Online travel agents face many challenges when it comes to increasing their inventory for their customers. They need to have a wide variety of tours, activities, accommodations and travel arrangements available in order to entice travelers to create packages and make bookings.However, that requires them to access the inventory of tour and activity providers as well as other industry businesses, and that’s not an easy process.The key to increasing your inventory lies in live availability.Here’s how live availability will improve your current inventory selections:You have access to the real-time availability of the tour and activity provider. Without live availability, you are stuck wondering if the selections listed are still available for your customers. This would require you to contact the tour operator (who inevitably would not be available over the phone) and find out what exactly is available. Real-time booking prevents you from playing phone tag with tour operators, and allows you to offer your customers a wide range of accurate selections for their excursions.You know that the company offers high-quality tours. Since you have access to their actual bookings and their live availability, you can instantly see whether the company provides an enjoyable experience. A tour provider with ample availability may not be the best choice, but you might have more confidence in an operator who is mostly booked on a daily basis. This is usually a sign of a successful company, and one that has received a lot of referrals from previous customers. Prior to real-time booking, you would have to rely on the reviews that are offered on popular travel sites, such as TripAdvisor. While these can provide a valuable insight into a tour and activity company, they don’t always tell the whole story. The numbers, and the bookings, don’t lie.You have immediate information about the commission rates that have been established. With live availability in an online booking system, the commission rate is easily displayed and identified on the portal. You don’t have to waste your time negotiating with the tour operator in order to set a commission rate. You know what you are going to make, and it’s immediately calculated for you once you make the sale. Since you won’t be wasting your time working with individual tour operators, you can focus more energy on partnering with providers who have implemented an easy-to-use online booking system that benefits online travel agents who resell their products.Online travel agents will quickly find that they prefer working with tour and activity providers who utilize Rezdy as their online booking system. This online booking system is designed specifically for tour and activity providers, and it offers a unique marketplace that gives OTAs access to their live availability.It’s the easiest system to use in order to book travelers and also to earn commissions as an agent. To find out more information about Rezdy and how it benefits OTAs, sign up for a free Agent account.