The travel and hospitality industry is a place where consumers are highly sophisticated. Well-known international companies like Booking, Airbnb, or TripAdvisor, on the one hand, set a tone in the level of service. On the other hand, the level of competition is rather high and continues to grow.
In such hard terms, local businesses should be both efficient and agile; otherwise, they are doomed to disappear. It holds true for big global players too. They are in open view, bearing the brunts of the competitors.
Out-of-the-box software solutions are always too generic and unable to provide the required level of efficiency or fully fit all the needs of the business. Moreover, they are inflexible: no one vendor of the ready-made software is ready to grant every change request came from the client.
That’s why custom software solutions development still matters.
- For the local small and medium businesses, it is the way to provide their customers with better services than the global ones.
- For the enterprises, custom solutions open the possibility to raise their efficiency to the maximum possible level.
So, what custom software solutions for the travel and hospitality industry can we offer:
Touristic portals and websites development
Let’s build a place of interest for your potential customers. A glossy looking website with adaptive design, equipped with helpful features, acts as a magnet for users who want to order touristic services. Built-in marketing and analytical tools will help you to convert them into customers well.
Project Example: We developed and delivered a touristic portal to attract more tourists to one of the islands in the Carribean Sea. Along with news and articles, it is equipped with glossy apartment rentals listings from the private landlords, supports booking online. The system also provides users an ability to post reviews and hold discussions. And the most demanded service is that every user can get a 15-minute opinion from the local expert for free. Its SEO and referral traffic grew by 21-26% per month during the second 6 months after the launch.
Booking systems and engines development
Run your own booking software with the flow that fits you best. Select the required steps and exclude the unnecessary ones. Add the payment gateways that your users get used to. Choose the desired options for scheduling, check-ins, and checkouts. Integrate the system with TripAdvisor and other famous touristic services to get more leads. And there is much more to go!
Project Examples: Custom booking engine for the US local association of hotels and apart-hotels was developed primarily to raise the efficiency of the sales department. Registered users can book rooms and suites fully on their own; the only final approval from the manager requires. Once the permission is granted, users can pay online via the website. After the system was delivered, the association cut down the managerial staff by 38% during the first year, while the sales raised by 14%.
Legacy systems maintenance and rebuilding
Often the existing custom-made software becomes too outdated to work correctly. But the building of an entirely new system looks risky and costly. We aren’t afraid to puzzle out the legacy code of any complexity. Your outdated system will rise and shine again faster, cheaper, and less risky than it would be developed anew.
Hotel management solutions development
Hotel or apartment management is instead a complex set of processes, a significant part of which can be automated. Set your workflow and enjoy the business become running smooth and errorless.
Project Examples: The next project we developed for the association was the hotel management system. Its list of features includes an automated staff schedule for the janitors; availability for the guests to address issues with a few clicks from the website; arrival and departure schedule with staff notifications. As a result, the number of complaints dropped by 86% during the first touristic season after the delivery. Moreover, it allowed hotels to cut down the janitorial staff almost by 1/3.
Custom food service management solutions
Catering is another significant part of the hospitality industry. Our custom-built software allows you to manage all the processes in one place. Receive and process orders semi- or fully automatically. Get payments both online and using POS hardware. Integrate your system with delivery services, food marketplaces, and online tourist guides.
Integrations and API development
Your solution can be easily connected with any other software. Use the third-party APIs or, if the data exchange process must comply with any special rules and regulations, build your own one.
Project Examples: An integration of the hotel website with the TripAdvisor service via API increased the site traffic by 20%, as well as hotel rank raised by 4 points just in three months.
What else sounds good in the custom travel & hospitality software solutions:
- Custom software will be your property. It means that you will be entirely independent of any vendor. In case you will part ways with the development contractor, you should find another one;
- Custom software may cost you less. It is hard to believe, but sometimes many expensive licenses can cost you more than a one-time custom development contract;
- A custom solution is free of useless add-ons. Often a license for the ready-made software looks like a package of different modules and features. But the situation when you need only a few of them is quite frequent;
- Add whatever you need. Thanks to you are the owner of the solution you are using, adding any new features is just a matter of time and money.
General Soft is a skillful developer of custom travel and hospitality software solutions. Once we’ve successfully finished dozens of projects in 8 years, we clearly understand what business needs.