Looking for a reputable company in the travel business is definitely a must when it comes to promoting your services to your clients as an Online Travel Agent or if you have a physical office offering travel service. In addition, trust is part of everyone's success and if the clients commit to your standards, it would be easier for your business to grow and attract customers through "word-of-mouth" which is the best marketing strategy for a star-up firm. We would like to share with you our insights about Via.com's booking websites/platforms where you can sign-up for free and hopefully it will help you gain more profit for your business.
WHO THEY ARE?
VIA was incorporated in February 2007 in Bangalore, India. The Company is one of the fast-growing & profitable travel companies in Asia's online space driven by technology, better buying due to demand aggregation & forward cash flows. The Company is a leading distributor of transportation ticketing, accommodation reservation, packaged tours, corporate travel management, travel ancillaries, retail and financial services. VIA offers a comprehensive suite of travel & retail products and a growing set of financial services products, provided by 10,000+ suppliers on the platform. The company offers its services through a robust, highly scalable cloud-based technology platform consisting of mobile apps, websites, corporate platforms, and a centralized, toll-free, 24-hour customer service center.
VIA's Corporate Travel Management Business unit helps corporate clients effectively manage their travel needs and significantly reduce travel expenses. VIA expanded its footprints to the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and the UAE. Today, Via's network includes over 100,000 active travel partners across 2,600 towns and cities & over 13,000 pin codes across Asia and over 7000+ signed SMEs.
The above picture is the sample screenshot of Via.com's travel agent booking website (Philippines). You can sign-up on their website easily and their sales representative will contact you via email and call to get all your details, the documents needed (business permits), and of course to further explain their platform.
We signed up with them last 2016 and started our business in Januar 2017. After sending all the documents needed, you just have to pay P10,000 consumable and that will be funded to your account and use it to book flights, hotels, insurance, etc. You may need to visit their office for the orientation to explain to you further how the system works and the advantages of using their platform. It was an easy set up for us.
Via.com is offering flight booking (domestic and international), hotel booking, travel insurance, travel packages, visa assistance (Japan, Korea, and New Zealand).
You can also try their "Pay Bills" option, however, you need to pay P10,000 per year to use the service. Pay Bills option is embedded on the same website so you can take payments for credit cards, phone bills, electric bills, cable, loan, and other utility bills. Hopefully, they can waive the fee in the future since you will only get a commission for every transaction. By the way, we haven't tried the pay bills option yet since we are only servicing clients online.
You can easily top-up your account over the counter through these establishments:
Cebuana Lhuillier PeraPal
PNB ATM
PNB Cash Payment
RCBC Cash Payment
RCBC Savings Cash Payment
Security Bank ATM Bills Payment
Bayad Center
Unionbank Cash Payment
SM Supermarket/Savemore/Department Store
M Lhuillier
Robinson's Department Store
EC Pay (Pawshop, Payment Centers) Globe Gcash
BPI BanKO
Banco De Oro ATM
Chinabank
Eastwest
Landbank
RCBC
Please note that the funds for some banks may not be credited if you process it after the cut-off time. If you wish to have it credited in real-time, the best option is over the counter through BDO, Cebuana, or 7-eleven. The minimum amount that you can charge is P500.
Transaction fees from P10 to P20 are also added based on your chosen top-up option. Furthermore, you have to top-up an amount based on your financial capacity or more if you can, since you cannot make a booking if there are no funds on your account.
Here is the screenshot of the land arrangement package. As you can see it's in USD (US Dollars), however, you can check with their support to get the currency exchange on that day or you can check it online to have an estimate and provide it to your customers until you finalize the reservation or booking. The good thing about their website is that you can just copy and paste the information if the customer asked about the inclusions, exclusions, terms and conditions, itinerary, and the associated hotel for that given package.
Customer Support
They have 24/7 customer support via email or you can also call them through their landline or cellphone numbers so it would be easy for you to verify or contact them when you have problems with your bookings.
Mark-up/Commission
You have the option to add your own mark-up depending on your price points. You may also compare it with your competitors if you wish to have a fair competition. Most of their land arrangement packages (without airfare) are subject to the commission at around P500 person or depending on if it is a domestic or an international package. However, you can add an additional amount if you wish to do so.
So far, we are happy using Via.com's booking platform and we are eager and open to use other companies' booking platforms in the future to give you a clear perception when it comes to using different B2B programs for travel agents or travel agencies who would like to venture into tourism-related business.
For more info, you can check their website at ph.via.com. Please note that all information is subject to change. You can contact them via email or call them directly for any clarification.
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