Booking.com has officially opened up its service for offline travel agencies to search and book accommodation on behalf of travellers.
The Priceline Group-owned brand has launched Booking.com For Travel Agents as part of a wider strategy to give intermediaries the ability to use the website for bookings but also have the ability to manage their clients within a microsite.
It follows the launch of Booking.com For Business in 2015, a move squarely aimed at servicing corporate travel managers who ordinarily used the consumer-facing website but had no means of creating reports and handling their own clients once a booking was made.
Booking.com For Travel Agents is, for now, a pilot project and is an extension of the existing affiliate partner scheme that allows other brands to integrate Booking.com's content and functionality into their own websites.
There will be no difference in the inventory made available to travel agencies for booking (more than one million accommodation options, including hotels, homestays and vacation rentals).
The decision was made to create the service after seeing a growing number of travel agencies use Booking.com to manage bookings on behalf of customers, says Bryan Batista, senior director of global partnerships.
The platform will allow agents to organise and manage bookings, create reports and monitor their activity and earnings.
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