As the car hire industry continues to undergo changes and with businesses exploring new ways to generate revenue, working with brokers is becoming more crucial. From a consumer’s perspective, they can get a rental car from a broker at a lower price than they would by renting directly from a car rental company.
If you’re a car rental operator using car hire software like CARS+, connecting with online brokers is a great way of expanding the reach of your business. Brokers are looking for car hire businesses like yours, as they need to ensure they have a plethora of options for renters to book all year round.
With brokers accounting for such a large amount of car rentals, connecting with brokers is important for your business. In fact for some businesses, this is the biggest reservation channel.
However to expand your reach through brokers, you need an extensive XML platform, which is why Thermeon offers CARS+webXML. CARS+ has a powerful suite of integration tools to link your business to brokers. CARS+webXML has continually evolved from a Reservation Delivery application to a major interactive process for many cars+ users across the markets.
More About CARS+webXML
This add-on module to your CARS+ software provides the perfect car rental transfer data gateway to brokers. With this addition to your system, you can now effectively connect with brokers, increase your rate exposure and eliminate manual processing for reservations.
XML has become the accepted format for the transfer of data between “unconnected” systems. Most brokers continue to use this format to obtain live data for rates and availability from car rental companies and to return reservations. For our customers, this means access to leading online brokers, giving you exposure to massive international markets. Anywhere you have people who want to send you reservations through a broker, you can use the XML format to interact with the business in real time. Your reservations are delivered directly to your CARS+ system, giving you immediate data for fleet planning. This will also reduce billing errors.
While the XML format is in widespread use, agreeing message formats remains a challenge. Thankfully for Thermeon customers, we’ve done the heavy work for you. Our XML formats are agreed and are live with a number of brokers you are likely to use – we currently have 90+ existing broker connections.
How XML-Delivered Reservations Work For Our Customers
You agree your commercials with your broker partners and set out their agreed commercials within your core CARS+ system. Brokers are able to call for live rates and availability and submit reservations directly into your CARS+ system. You maintain your rates in a single environment and these are updated dynamically to your brokers’. The availability is also live off your single system to ensure you are providing your most up to date data to ensure your rates and availability are realtime.
Agreements whereby the supplier looks up the rate and availability for each enquiry received – The amount could range from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of requests per day. No matter the amount of requests, we will manage all these requests based on your data. You can directly impact the conversion rate from these transactions, depending on the price you set, the products you offer, as well as the availability you provide.
We also have the option to separate these calls from your core CARS+ system to ensure the volumes of these calls as they grow do not impact your counter system, whilst ensuring the data is maintained and current. This dedicated focus still allows frequent rate changes to be made and reduce response times for these larger volume rate enquiries. This will in turn helps to generate more reservation confirmations. Best of all, this is all done without slowing down your main rental system, where your direct rentals and other reservations are taking place.
CARS+webXML can also be used as a reservation delivery mechanism. You agree rates with the broker and accept reservations at a pre-agreed rate. You and the supplier both know the price and once that rate is sold, you’ll receive a reservation directly into your CARS+ system.
CARS+webXML ResOnly
Do you already have your counter system and currently feel unable to move off of it? However, you lack the broker connections and would like to still be able to benefit from our CARS+webXML | car rental software UK product without moving systems? Then still talk to us, we are able to offer this extensive broker service outside of your external counter systems and provide a real-time Res feed to allow you to still collect the reservations generated from our service.
Benefits of CARS+webXML
In short, using CARS+webXML will quickly open new channels of business for you that you didn’t even think were possible. Your rates will now be exposed to a far wider audience and you’ll no longer be alone in marketing your business. Brokers will be able to work hand in hand with your own marketing channels, giving your business endless possibilities of growth.
With CARS+webXML, you have the reassurance that no matter what your volume of reservation flow is, CARS+ will be well equipped to manage it all for you.
If you wish to learn more about how implementing CARS+webXML can help expand your channels of business, you can reach out to your local Thermeon representative.
Thermeon’s 30 years of global experience in car rental software gives us the skills to understand your requirements, building systems that suit. CARS+ is the complete software solution to link your rental business directly to customers, partners and brokers. Call us today at: Europe, Middle East & Africa: +44 1293 864 334 / Americas: +1 (714) 731-9191 / Australia/Asia: +61 2 9846 0860 / New Zealand: +64 22 177 6242 Or email us at sales@thermeon.wpengine.com