Question 1

Can my staff change a customer's travel date after a flight has been booked?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your staff may be able to change the travel date through the travel agency software, but this depends on the airline, the fare rules and the booking connection available on your plan. Some bookings can be changed from the booking record, while others must be handled through a separate support process. Before making a change, your staff should check whether the ticket allows changes, whether seats are available on the new flight and whether the airline applies a change charge or fare difference. A low fare or special promotion may not allow any change at all. The amount and conditions come from the airline and can vary by booking. A date change is not complete just because a new flight has been selected. The ticket may need to be reissued, and the customer should receive an updated itinerary after the airline confirms the change. If automatic reissue is not supported by the airline or the booking connection, your staff may need help to complete it. Before promising a new date to the customer, open the booking, read the fare rules and check that the replacement flight and final change conditions are confirmed.

Question 2

Can my portal check that a hotel room is still available before my customer pays?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the portal can usually check the room again before the booking is confirmed. Hotel availability can change quickly because the same room may be offered through several sales channels, so a room shown in the search results is not guaranteed to remain available while the customer enters their details. Before confirmation, the hotel booking API can request the latest availability, price, room details and cancellation terms from the supplier. If anything important has changed, the customer can be asked to review the new information before continuing. If the room has sold out, the booking should stop instead of appearing to be confirmed. The exact check depends on what the supplier and its API support. Some suppliers return updates immediately, while others may provide availability that is slightly delayed. A booking is only secure when the supplier accepts it and returns a confirmed booking reference. Even after confirmation, any later change or cancellation by the hotel will follow the supplier's process and notification method. Ask glideFares which availability checks are supported by your chosen hotel suppliers, and confirm how your portal handles a price change or sold out room before you begin taking live bookings.

Question 3

Can my customer book a flight for a young child or a baby on my portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in most cases they can. When your customer starts a search they can say how many adults, children and infants are travelling, and the fares that come back are priced for that mix of passengers rather than for adults only. There are a few things worth knowing before you promise it. A baby who sits on a parent's lap is normally added to that adult's booking rather than given a seat of their own, and the airline will usually want the date of birth, because what matters is the child's age on the day they fly and not the day the booking was made. Some airlines will not let a ticket be issued at all until that date is filled in. How much of this your portal can collect depends on the supplier you are connected to, as not every flight API accepts every extra passenger detail. Airlines also set limits that nobody can work around. Many will not carry a baby below a certain age, most allow only one lap infant for each adult travelling, and a child flying on their own without an adult almost always has to be arranged with the airline directly rather than through a booking screen. If your customer asks for something of that sort, it is quicker to deal with the airline than to try to push it through the portal. The sensible next step is to run a test search with a child and an infant in the passenger count and see what your own suppliers return, and to make sure your staff know to ask for dates of birth at the start so a booking does not stall when it comes to issuing the ticket.

Question 4

Can my travel agency software automatically send booking confirmations and travel documents to customers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, travel agency software can usually send a confirmation to the customer after a booking is completed. This can save your staff from preparing every message by hand and gives the customer a clear record of what they booked. The confirmation may include the traveller names, journey or hotel details, booking status, payment information and any important conditions available at that time. The exact documents that can be sent depend on the product, the supplier and the type of booking. A hotel voucher may be available as soon as the room is confirmed, while a flight ticket may only be available after ticketing is complete. Some suppliers provide documents through the API, while others may require your staff to obtain or check them separately. Automatic messages may also depend on the features included in your glideFares plan. You may be able to use your own business name and wording, but the amount of control can vary. Delivery is not guaranteed in every case, so your staff should still watch for failed messages, incomplete documents and bookings that remain pending. Ask glideFares which confirmations and documents are supported for the travel products you sell, then make a test booking and check exactly what the customer receives.

Question 5

Can I take card payments on my portal and have the money go straight into my own bank account?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in most cases the money can go straight into your own bank account, but it depends on the payment gateway you use and the rules in the country where your business is registered. A white label portal does not hold your money itself. It connects to a payment gateway that you open in your own company name, and the gateway settles the takings into the bank account you registered with it. Your portal passes the booking amount across, the customer enters their card details on the secure page provided by the gateway, and the gateway tells the portal whether the payment went through so the booking can be confirmed. Because the merchant account belongs to you, the settlement timing, the charges and any amount held back are set by the gateway and your bank, not by the portal. There are limits worth knowing before you plan around this. Not every gateway can be connected, so if you already use one, it is worth checking that it is supported before you commit. Some gateways are also slow to approve travel businesses, or ask for extra paperwork, because travel is treated as a higher risk trade. You should also remember that you still have to pay your suppliers for the flights and hotels, and that money often leaves your account on a different schedule from when your customer pays you, so keep an eye on your cash position in the first few months. The sensible next step is to ask which gateways your portal can connect to, and then apply for a merchant account in your own company name so the takings land where you want them from the first booking.

Question 6

Can my staff search flights and hotels from several suppliers in one place?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your staff can search connected suppliers from one place instead of opening a separate website for each one. The software can bring available travel options into a shared search screen, making it easier to compare choices and help a customer while they are waiting. The results shown will depend on which suppliers are connected to your portal and which products are included in your plan. A supplier may also limit the destinations, room types, airlines or fares it provides. This means the software cannot guarantee that every option available elsewhere will appear in the same search. Prices and availability can come from suppliers at different speeds, so staff should compare the full booking details, not only the first price they see. They should check baggage, meal terms, cancellation rules, taxes and any payment conditions before confirming. A final availability and price check may also take place when the booking is submitted because supplier information can change during the search. Ask which suppliers and travel products can be connected to your portal, then check that they cover the destinations and types of bookings your agency sells most often.

Question 7

Can I stop customers from making bookings on my portal when my office is closed?

Accepted Answer

No, a white label travel portal does not normally stop taking bookings just because your office is closed. Customers can usually search and place bookings whenever the connected travel services are available. This allows your business to receive bookings outside normal working hours without requiring a member of staff to be present. Some bookings may be confirmed immediately, while others may remain pending or need attention from your staff. This depends on the supplier, the type of travel being booked and the response received through the API. Your portal should clearly show the booking status, but you may still need a process for handling urgent questions, failed payments or supplier changes when nobody is in the office. It may be possible to restrict booking times or temporarily prevent new bookings, depending on your portal setup and plan. However, closing access can also mean losing customers who prefer to book in the evening or when your office is unavailable. A better option for many agencies is to keep searches and bookings open while clearly displaying working hours and explaining when support requests will be answered. Check which booking controls, status messages and customer notices are included in your glideFares portal before deciding how you will manage bookings outside office hours.

Question 8

Can my customers see whether breakfast is included before they book a hotel?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your portal can usually show whether breakfast is included in a hotel room before the customer books. This information comes through the hotel booking API and is normally shown with the room name, meal plan and booking conditions. It helps customers compare rooms that may look similar but include different services. The details can vary by hotel and supplier. One room may include breakfast for every guest, while another may include it only for certain guests or charge separately at the property. Some offers may describe the meal as breakfast included, while others may use wording such as room only or half board. The portal can display the information received, but it cannot add a meal benefit that the supplier has not confirmed. Hotel descriptions are not always equally clear or complete. A supplier may provide a short meal description without explaining the serving times, menu, or whether children are covered. Customers should read the room conditions before payment, and your staff should avoid making assumptions when the wording is unclear. Check which meal details your chosen hotel API supplies and confirm how they will appear on the search results, room selection and booking confirmation.

Question 9

Can my travel agency software keep each customer's booking history so my staff can help them faster?

Accepted Answer

Yes, travel agency software can keep a customer's previous and current bookings together so your staff can find them more easily. This can help when a customer calls about an existing trip, wants to repeat a past journey, or needs help choosing similar travel arrangements. What your staff can see depends on the features included in your plan and on the information returned by each supplier or API. A booking record may show the travel dates, destination, booking status, documents and payment status. Some setups may also allow staff to save contact preferences or private notes, but not every portal includes a full customer record or keeps every detail in the same place. The history will normally cover bookings made through the connected software. Bookings arranged outside the portal may not appear unless the software allows your staff to add them manually. Changes made directly with an airline, hotel or other supplier may also take time to appear, or may need to be checked with that supplier. Ask glideFares which customer history features are included in your plan, what information your staff can view, and whether older or outside bookings can be added before you decide how your team will use it.

Question 10

Can I limit what my customers can book on my portal to selected destinations or types of travel?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your portal can usually be arranged so that customers only see and book the travel products that suit your business. For example, you may want to offer hotels but not flights, focus on selected destinations, or keep some services available only for bookings made by your staff. The exact level of control depends on your portal plan, the connected API and the options provided by each supplier. Some booking sources allow detailed restrictions by destination, product or market, while others provide a fixed range of results that cannot be filtered in the same way. A restriction may also affect search results without fully controlling every individual property or fare. It is important to decide whether you want to hide products completely or simply guide customers towards the ones you prefer to sell. You should also consider what happens when a destination is unavailable, as a very narrow selection can leave customers with no results. Any limits should be tested for the main journeys and locations your customers normally search for. Tell glideFares which products and destinations you want to offer, then ask which restrictions are supported by your plan and each connected booking source before the portal is made available to customers.