Since the launch of WP Travel plugin in September 2017 so many things have changed in the Travel and hospitality industry for the good. We believe everyone has a purpose and all that purpose has an end-objective that is always good. Let us tell you that among all the trends that trended in 2018 and continue to be a major factor is the personalization remained one of the defining factors in the hospitality industry (skift 2018 and Google/Phocuswright,2018).
But what caught our attention than anything else that the revenue in online booking in traveling exceeded 92.5 million in USD and 57% of all the reservations in the travel industry were being done online (The Startup, 2018). So where does that leave you as a travel and tour operator agency? Of course, you need to work on scaling and innovating your digital marketing channels to respond to the trend and benefit from it.
And where does that lead us? On making it easier for travel agencies and tour operators to tap into the potential by delivering a product that resonates with the trend. Yes, by delivering a solution that caters to the need of your online travel website needs. Meet WP Travel 2.0 – The WordPress travel agency plugin that provides all the capabilities that a travel site requires to offer customized and personalized services to their online customers.
Here is a rundown of major highlights of WP Travel 2.0
Innovative User Interface
We have upped the game in designing the user interface. The new interface brings together all the functionalities of the plugin and makes it easier for you to navigate and keep a track of all your travel packages. We believe in great user experience and as our user you are entitled to a seamless experience using the plugin on your travel website – so we worked hard through the months and have introduced a modern and minimalist yet functional main dashboard.
Adjustable Dashboard Elements
Depending on individuals and their business, every travel agencies have their own KPIs to track and to work on. And that demands you have a customizable user dashboard. In the original version of the plugin, you were bound to use the dashboard element but with 2.0 – that is not the case. Now you can pick elements that you want to be on your dashboard. That is what personalization is for us. It’s your business and we want you to have the power to customize your travel agency plugin dashboard just the way you want.
Bank Deposit Functionality
Though online payment is a preferred mode of payment for a growing number of users across the world, still a lot of users like or are forced to make a bank to bank payment. How do you provide the facility booking your online packages to these users? Aren’t you as a travel agency operator to do something for them? Or for that matter, isn’t WP Travel provide that functionality? Yes, we have to. And we have provided in WP Travel 2.0. After having numerous requests for this functionality from travel and tour agency operators, we have rolled this functionality in this version of the plugin.
Now your end users will be book a tour and send you a softcopy of the bank voucher to confirm the payment. You can review it, check with your bank and confirm the payment on the dashboard itself. This functionality offers personalized care to travel agency owners as well as their users – who want to book tour or trekking packages using bank transfer as the mode of payment!
Prioritize Payment Options
Yet another personalization for your users. We understand that users from a particular country or geographic region prefer one mode of payment over another. In such a scenario having to put up default order of payment methods on the site can be cumbersome for your user to find and select them. We realized this and have now made it customizable. If PayPal is the most preferred mode of payment for most of your users followed by PayStack, now you can order your payment gateways accordingly. Go ahead, give your users what they are most likely want to pay you with and increase your chances of conversions. Let’s do business with pleasure.
More Hooks for Payment Settings
Customizing payment gateways to fit into your clients or your personal needs can be a time consuming or sometimes agonizing experience. Since the introduction of the plugin and the subsequent roll out of the payment gateway addons, we have received many requests for customization and additional hooks by developers so that they could do more with the plugin. We heard it, the WP Travel 2.0 has rolled loads of hooks. This, we expect will help developers immensely in corresponding to their customer’s needs and help them in developing a customized and personalized travel agency website.
What More
A lot more. Like the plugin is tested with the latest version of the WordPress, resolves bugs, provides better integration facility for better and customized user experience. But, it’s better to see than read. Go on, install the plugin and head on towards a more personalized experience.
