Booking through OTAs is an effective way to reach out to a wider audience and expand your hospitality business.
However, great as it is, you have to pay expensive commission fees, and you don’t fully control the booking process.
Thus, you can’t fully tailor it to your guests’ needs.
Luckily, the Booking Engine has emerged as a robust solution that puts you more in charge and allows you to reap the benefits.
But what is The Booking Engine, and how does it work? Is it complex or safe to use it?
Only one way to find out. Read on to learn all the nitty-gritty details about the Booking Engine.
Let’s dive in!
What is a Booking Engine?
The Booking Engine is software that manages reservations, payments, and inventory in the hospitality industry.
You can upload it on your property’s website or third-party platforms so your potential guests can search for availability and make reservations directly on the website.
In addition, the booking engine also provides real-time information about available rooms, rates, and packages, as well as pricing and availability updates.
More advanced booking engines offer additional features such as upselling, cross-selling, and integrations with other apps.
Why Is The Booking Engine Invaluable for Your Hotel?
Implementing the booking engine provides advantages and benefits both for you and your guests.
Benefits for You
1. Reduced OTA Commission Fee
OTAs are a great way to expand your reach to a wider guest pool and increase your hospitality. However, it comes with a hefty price tag.
On the other hand, a booking engine allows you to accept direct bookings from your website rather than rely solely on OTAs and reduce commission fees.
This way, you maintain control over their pricing and inventory.
2. Competitive Advantage
You can gain a competitive advantage by offering guests a more streamlined and efficient booking process.
Furthermore, the booking engine optimizes pricing strategies to maximize revenue by providing real-time data on room availability and pricing.
? Note:
Integrating the booking engine with your Channel Manager lets you compare your direct bookings to third-party bookings on OTAs and other channels.
3. Streamlined Operations
The booking engine can streamline hotel operations by automating many reservations and inventory tasks.
This way, you can get real-time data on occupancy rates, room inventory, and revenue to make better-informed decisions about staffing, inventory, and pricing.
Benefits for Your Guests
1. Improved Guest Experience
The booking engine simplifies the reservation process for guests, providing an easy-to-use and intuitive interface to quickly:
- Search,
- Book, and
- Confirm their reservations.
It can also provide detailed information about room amenities, features, and policies, enabling guests to make more informed decisions about their stay.
2. Direct Booking Perks
Many guests prefer direct booking because they hope to get some kind of perk, be it an additional service or a discount.
Thus, the booking engine helps you upsell your services and amenities and offer guests additional package deals and promotions.
? ProTip
OTA SYNC’s SPA & Wellness management solution includes features for appointment scheduling, client management, etc., to enhance customer experiences.
3. Data Security and Safety
Booking engines provide secure payment transactions by storing sensitive information safely via PCI DSS and PSD2 compliance, end-to-end encryption, 3D Secure authentication, etc.
How Does The Booking Engine Work?
The booking engine connects to your website, allowing guests to search for rooms, rates, and availability.
Thus, when the guest searches for a room on the booking engine, they get available options based on their criteria.
Once the guest selects a room and rate, they can book it directly through the booking engine, which securely processes the payment.
More robust booking engines can send confirmation emails automatically.
? ProTip:
OTA SYNC comes with the Guest CRM to automatically send emails, fill in the guest data, etc.
How Can You Implement a Hotel Website Booking Engine?
Implementing the booking engine is seamless because it directly integrates with your existing website.
In case your property doesn’t have a website, opt for solutions that provide website builders.
? ProTip:
OTA SYNC enables you to fully customize the look of your booking engine, send emails with custom headers and footers, etc.
6 Ways to Use The Booking Engine Efficiently
- Make direct sales – Reduce commission fees and control every step of the booking process.
- Create additional revenue streams – Offer various extra packages and add-ons, from promotions, room upgrades, and interactive guides to spa treatments.
- Raise brand awareness – Opt for customizable booking engines that you can tailor to your brand.
- Provide tailored services – The booking engine provides tons of info and details about your guest behavior you can use to hit your target market with a tailored approach.
- Enhance guest experience – Provide a seamless, smooth, and hassle-free booking experience that takes only a few steps.
- Enhance guest satisfaction – Show your property prices on your website and OTAs for guests to compare prices and see they’ll get a better deal when booking directly.
? ProTip:
The Guest App by OTA SYNC adapts to your guests’ needs and provides tailored recommendations, instant notifications, and quick check-ins and -outs.
Furthermore, it allows you to include personalized upselling features to elevate guest experiences.
11 Key Features The Booking Engine Must Have
1. User-friendly Interface
The booking engine should have a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and provides an intuitive user experience.
A booking process that takes too many steps and too much time will probably deter potential guests from booking.
2. Integration with PMS
Your booking engine should integrate with the hotel’s property management system (PMS) to provide real-time room availability, rates, and inventory data.
? ProTip:
Did you know that OTA SYNC’s PMS solution lets you view all your reservations, pricing, and restrictions on a centralized dashboard?
3. Mobile-responsive
80% of guests prefer mobile booking to acquire the info they need. Therefore, having a mobile-friendly and self-service app is a game-changer.
Furthermore, it should also be compatible with the social media channels you use for promoting your property.
4. Multi-language Compatibility
Providing multiple-language support can help you expand your reach to non-English speaking areas and facilitate the booking process for your guests.
5. Multi-currency Options
If your booking engine has the option to pay in multiple currencies, you can reach much broader, international markets.
? ProTip:
OTA SYNC provides payment options in multiple currencies, with the exchange rate that updates daily.
6. Payment Processing
Like with multiple currencies, the booking engine should accept various payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, online payments, and cash on arrival.
7. Booking Options
The booking engine should provide detailed information about room types, amenities, features, images, and descriptions.
Furthermore, it should allow you to set up booking rules, such as booking deadlines, payment schedules, and cancellation policies.
8. Upselling and Cross-selling Possibilities
What better place than your website for guests to find special deals, promotions, or extra services like spa days, local tours, restaurants, etc?
Furthermore, you can offer promotional rates to first-time visitors or reward loyal guests and partners with special offers.
9. Security Measures
Since you deal with highly sensitive guest information, make sure to check how well your desired booking engine complies with security and safety regulations.
It should be PCI DSS compliant, at least.
? ProTip:
OTA SYNC stores your data safely with automated processes, reducing the risk of fraud, theft, or manual errors.
10. Reporting and Analytics
To make informed pricing, promotions, and inventory management decisions, you should opt for the booking engine that provides comprehensive reports and analytical tools based on your property’s performance, KPIs, etc.
11. Customization Options
The look and feel of your booking engine should match one of your brand and brand values. Thus, look for customizable booking engines that you can tweak, incorporate brand colors and logos, etc., to make them instantly recognizable.
?Top Trending Booking Engine Providers
The growth of the global hospitality market is expected to reach a staggering $5,816.66 billion by 2027.
Thus, with an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5%, there are many players in the hospitality field.
However, although it is great to have so many options, it also makes it challenging to know which one to choose.
To give you a headstart, we’ll share the hottest booking engine providers currently on the market.
? OTA SYNC – An all-in-one hotel and PMS catering to all property sizes and providing solutions covering everything from front desk to back-office operations, with an emphasis on enhancing the guest experience.
? Little Hotelier – A hotel management system for smaller properties to help you manage daily operations.
? Guesty – A hospitality solution focusing on property management features like payments, smart pricing, etc.
? Cloudbeds – A hospitality management system catering to various property sizes and providing versatile features to manage reservations, payments, etc.
The booking engine provider you’ll eventually choose will depend on its features, your property size, customization options, etc.
For example, Little Hotelier might not be optimal if you run bigger properties. Furthermore, Cloudbeds is a robust solution but doesn’t have a mobile app, whereas Guesty primarily focuses on the US, UK, and Australian markets.
You get the picture – examine what you want your booking engine to do and opt for the solution that ticks most boxes if not all.
Our suggestion – OTA SYNC!?
How To Upgrade The Booking Process with OTA SYNC?
OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing cloud-based hospitality solution offering features and tools that address overall hotel management and not only a specific functionality.
In addition, it doesn’t neglect the importance of guest satisfaction but equips you with a robust Guest App for tailored guest experiences.
So, how can OTA SYNC help you level up bookings?
✅ It provides custom filters, content, maps, and promotions to reflect your hotel’s unique brand and provide a personalized touch to your operations.
✅ It enables you to set dynamic pricing depending on the demand, seasonality, special dates, etc
✅ It allows you to do bulk changes for large date ranges, auto-yield rate plans, etc.
✅ Our Channel manager lets you manage and update room availability, rates, and bookings in real time and makes sure all is in sync across channels.
✅ The Booking Engine provides your guests with live availability and rates, upsells and cross-sells relevant products and services, special offers and packages, etc.
✅ Multi-property hub integration enables you to connect a customized booking engine to your website
✅ OTA Payment Processor instantly automates transactions in multiple currencies while keeping your data safety in check.
✅ Our app lets you run and manage multiple properties from a centralized dashboard without switching tabs.
✅ Analytics and Reporting tools provide you with actionable property performance insights.
And the list goes on.
Curious to dig deeper?
Sign up for OTA SYNC today to transform booking experience for you and your guests.
Keep Learning:
5 Best Hotel Booking Engines in 2024
