To put it plainly, a hotel booking engine is a tool found on hotel websites and social media platforms that enables the direct online booking of accommodations.
Utilizing an online booking engine allows for direct bookings without incurring commission fees, enabling your property to enhance its sales approach and increase revenue.
Hotels have become dependent on online travel agents to secure reservations due to the majority of travellers booking their stays online. While listing on these platforms offers the advantage of expanding their reach to a new and larger audience, it also means that hotels have to pay a commission fee to the third-party for each booking. For independent hotels, this fee is particularly frustrating as it eats into their profits, which is exacerbated when the commission fee exceeds 20%.
Although it may be necessary, a hotel booking engine provides hotels with a means to combat the dominance of OTAs.
The detailed explanation present in this blog will cover the booking engines utilized specifically in the hotel industry, providing insights on its operation, ways in which your hotel can benefit from it, and a comprehensive guide on providers, rates, and functionalities.
How does an online booking engine work?
Your hotel website can use an online booking engine to securely process and receive reservations online. The engine is connected to your property management system, allowing you to easily access and manage all bookings.
The booking engine is an extremely convenient method for travellers to reserve their accommodations. It showcases current rates and availability and permits guests to select their preferred dates and complete the reservation process. Additionally, other functions may be included, such as automatically sending confirmation emails for bookings.
Integrating a channel manager with a booking engine enables it to function and be controlled like the online travel agents you are linked to.
Online booking definition
Travellers find online booking to be a hassle-free method of planning and reserving their vacations or business excursions. They employ the internet to peruse travel-oriented websites, hunt for accommodations, flights, vehicle rentals, guided visits, points of interest, and additional services.
It is possible for travelers to reserve and coordinate an entire trip through online booking options, which may involve using a single website. Additionally, they can strategize and construct a schedule of activities for their journey.
Organizations utilize an online booking tool to handle their corporate travel electronically. In addition to booking reservations, these tools generally provide access to up-to-date information on travel expenses, track travelers online, and enforce travel policies.
The ideal method for travelers to reserve and safely pay for their travel is through online booking. This optimizes the procedure for both you and your guests. Furthermore, it is crucial in terms of expanding visibility and paving the way for greater reservations.
The necessity of an internet booking engine
If you want to keep up with the competition and continue operating, it is imperative that you offer guests the option to make room reservations online, regardless of the scale of your hotel.
Modern-day accommodation providers are expected to offer this service by travellers who value its convenience and security.
The reason for this is:
- Guests can easily self-serve – Travellers can check which rooms are available when, and for how much, without ever speaking to you.
- Guests trust online booking – When guests make a booking, your booking engine can securely accept credit card payments, and guest data is safely stored and accessible in one place.
- Guests can book quicker – Online booking puts an end to games of phone or email tag, with travellers and hotels liaising for days before confirming a booking.
- Guests look for direct booking perks – People will often head to your website in the hopes that if they book direct they’ll get something a little extra added to their stay. This is a trade-off many properties will make to save on paying third-party commissions.
- It’s more professional – Modern guests will be surprised if they can’t perform an online booking on your website. It’s likely to give them the impression that you’re not organised and they’ll end up booking another property.
Having an internet booking engine is crucial as it allows your property to receive direct bookings, and therefore you have full ownership of the booking information and the relationship with the guests. This also enables you to encourage repeat visits so they will continue to book directly with you. Not having an internet booking engine makes this difficult to achieve.
By securing the direct booking and earning the loyalty of each guest, you can increase the profitability of each individual.
8 reasons you need an online hotel booking system
There are numerous reasons in favor of implementing an online booking system for your hotel and few reasons against. It is important to thoroughly outline the benefits and pinpoint any challenges specific to your property that could be addressed by utilizing this type of technology.
An online hotel booking system is required.
Your hotel website can facilitate immediate booking of your property. Studies indicate that guests usually visit both OTA sites and your property website before making a choice. By providing a convenient booking option on your site, you improve the likelihood of them choosing to book directly with you when they are prepared to make a reservation.
Relying solely on OTAs may hinder your revenue as they only bring in bookings through a third party. While they are effective in promoting your property, it’s recommended to also drive some bookings from your own channel for greater control over your earnings.
Making bookings through your property website incurs significantly lower commission fees compared to bookings made via an OTA. Consequently, any direct bookings you receive will significantly improve your profitability.
4. To increase your bookings There are many reasons guests are more likely to book your property when you have an embedded booking engine. For one, your booking engine is open 24/7 while your front desk may not be, so customers can book regardless of personal factors like time zones. Secondly, once travellers land on your site, the engine makes it easy for them to just click and reserve – rather than going back to the OTA to book and getting distracted by other options.
One of the benefits of having an online booking system is that it allows guests to conveniently make payments using their credit cards. Furthermore, the system automatically takes care of processing the reservation details, thereby easing your burden. Additionally, any supplementary payments such as extra services like breakfast or cleaning fees can also be handled through the system.
One can manage the guest experience from start to finish by guiding potential customers through your property website and controlling their interactions with your chosen content. This allows for consistent branding and the ability to enhance the user experience.
By utilizing an online booking engine, you can facilitate payments from guests in their preferred language and currency. This feature offers convenience and comfort to customers, allowing them to book in a language they are proficient in and pay with a currency that is familiar to them. By providing such flexibility, guests’ expectations are met even before they set foot on your property.
You have the freedom to choose the promotions you want to offer as your booking engine allows you to effortlessly configure impromptu deals and reduced rates for longer stay durations. Such promotional incentives foster customer loyalty and improve the probability of your guests having a satisfying experience and providing positive feedback.
The company providing our hotel booking engine ought to provide you with a solution that is enriched with numerous features, offers complete control with a high degree of flexibility. Additionally, you should receive comprehensive reporting and have access to a proficient support team.
How significant is it to select the appropriate booking engine provider?
- Brand promotion
- Lower costs than other online channels
- Increases the lifetime value of a guest
- Retains the loyalty of a guest
Our compilation of 10 crucial factors to consider when reviewing or selecting a booking engine provider will guarantee that you receive your money’s worth, and more importantly, aid in establishing longer-term guest relationships and a surge in direct bookings.
1. Connecting to all the channels your hotel is on
You may have more than one digital channel available for selling your products besides your website. It is crucial to have a centralized strategy in order to have complete control over your online presence. To begin with, try to manage your inventory in a single location. By doing so, you can easily adjust your pricing strategy and monitor each channel’s performance by seeing your availability and rates in one location.
2. Being optimised for mobile
By Q2 2022, our clients have witnessed 74% of website visits via mobile compared to just 23% through desktop. An optimized website and booking engine for mobile devices are not a luxury but a must-have.
It is essential to have a flexible booking system, one that can be tailored to suit different devices. As mobile and desktop usage varies considerably, it is important to optimize your system to account for differences in screen size, particularly for mobile devices.
3. Flexibility
Is your hotel equipped with features and tools required for success through the administrative system of your booking engine? For instance, does it offer…
- Display all the languages that your guests speak?
- Prominently display your hotel’s logo?
- Offer unlimited creation of tariffs, room types, special offers and discounts?
- Provide online voucher redemption?
- Offer wedding and corporate booking modules?
- Show a pooled inventory?
Consider your guests’ needs in order to determine the necessary features for your booking engine. Analyze where they are traveling from, whether voucher sales have been successful for you in the past, and if wedding bookings are a common occurrence at your hotel.
Having a clear understanding of your target audience significantly increases your chances of achieving success.
4. Customer service and reporting features
To enhance your hotel’s performance based on best practices and data, it is important that your booking engine provider communicates openly with you at all times.
Does your booking engine provider provide comprehensive reporting that gives you insight into your hotel’s performance? Utilize your booking engine reports to analyze booking patterns and inform your revenue and marketing strategies.
An experienced group of individuals can greatly enhance your ability to increase direct bookings. Ensure that you establish a productive and transparent line of communication with your booking engine provider to exchange valuable information and ideas.
Your website is frequently the avenue that incurs the least cost per acquisition, rendering it the most lucrative one. Your booking engine supplier must assist you to boost your direct bookings!
Direct bookings typically come with a much lower CPA, even when you account for marketing costs. Growing your direct bookings means growing your revenue.
Numerous tactics exist that can enhance your strategy for direct bookings, such as offering guests a strong incentive to book directly and ensuring that your online channel pricing strategy is well-managed.
6. Additional services like marketing and design
It is advantageous for your hotel to have a proficient booking engine provider who can offer you additional services besides a booking engine.
Connecting your booking engine with digital marketing services can be a strategic move to increase both the volume and quality of traffic to your website and booking engine.
A competent marketing team should be capable of assisting you in generating direct bookings through metasearch and paid campaigns on platforms such as Google and Facebook.
Next in line is website design, which plays a crucial role in driving bookings. A beautifully crafted website, tailored with conversion principles, can outperform a standard, unremarkable hotel website. For optimal direct booking results, these three essential components are imperative.
7. Innovating and preparing for the future
As a hotelier, you understand that being prepared for the present is insufficient. To be genuinely prepared, you must anticipate at least six months or one year ahead.
It is crucial that your provider of booking engine stays up-to-date with you. They must continuously enhance their product offerings to adapt to the constantly evolving industry, and more importantly, to plan for what lies ahead.
8. A team of experts in the hospitality and technology sector
Your booking engine provider should possess expertise in both traditional hospitality and technology, as online booking engines operate at the intersection of these two fields.
Product designers knowledgeable in the industry are still necessary even for the most exceptional software developers worldwide. Net Affinity takes pride in recruiting individuals from both the technology and hospitality sectors.
Our team of converters and leaders possess a background in hospitality, and we have encountered all types of hotels. Our proficiency combined with our data enables us to design a booking engine that caters specifically to hoteliers. This isn’t just a concept, but it is put into action.
9. Helping you build guest relationships
Apart from taking bookings, your booking engine partner should offer additional features. An ideal booking engine should offer unlimited options for creating tariffs and rate plans. Another important feature is the ability to create individual rates for guests making bookings for corporate events or weddings.
After using those adaptable qualities to convince visitors to make a reservation, do they aid in creating a lasting connection with such guests? As guests become more familiar with you, they are more inclined to revisit in the future.
10. The type of clients they have
Before proceeding, it’s essential to inquire if the booking engine you’re considering is compatible with your property. Although a well-designed booking engine should be adaptable and able to cater to various property types, it’s still advisable to review their list of clients.
If the company only serves rural accommodations such as guesthouses, it may be wise to search elsewhere for a property in a bustling city center.
Try to find a booking engine provider that offers a complete set of services – booking engine, marketing, and web design. By opting for an all-in-one solution, you will have the convenience of dealing with a single point of contact and a capable team that manages all your requirements.
