The Complexity of Tours and Activities Suppliers Product Setup and its Impact on Distributors
The tours and activities sector has experienced significant growth and diversification over recent years. As suppliers strive to offer unique and personalised experiences, the complexity of product setup has increased. One element of this complexity is the growing use of custom questions in reservation systems. These questions, which suppliers can integrate into the booking journey, are essential for gathering necessary information to confirm bookings and enhance customer experiences and reduce the need for post booking follow-up.
Custom Questions: Mandatory and Optional
Custom questions can be broadly categorised into two types: mandatory and optional. Mandatory questions are those that must be answered by customers to complete a booking. These often include essential details such as name, email, dietary restrictions, physical requirements, or special requests that are crucial for the supplier to deliver the experience. Optional questions, on the other hand, provide additional information that can enhance the customer’s experience but are not strictly necessary to initially confirm the booking. It is common for distributors to ignore optional questions in an effort to control and streamline the booking flow.
The increased reliance on custom questions reflects suppliers’ need to tailor their offerings and ensure a seamless experience for customers. However, this trend also poses significant challenges for API integrators, which must evolve to meet these growing and varied requirements.
Impact on Reservation Systems
Distributors who have integrated the Livn API now benefit from a feature that can flag selected optional questions as ‘Recommended’. This allows distributors to request important but non-mandatory questions during the booking process, reducing the need for post booking follow-up and providing the information the supplier needs to finalise a booking online.
Livn’s Solution: Recommended Optional Questions
Livn’s introduction of the ‘Recommended’ flag enables distributors to present these questions during the booking journey, benefitting both suppliers and customers. Suppliers get the data they need, allowing them to better prepare and personalise the experience, while customers enjoy a more tailored and responsive service.
Conclusion
The rising complexity of tours and activities product setups, including the extensive use of custom questions, is a significant trend impacting reservation systems. As suppliers seek to enhance and personalise customer experiences, reservation systems must evolve to accommodate these demands. Features like the ‘Recommended’ flag for optional questions demonstrate how Livn can adapt to compliment reservation systems functionality, continuing to normalise the broad diversity of tours, activities and attractions APIs.
