The travel industry and hospitality sector are fast-paced and adopt new technologies quicker than other industries to meet evolving industry demands. This is because guest experiences are valued in these sectors, and the market is overcrowded by more agile and flexible competitors. So, the need for travel and hospitality software development increases whenever a competitor develops custom software for their travel agency, hotel, or a similar company. Besides improved customer experiences, businesses are looking for decreased manual work and enhanced operational solutions. A recent study found that 58% of hospitality management executives find increased operational agility a primary benefit of adopting custom software development and cloud-based solutions.

If you have a travel or hospitality business, you probably consider working with a travel software development company to introduce custom solutions to your workflows. In this article, we’ll help you understand the benefits and impact such systems have on businesses like yours and how to find the most suitable travel portal software development company.

Benefits of Custom Software in Travel and Hospitality

To understand what impact can working with a travel app development company have on your business, we need to explore the most common benefits travel and hospitality business owners are looking for in custom software:

• Efficiency: Automating repetitive and daily processes like booking, inventory management, and streamline payment processing reduces manual errors and improves operational efficiency
• Better guest experience: Mobile hotel applications, contactless hospitality solutions, and similar personalized services improve the guest journey and increase satisfaction, resulting in higher rebooks and revisits
• Data-driven decision-making: Custom software can help you make better decisions, predict future trends, and more
• Scalability: Off-the-shelf solutions often don’t have enough flexibility, while custom software can grow alongside your business and help you maintain a competitive edge

Successful Custom Software in Travel and Hospitality

A recent study found that the online travel industry generated $667.55 billion in revenue in 2023 alone. We can attribute such a success to a wide adoption of custom travel and hospitality software development. In fact, these companies benefit from their personalized software in ways you’re probably looking for:

• eDreams/ODIGEO: eDreams ODIGEO launched a travel subscription service known as ‘Prime’ that gives customers a discount on flights and hotels. This innovative custom software solution was a service addition to the company and improved customer satisfaction. Thus, by May 2021, Prime had achieved one million subscribers, which substantially contributed to the growth of repeat bookings and customer retention.
• Marriot International: Marriott International launched the Marriott Bonvoy application to allow guests to access all the services, including mobile check-in/check-out, room choice, and service delivery. In 2023, the app helped achieve a 22% increase in room night increment compared to 2022, showing the ability of the app to improve guests’ experience and satisfaction
• Delta AirLines: Delta Air Lines implemented the Flight Family Communication (FFC) system, a Delta custom software solution that provides real-time communication between the flight crews, the agents at the gate, and the ground-based staff. This system helped properly coordinate the teams, increasing on-time performance and customer satisfaction. This has dramatically helped improve the company’s punctuality as Delta ranks among some of the best major airlines with few flight delays.

How to Prepare for Custom Software Development?

Travel and hospitality software development requires specific steps. Aside from the fact that you need a professional team of developers, designers, QA engineers, and project managers, you must set the stage for proper development and integration if you want things to go smoothly. Here are the steps you should consider when opting for travel and hospitality software development:

• Identify your business’ specific needs. Learn more about the challenges and points where your company is lacking. This is essential to understand the main objectives and offer an accurate development roadmap
• Consult with stakeholders from various departments
• Choose the right travel and hospitality software development company as your partner. Conduct interviews, research, and ask for free consultations
• Plan for integration. Make sure your existing software is ready to be integrated with new software and vice versa
• Train the end users if you’re developing a company-facing app

How Can Glorium Technologies Help?

At Glorium Technologies, we specialize in travel and hospitality software development. We commit to personalization and solutions created to match the unique needs of our clients. We offer comprehensive consultation to better understand your objectives, customized development plans, professional and highly skilled developers, easy integration, and ongoing support and maintenance. If you’re interested in building your own custom software and are looking for a partner, schedule a free consultation with our experts to discuss your idea.