According to a report, about 2% of visitors on a hotel website confirm their hotel reservation via online booking. Given that rate of success, travel agents online own the lion’s share in hotel bookings and charge a significant commission for the same from the hotel owners. A way out of this fix is implementing an online hotel reservation system, also known as a hotel booking engine. It is an intuitive way to drive sales through your online channels, and according to certain reports, at least 700 million people will be booking hotel rooms online by 2023.
But before we go any further, let’s get a quick overview of what a hotel website booking engine is really about.
What Is A Hotel Booking Engine?
A hotel booking engine is a software application live on hotel websites, aiding in the direct capture and processing of online hotel reservations for all practical purposes. A functional booking engine can optimize your hotel website in a way to capture as many bookings as possible and allow visitors to check rates, room availability, and the kind of rooms available.
The solution is supposed to help users in completing their hotel reservations as soon as possible, without any hurdles. That’s to say, the system should offer multiple payment options, should be optimized for mobile usage, and so on. The booking engine should also consider the layout and design of your website to create the best experience for the users.
How An Online Booking Engine Works
An online hotel booking engine is designed to be plugged into your hotel website and start processing the reservations made online through a secure channel. The data collected is then handed over to your hotel operating system, which looks after the operations of your hospitality accommodations so you can have access to the bookings made and manage it from a centralized dashboard.
And its applications go beyond your website. A hotel reservation software solution can be synced with your social media handles, like your Facebook profile for business. The advantage is that a visitor on your Facebook page doesn’t have to be redirected to your website.
The application shall display the room tariffs and the availability in real-time and will let the users select their desired check-in and check-out dates, number of guests in a room, and other details as they finalize the reservation. As the reservation is finalized, an email will be triggered to the user confirming their reservation.
Optionally, you can integrate your booking engine with a channel manager if you want it to be operated like online travel agencies.
The Need For A Hotel Reservation System
We live in a digital age, and if you run a hotel business, online bookings are no longer optional if you wish to remain competitive. As many as 83% of US adults prefer booking their trips online now, hence the need for a hotel booking engine. And that’s valid no matter how small or how big your hotel or your business is — offering online services is an indication that you’re open for business. And more importantly, travelers and your guests expect this simple yet elegant functionality from all modern accommodation providers.
Here are a few more broad reasons why you should be looking for a hotel booking system:
It Encourages Self-Service
A web booking engine helps your site visitors in checking whether the rooms are available or not, the tariffs for all room categories, and it’s all automated. This means unless the request is absolutely unique or too subjective, you won’t have to interact with the incoming request traffic.
People Trust Online Booking
When you take reservations online with multiple payment options and transparency in the services provided at the location, it builds trust with the users. And guests expect you to hold that trust by keeping their credentials and payment details safe, secure, and yet accessible.
It Facilitates Quick Booking
Online booking brings an elegant end to reservations made over phone calls and repeated to-and-fro emails. And since everything is digitized and automated, it ensures the entire reservation process is free of error and swift.
It Offers A Professional Experience
The foremost and yet one of the most subtle advantages of having an online hotel booking website is that it lends you a professional look. On the contrary, not having it is likely to leave an impression that you are not organized and this will lead to your guests finding some other accommodation.
Benefits of A Booking Engine
The advantages of having an online booking engine on your hotel website are numerous. It is live 24/7, reduces manual workload, and increases your revenue by giving you more exposure. But let’s look at some of the broad benefits in detail.
Improves Business Efficiency
One of the foremost benefits of having an online hotel booking solution is that since it is automated, it runs 24 hours a day, and all days throughout the week. If not for it, most businesses would be relying on bookings over the phone or email or mainly on walk-ins. Having an online hotel booking engine take care of all that directly improves your business efficiency as it frees up your time for tasks that are more cognitive in nature.
Moreover, apart from being live at all hours, a hotel booking management system becomes a great offering as it allows for secure payment solutions via credit cards and other channels.
Simplified Administrative Processes
Guests who make pre-paid reservations in advance online are less likely to not come. So, on this front, a hotel booking engine radically reduces the number of no-shows. On that same front, you don’t have to respond to every email received to cater to phone call requests asking about room tariffs and availability because there won’t be many. In quite a tasteful manner, hotel booking software solutions simplify your administrative processes and allow you to have more time to interact with the guests.
Facilitates Collection Of Smart Insights
A software solution like a hotel booking engine comes with a suite of analytics tools that track all the reservations and the details relevant to those reservations. With all that information at your disposal, you’ll have no trouble identifying the preferences your guests might have and fulfilling the demands they might make. And even if not, the collected data will help you chart unmarked territories where you need to work on to improve and grow your hotel business.
Improves Guest Experience At The Property
A cloud-based online scheduling system is a great means to let your guests customize their stay at your property. At this point, nothing makes their booking experience better than a glitch-free hotel reservation system software live on your hotel website that shows real-time availability of rooms, their tariffs, accompaniments, complimentary offers, and a simplified and secure payment portal.
A hotel booking engine is a highly streamlined and user-friendly solution for both your staff and more importantly, your guests.
Maximizes Revenue
A central reservation system on your website makes it easy to launch and publish new packages and along with them, various add-ons. Your guests can combine all the features and offerings they’d like to utilize, and thanks to upselling, you will be maximizing your revenue.
The booking system makes upgrading rooms a walk in the park, and as you give the power to your guests to enhance their stay, you’re again improving your chances of maximizing the booking revenue.
Choose The Best Hotel Reservation System For Your Hotel
To pierce through the competition, hotel owners must invest in the right booking engine for their hotel. It must be equipped with the right features too. It must have a fast load time, should be able to sync with your PMS, should have options to accept various currencies and languages, and so on. Most importantly, the booking software must be optimized for mobile. Did you know that on average, 52% of traffic to any hotel website comes from mobile devices? Without the right information at your disposal, it’s easy to feel lost, but we hope that since you’re here, that problem is solved.
The best hotel booking engine you can go for in 2021 has to be the solution from AxisRooms. It’s an intuitive software application for driving bookings on your hotel’s website. But beyond that, it offers various nifty features such as managing bookings, setting up tax deductions, and has the provision for promotions and lightning deals.
It’s a simple, user-friendly, and cloud-based solution for the persistently growing demand for online hotel booking and is a frictionless means to convert a visitor into a guest. So, what are you waiting for? Book a demo with AxisRooms now!
