Travel & Hospitality Bespoke Web and Software Development

Understanding Bespoke Development in Travel & Hospitality

Bespoke development refers to custom software solutions designed to meet the specific needs of a business. In the Travel and Hospitality sector, this involves creating tailored software systems that address the unique operational challenges these organisations are facing. It's a competitive market - there's no questioning that and so these companies must find ways to differentiate themselves, attract new clients and retain their existing ones - bespoke software is often identified as being able to provide them ways to do this.

Importance of Custom Software

The importance of custom software cannot be understated - whether it's custom travel software, a bespoke central booking system for a restaurant or a platform that has been developed to enhance the guest experiences of a five star hotel. If an organisation has unique or complex workflows that are outside of the status quo - chances are bespoke software is the way to address them.

Whilst there are of course off-the-shelf solutions that cater to the Travel & Hospitality sectors finding one that provides all of the features and functionality required can be difficult if not impossible. Add to that the on-going licensing costs, lack of control over updates and restrictions on how things are done and it's clear why bespoke software is becoming more and more sought after.

Key Components of Bespoke Development

Whilst all bespoke software systems are of course unique, there are a some common types of systems that are particularly prevalent across the Travel & Hospitality industry. Here we take a look at some of them -

Booking & Reservation Systems

Common in both Travel and Hospitality organisations, booking systems & reservation systems allow customers to book things like flights, tours and restaurants at their own leisure, without the need to physically go somewhere or speak to someone. A huge plus for consumers with busy lives!

Travel Itinerary Management

For organisations in the travel industry, these systems offer a way for agencies to provide their customers with the ability to organise transportation, accommodation, excursions and other relevant activities all from a single platform.

Event Management Platforms

Event management platforms are growing in popularity, and for good reason! These systems give event organisers a one stop-shop to book and manage venues, send invites and track registrations, arrange catering and create and manage agendas amongst other things.

Food and Beverage Management Systems

For the hospitality industry, food and beverage management systems can help to optimise a restaurants operations providing features that allow the organisation to track and manage their inventory, amend, remove and add menus and provide catering staff access to recipes, nutrition and portion size information.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

CRM systems are popular across a wide variety of industries including Travel and Hospitality. Used as a central data repository for client related data management, interaction history and sales and marketing activities, CRM systems can be tailored to fit the specific needs of industries in Travel & Hospitality.

Property Management Systems (PMS)

Property Management Systems are used by hotels and the like for booking management, housekeeping, payment processing and sometimes even customer service all from one single platform.

Mobile Applications

Mobile applications can be used to link in to the above mentioned systems or they can be standalone. Many companies choose to provide customers with an application where they can manage bookings and/or reservations, complete processes such as checking in for flights and where they can access support and help services in app. A mobile application keeps an organisations brand at the front and centre of their consumers daily lives.

This list is not exhaustive and there are new types of systems being introduced continuously as technology companies innovate.

Enhancing The Guest Experience

Providing a great guest experience is important for both the Travel & Hospitality sector. After all, why would customers choose to use a different supplier if they were getting a fantastic experience every time? Bespoke software has a significant role to play in enhancing the customer experience because it can be built to encompass everything an organisation knows it's customers want. Easy to navigate user interfaces, digital check-in options and personalised recommendations based on their user history and selected preferences are all possible through custom solutions. In addition to this, companies are also able to focus on providing customers with real time services whether that be providing customer service, booking availability, amendment or cancellation charges or simply updates relating to their bookings.

Operational Efficiency and Legacy Systems

Legacy systems are often deeply embedded in the operational workflows of travel and hospitality businesses and they often manage the business critical functions. Bespoke software development can bridge the gap between these outdated systems and more modern advancements through integration which in turn, offers enhanced capabilities without the need for a complete overhaul or replacement which can of course be incredibly costly! For example, integrating a new piece of hospitality software with an older data legacy system via an API could take the legacy data source and use it as the basis for the new software, enabling guest data to pulled into the new system to display previous bookings, reviews and any contact with customer service.

How Can We Help?

It's fair to conclude from the above that the Travel & Hospitality industry has previously and continues to face significant challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to rising costs and high turnover, which has pushed organisations to seek new and more efficient ways of working through bespoke software development. Here at Cool Code Company, we have a wealth of experience working with these sectors to improve operational efficiency, slash costs and provide much more positive customer experiences. Whether you're looking to introduce a sleek new booking system to improve customer satisfaction, take advantage of analytics and reporting to better understand and monitor performance or make your current systems talk to each other via integration - we've done it all and we've done it well and we can do the same for you! Come and have a chat with our knowledgeable and friendly team today.