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An Internet Booking Engine (abbr. for 'IBE') is a software component that enables online travel product distribution. This piece of software is essential for selling and buying hotel reservations or airline tickets via the web.
Online travel booking engine software of various sorts is used by travel-related companies to automate core processes instead of relying on human staff. Let us dig deeper and examine what they are actually capable of and what specific tasks and functions they perform for travel companies.
An IBE is one of the key facilitators of uninterrupted online travel product distribution in the modern travel industry. It acts as an intermediary between the consumer and the travel provider. It establishes connection to customer interfaces on one side to receive search requests. On the other side, it connects to inventory systems of various travel api providers — for example, hotels, airlines, car rentals, etc. — to manage and distribute their inventory.
Customer interfaces may represent the website, chatbot or a mobile application of a travel provider that links to the IBE via adequate API interfaces. This allows the end customer book travel products such as flights, hotel rooms, holiday packages, insurance, and more.
There can be diverse supplier system types. The most common ones among them are:
Booking engine connects to these solutions via APIs in order to find products that match the provided customer's query. Then it checks their availability, obtains prices and proceeds to effect a booking. This means that the system is informed that a specific product is reserved for a specific date by a specific customer. The booking is completed when the system confirms the reservation. The IBE then creates a confirmation containing the relevant booking details and sends it to the customer by email.
In addition to their main function, the booking engines used today usually have the following features that help increase sales.
Mapping of travel content. Booking engines often get information from various channels (for example, bedbanks, GDSs, hotels, travel consolidators and so on). This can lead to duplicate search results because of data inconsistency among different suppliers. For example, one and the same room can be named differently in different inventories. In order to efficiently differentiate between them, booking engines have to use mapping tools (either built-in or external) to process inventory lists.
Dynamic packaging. It lets a customer mix diverse travel product types — rooms, flights, attractions, excursions and so on — as part of the same booking workflow.
Payment gateway connection. Booking engines normally do not handle the payments associated with reservations. Instead they connect with multiple payment gateways for enabling secure, online transactions during the booking process. When a customer selects a travel item from the search results, the IBE then redirects them to a payment gateway.
Multilingual support. Many travel businesses offer services globally or at least in several countries. So, they need to receive and manage queries in numerous different languages.
Booking management. It includes the ability to change reservations like modifying dates, adding extra products after booking, and cancelling bookings.
All booking engines appear to function the same way. But, their workflow can change drastically based on a variety of different factors.
Custom business rules. They specify where a booking engine looks and how it orders the results presented to a consumer.
Pricing rules. They are established and modified by a revenue manager or another expert who chooses the service fees applied for the net pricing.
Suppliers connected to the given booking engine. Each of them is equipped with its unique business logic and specific features influencing the internal work process.
Extra functions and custom features. There is always a chance for enhancement, so on average a booking engine has to be adjusted to fit the requirements of a specific company. As booking tools are not identical, we'll explore below how IBEs can vary depending on the business model (B2C, B2B, and B2E).
Depending on their applied business model booking engines may be business-to-customer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B)or business-to-enterprise (B2E).
B2C booking engines for individual leisure tourists or OTAs B2C booking engines facilitate direct bookings by the end user. They are utilized by hotel websites and airline online portals, hotel reservation installations, online travel agencies (OTAs) and numerous other retail entities in the travel industry. Besides the common functionality, most IBEs have a number of features that are of utmost importance for B2C sales. These include the following features that are crucial to B2C segment:
B2B booking systems provide travel wholesalers (for ex., consolidators, bedbanks), destination management companies (DMCs) or established OTAs like Expedia with the option to sell products and services in bulks to other travel industry players — smaller travel agencies or corporate customers. As part of this process the byers obtain special rates that are not provided on the B2C, along with extra functionality like:
B2B customers (smaller agents) can gain access to the large GDSs via credentials belonging to the IBE's owner (host agency). This way they avoid the need for making large instalments required by GDS contractual conditions. They also do not have to give away funds on the ARC (Airline Reporting Corporation) or IATA certifications authorizing flight ticket issuing. The host agency gets this covered.
B2E booking engines serve the needs of TMCs and their customers — normally large and established enterprises. A platform supported by a B2E booking system allows employees to reserve business travel at negotiated rates on behalf of their corporate entity. Business rules are set in this case in line with the organization's travel policy and may provide spending limits or other restrictions depending on the actual employee category.
Lots of travel companies can use two or even business models at the same time as part of a common booking engine setup. Upon registration, the end users, travel agents, and corporate customers are granted access to specific interfaces, prices and options. For instance, a hotel website can offer various rates for one and the same room to various businesses or even individuals.
Despite the actual business model applied, direct travel supplier IBEs belonging to airlines and hotels will have lots of differences compared to travel intermediaries — consolidators, DMCs, online travel agencies or third-party sellers.
Travel businesses which decide to launch online presence for the first time have several ways to go. The final choice depends on resources, requirements, and the expected level of control over the booking process.
Before moving forward it is critical to duly take into account all the applicable factors. A rational option would be to consult an experienced travel software company for detailed and reliable implementation guidelines.
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