has more time to attend to your core competencies. This translates to better service quality and competitive advantage in the fierce tourism and hospitality industry.
Are you considering outsourcing your travel booking services? Let’s connect and find the best solution that meets your needs.
