OTA stands for online travel agency (travel web portal) that sells travel packages to customers on behalf of global consolidators of airlines, hotels, holiday packages, car rentals, cruise lines, railways and sightseeing packages.
The business model of Online Travel Agency is relatively different than a normal retail business. OTA would never keep inventories in hand, rather options are searched based on client’s request and booking is done at client affirmation. In B2C – Business to Customer model, clients can also search and book the tickets and packages on the online travel portal.
OTA today also uses the database of major CRS - Common reservation system, also known as Global Distribution Systems (GDS) including Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan. Some online travel software, also known as travel meta search engine allow visitors to compare the rates of flights and hotels to give more flexibility search and booking process. Meta search engines usually don’t have their own online booking engine.
Author is Product Development Manager.
PROVAB TECHNOSOFT
Tags: travel booking software, travel agency software, online booking software, software tour operator, travel agents software