Travel agencies use hosted desktops because they let a whole team, across offices, homes and countries, work in one fast, secure, centrally managed environment, with booking systems and data kept safe and consistent rather than scattered across individual machines. For a travel business that runs long hours and moves money, that combination of access-from-anywhere, security and easy management is exactly what is needed, and it is delivered as part of managed IT at about £45 to £100 per user per month.
Hosted desktops, also called Remote Desktop Services, have become the standard way capable travel agencies run, and for good reasons. Here is why they suit the sector so well.
Work from anywhere, consistently
With hosted desktops, every consultant connects to the same environment and gets the same fast access to Amadeus, Navitas, fares tools and the back office, whether they are at head office, at home or in an overseas office. There is no it-works-on-my-machine, and work moves smoothly between people and time zones.
Security and control
Keeping applications and data central rather than on each laptop is inherently more secure: data is not spread across devices that can be lost, access is gated by multi-factor authentication, and you can restrict which devices connect. For a business handling payments and sensitive client and crew data, that central control is a major advantage.
Easier, cheaper to manage
Updates, patches and changes are made once, centrally, rather than across dozens of machines worldwide, and support can see and fix the same environment everyone uses. That means faster fixes, less downtime and lower ongoing effort, which keeps costs predictable as the agency grows.
Scales with the business
Adding a consultant, a team or a whole new office becomes straightforward: provision access to the existing environment rather than building something new each time. For a travel business that grows and follows demand, that agility is invaluable.
Built-in resilience
Because the environment is central and professionally hosted, it can be made resilient and backed up properly, so a problem at one office does not stop the wider desk and recovery from an incident is faster. Continuity is part of what makes hosted desktops dependable for a 24/7 operation.
The trade-offs, handled
Hosted desktops rely on good internet, so resilient connectivity matters, and the environment must be properly sized and managed to stay fast, both straightforward for a capable provider. With those handled, the benefits, access, security, manageability and resilience, far outweigh the considerations for a travel business.
What to ask a provider
A specialist for travel agencies should be able to answer:
- Have you supported travel agencies, hosted desktops and systems like Amadeus, Navitas, FareXpert or TRAMS before?
- How do you give office, remote and overseas staff secure, reliable access in any time zone?
- How do you protect us from invoice, supplier and crew payment fraud, and help with PCI DSS?
- What is your response time when a booking or payment is at risk, out of hours?
- Is the price clear and per user, with security included rather than charged separately?
Where to start
If you are not sure where your agency stands, a short review is the quickest way to find out: confirm multi-factor authentication is on for every account including overseas machines, check that booking systems and backups are managed and test-restored, confirm a strict bank-detail verification process is followed every time, and make sure only approved software can run. Those few steps remove most of the risk and show where a travel-aware managed setup pays off.
The bottom line
When a travel agency’s IT is right, the business simply runs: people in every office and time zone reach the same fast systems, work hands smoothly between regions, payments go where they should, and travellers get answers whatever the hour. The technology fades into the background and the team gets on with looking after clients and crew.
That dependability comes from a setup designed, secured and actively managed for how travel actually works, not a generic contract. For a business that runs long hours, handles money and depends on a few specialist systems, a predictable per-user cost for that reliability is far cheaper than the downtime, fraud or data loss an ad-hoc setup eventually invites.
Why travel agencies choose First Stop IT
First Stop IT has supported businesses since 2002, including travel agencies and travel management companies, and we understand the systems a travel desk runs on: Amadeus, Navitas, FareXpert and TRAMS, delivered securely over hosted desktops, alongside Microsoft 365. We support travel businesses based in Essex, Hertfordshire and London with teams working worldwide. Our credentials include:
- Cyber Essentials Certified
- IASME Cyber Assurance (Gold)
- NCSC Assured Service Provider (Cyber Advisor for Cyber Essentials)
- Microsoft Partner
- Crown Commercial Service Supplier (G-Cloud)
- Quality Principles Certified
We look after more than 2,000 endpoints across 50 companies, we have been named a Top 50 UK MSP for three years running, and we support organisations with 10 to 100 employees across Essex, Hertfordshire and London, including teams working internationally.
Book a free IT and cyber security review
Want your travel systems modern, fast and reliable? Book a free IT and cyber security review with First Stop IT.