Automate Third-Party Bookings with RocketRez's Distribution Connectivity

Written by Alec Windle
Last updated on Apr 26, 2023

Across the industry, tour and attraction companies struggle with scaling their reseller distribution. The difficulty doesn’t come from contracting or product development, but the accommodation of these reservations within the company.

From voucher processing at the gate to the billing headaches, many attractions find that working with these partners is not worth the revenue potential. This is a problem we solve at RocketRez with our built-in channel management connectivity.

Out of the box, RocketRez is equipped to automate your third-party bookings with leading attraction resellers through our direct connections and integrations with partners, Rezdy and Redeam.

Bookings made through your selected channels will automatically be entered into your system. The vouchers presented by visitors at your location will feature gate-ready RocketRez barcodes that are scannable just like your internal hard-copy tickets. With all transactions tracked through RocketRez and your selected connectivity partner, reconciliation is a breeze.

“We needed a solution that is seamless, scalable and has integrations. API integration with OTAs and eCommerce is very important. [We want to] bring all these pieces together.” – Maui Ocean Center

How do you get started?

You might kick off your resale strategy by meeting one of our distribution experts to outline the partners that work best for your organization. This will allow you to feel comfortable as you move forward with the first step, the contracting process.

Reaching out to your selected resellers and entering into a formal rate agreement will be your task as the operator. Included in your RocketRez contract terms are details on the financial commitment for adding connected resale channels. Ask your Account or Customer Success Manager should you have any specific contract questions.

Discuss with your account manager to help you if you have specific contract questions regarding resale channels.

As you develop your resale strategy, it is important to understand your customer and lean into the resellers that cater towards those market segments. Each reseller attracts a particular customer base that may or may not match your attraction.

During your intro calls with resellers, be sure to ask about user demographics and buying patterns to make sure you are a good fit. We suggest attractions new to distribution start with the major players in the OTA space to build an online presence on key resale marketplaces as you optimize your internal processes. Once your team grows comfortable with accommodating resellers, you can add on new connectivity partners at any time.

When it comes to the management of your resale partners, availability is the main interaction with your RocketRez system. All partnered resellers pull live availability from RocketRez to display on their websites.

When a departure closes out, the updates are displayed on the resale website. You can also extend a specific capacity to a given reseller, to cap them at a threshold of your choosing. These automated functions allow you to scale your resale partners based on the same capacity source.

The electronic vouchers that your visitors receive from connected partners will include a unique RocketRez barcode. These vouchers are gate-ready tickets and can be scanned with your hardware like normal hard-copy tickets and membership cards.

Bookings and scans are tracked within your data reporting the same as other sales channels, with the ability to view sales at the partner level for billing and reconciliation.

RocketRez resale connectivity allows you to confidently implement a global sales strategy customized to your organization. New resale partners can launch your product in niche marketplaces that your direct marketing dollars can’t.

If you are looking for an opportunity to grow your revenue and visitor count this year, trusted partnerships are a great place to start.  

Ready to learn more about how you can grow your revenue with our OTA integrations?

Book an introductory call with our team for a solutions showcase.

Revenue Management
eCommerce

Alec Windle

Alec has worked in the travel and tourism industry for over 15 years. He was the commercial sales and distribution manager for Gray Line New Orleans and the Steamboat NATCHEZ, the last authentic paddlewheel steamboat on the Mississippi. Alec helped to optimize a complex and labor-intensive distribution and reservation system. In his four years at Gray Line, his team increased online travel agent revenue by more than 200% and implemented new technology tools to streamline processes and decrease labor costs. Acting as an Account Manager for a channel manager software startup focusing on the tours and attractions industry he managed the Walt Disney World account. Before joining RocketRez, Alec worked with museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian in the multimedia interpretation world. In 2021 Alec joined the RocketRez team. As an Account Manager, he uses his experience in the tourism industry to help strategically advise clients on how to use the software to optimize and enhance their business needs.