Have an online booking capability!

Have an online booking capability!

In this day and age, having a website that's not up to par just won't cut it. But what exactly makes the cut?

Tourism Research recently released research on the digital uptake of Tour and Travel operators website . The project examined four key topics; the online presence of tour operators, their website adoption and management strategy, their online reservation booking system distribution approach, and their social media and mobile presence. Among the industry sectors surveyed were Tours, Attractions, and Hire & Transport companies.

CMSPLAZA recommends that updating your web presence and enhancing your website should be a top priority. This is because "more advanced and more frequently updated websites are important in distributing information and driving online distribution."

In terms of content, your website should have a clear description of your products and services, along with a photo gallery. If you want to stand out, consider adding video to the mix - only 25% of tour operators currently use them. 

In terms of functionality, ease of booking is a priority. You should be able to take bookings through your own website or a third party. However,

• Almost 90% of tour operators are still taking bookings manually via email booking requests.
• Only 54% of respondents allow people to check both availability and price of their products and services.
• Only 46% of tour operators with websites offer instant confirmation of booking. 

It would be wise to automate your booking process to keep up with consumer expectations.

Have an online booking capability!

By now you probably understand the significance of having an online presence, and you wouldn't be alone. Our survey findings from last year revealed that tour operator websites are the best source of bookings among Australian tour operators. This is probably why the majority of Australian Tours (93%), Attractions (89%), and Hire & Transport (86%) companies have their own website.

Yet there are still some tour operators who go without a website. Their main reasons for this are that they are contacted by other means, or the organisation's too small, or there's not enough time.

To these tour operators, we advise that you at the very least have a booking site that lists your products and services. That way, you can direct people to your booking site and instruct them to search availability and book immediately from your site.

After all, you don't want to miss out on that 57% of all travel reservations being made on the internet. Without an online booking site, you certainly will.

If you're looking for booking software to make your lives easier, then be sure to take advantage of educating yourself on your options. The information in our guide can prevent you from picking software that doesn't suit your tour or activity business:

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Online Hotel Booking System

Online Hotel Booking System

CMSPLAZA Online Hotel Booking System is online hotel booking software for your website that handles all aspects of the booking process, improves customer interactions and facilitates hotel management. It provides an automatic room booking system and the ability to manage rooms, seasonal rates and discounts.

The CMSPLAZA Reservation Engine is advanced hotel reservation software featuring an intuitive front-end interface suitable for any hotel website. CMSplaza booking system is the perfect solution if you are a hotel owner, bed & breakfast host or anyone who rents multiple rooms or any other type of vacation property -- villas, apartments, cottages, etc.

Our Content Management hotel booking software that has all the features you need to manage your hotel business online and enhance client services. Ezy Hotel Booking software takes reservation onlines, accepts payments online, lets you manage rooms availability, set promo codes and discounts, helps with client communication through email & sms notifications, supports reporting and invoicing.

ONLINE ROOM BOOKING SOFTWARE

 Integrate online hotel reservation software into your hotel website to allow users to book rooms online. Our online hotel booking software provides you with a 24/7 open front desk that accepts bookings and collects deposit payments, even when you sleep. The step-by-step online reservation process allows users to return to previous steps in order to correct information.

RESERVATION MANAGER 

The integrated reservation management module allows site administrators to manage booking details, add bookings manually, edit reservations and contact clients. A convenient booking export feature is available with EzyHotelBooking software.

ONLINE PAYMENT INTEGRATION 

Booking software has built-in integration with PayPal and Authorize.net, or you can use a credit card. You can specify the allowable payment methods in your account profile.

ROOM RATES & PRICE MANAGEMENT
Managing hotel rates is easy and flexible:
- Define rates based on number of people sharing a room;
- Define default rate per night / per room;
- Set rates for each day of the week;
- Add custom and season hotel rates.

CUSTOMIZABLE ROOM BOOKING SOFTWARE
As an administrator, you can modify default booking settings, such as currency used, default booking status, deposit and tax percentage and even which fields are available on the booking form. You can set a custom "Thank You" page and manage payment methods. Continue Reading

Disney Learning educational games software

Disney Learning educational games software

This "Disney Learning 1st – 2nd Grade bundle" K-3 educational software offers a unique advantage as it allows students to play with their favorite film characters.

Disney Learning 1st – 2nd Grade bundle offers a truly diverse and entertaining educational games software experience for your students.

Feature Set:

This bundle offered us lot of play time through three different activities. Each of the educational games were geared to develop students’ understanding and comprehension of multiple educational disciplines most commonly taught in the classroom (e.g., learning by doing, learning by seeing, learning by discovery, etc.). Play and learn with your favorite Disney characters included in this three CD set:

* Pixar 1st Grade (with Buzz Lightyear)
* Disney’s Reading Quest with Aladdin
* Search for the Secret Keys (with Mickey Mouse)

Individually, these educational games could only cover some of the main classes taught in K-3. We found that this bundle helped build upon the basic educational needs of students with a myriad of English and math features. Three fun and interactive learning games are offered with the help of Buzz, Mickey and Aladdin as your students learn more about:

* Reading
* Spelling
* Fractions
* Multiplication
* Art and creativity

Educational Value:

Disney has gained a place in everyone’s hearts (and not just the adults), and utilizes that connection to offer a truly educational product through three familiar characters. With these educational games your students will be able to succeed and excel more in 1st and 2nd grade. In “Pixar 1st Grade,” we were given the exciting opportunity of learning more about the galaxy with our space ranger. This game was designed to utilize the active learning method, or discovery learning, which made learning even more exciting when we were able to find the answer on our own (golden star for TopTenREVIEWS).

In Disney’s “Reading Quest with Aladdin,” we had to race to help free Aladdin by improving our reading skills. Genie, Jasmine and Iago came along for the ride as we entered into a quest of knowledge that cultivated our creativity and built a stronger foundation for reading. Students will realize how much fun learning can be with this game as they develop their grasp of phonics, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

“Disney’s Learning Adventure: Search for the Secret Keys” is an adventure in a haunted house where students are guided by friendly ghosts to find keys and help Mickey escape. The intent of this activity is to help build critical thinking and problem solving abilities. We found the story to be quite humorous and the activities suitable to an audience much younger than us (though we make no claims that we’re not all children at heart).

Ease of Use:

Some adult supervision to navigate through the game may be necessary, but otherwise students will have little difficulty participating in the activities. Despite any shortcomings in the layout and interface, we enjoyed playing many of the educational games. Yet while this game is advertised as both first and second grade material, we think most of the games are better suited for first grade only.

Kid Appeal:

Let’s face it, most kids (including those of us) love the Disney movies available today as well as many of the classics. Being able to interact with our favorite characters in fun activities heightened the enjoyment of each learning activity. The activities were quite enjoyable for us and made the learning emphasis less apparent and therefore more enjoyable.

Help & Support:

This educational gaming software is backed by the goliath corporation of Disney, and most assuredly has very strong roots in technical support. If you have an issue with the shipping, installation or functioning of your game, you can call or email Disney or simply check their FAQs. Any and all issues we had were met with a quick resolution. Some users have apparently found issue with installing the program on Vista, but some quick troubleshooting from Disney has cleared up such issues.

Summary:

Despite some user feedback about slight installation and interface issues, we felt the Disney Learning 1st – 2nd Grade bundle was an exceptional value among educational games. Students love Disney characters, and they will enjoy this opportunity to interact with some of their favorites in these exciting learning adventures. For us, this game created just the right combination of entertainment and learning, which will make a lasting impression upon your students.

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