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I want to open an online travel agency, much like Travelocity or Yahoo Travel, Orbitz, etc.... I am having a hard time finding a portal I can use.... I do not want an affiliate to Orbits etc., I want the flexibility and be able to design my own site and put in the menus and portals to cruises, flights, vacations, etc....
I have heard of a few, but none of them seem to be great, like touristway.com doesnt link with the hotels/airlines/cruises, etc... YTB is great with good discounts but their interface is theri web site and cannot do anything to change it... I have heard of polar online and one source, but still not convinced.... anyone have any experience with this stuff?
Unless you have millions of dollars of capital behind you, your website will never get close to the major players the Devolopment costs, marketing cost would run into the millions to get a small percent of the market. The question is what are you going give thats better then the site out there now to get there biz. At best now you can get few $'s for referal biz to the other web sites.
Yes, I understand all the ins and out, I have been a web designer/marketer since 1996... I just dont want to hire a programmer to make a custom app for me for that much capital... sites like YTB make it easy even though they take a percentage, and am looking for something similar but more customizable. I dont want to waste SEO efforts on a third-party site. And this obviously isnt to compete with the big players, that would be stupid... I have things I need this for, and basically I just need a portal that can be used without a fuss through my domain and control.
My partner has tons of high end clientele who can use a travel service, combined with other vacation options which would lead to other biz ops, as long as prices are competitive with mainstream sites. We are not in the travel biz, nor do we wish to be, but need a simple portal where we can send them or book them ourselves. As we get more traffic, we plan to do more.
As I said, YTB seems to have the best of these option, but I just dont like the one dimensional portal they have, where of course, their goal is not to have you succeed, but to make money for themselves. I dont mind giving anyone a % or a piece, but I dont want to be handicapped by their web design restrictions.
Basically what I need is a YTB where I can have my own URL and full control of layout and content at my whim, simple as that... if you know of any company or app that has such a service/product, I will check it out ASAP.
High End clients want personal service ie: a real human who does thing for them, know there preferences, can offer suggestion, handle all problems, provide soluations for any issue that may come up anywhere in the world, and be available 24x7 with no waiting.
Maybe I didnt explain myself correctly with all that part... but disregarding all things about "sound business practices" etc., do you know of any such app or software? That's what I need... you dont need to read into the whole purpose bec it'll take me too long to explain properly and it is irrelevant anyways.
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