Blogs / Hotel Technology

Ultimate Buyer's Guide: How to Choose the Best Hotel Booking Engine

29/01/2025

As a hotelier, are you still struggling with reduced revenue even after providing great guest service? No doubt, you spend most of the time displaying your reservations on OTAs for better online visibility. But that comes with a certain drawback.

An increased reliance on OTAs can make you lose out 10-30% extra revenue. But you can save the lost revenue through investing in a booking engine.

In this guide, we’ll discuss which booking engine should be apt for you.

What is a hotel booking engine?

In simple terms, a hotel booking engine is software that allows guests to make reservations directly via the hotel’s website.

Its ultimate purpose is to automate the entire process from checking availability to confirming bookings and processing payments, making the booking experience hassle-free and enhancing guest experience.

The booking engine offers multifaceted benefits such as:

Increases revenue
Decreases dependency on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)
Enhances booking experience,
Strengthens brand loyalty through direct bookings.

To sum up, hoteliers can have better control over their revenue as they get direct reservations through their website. Thus, they won’t have to rely on OTAs and struggle with commission cuts.

Looking to Boost Your Hotel’s Bookings? Discover Why a Booking Engine is Essential!

How a hotel booking engine works-

It allows guests to make online reservations according to their demands. Here’s the step-by-step process on how a booking engine works:

1. Landing on the hotel’s webpage

Imagine a case where guests land on a hotel’s website and want to reserve a spot at your accommodation. A website integrated with booking engine ensures that guests can select the check-in/check-out dates, enter the number of travelers as per their preference and hit the book now button. This simplifies their booking process.

2. Search and availability

After a guest makes a reservation, the booking engine checks through the hotel’s database for the availability of rooms.

The booking engine will display all the available rooms that match your criteria along with descriptions and photos. This will help narrow down the rooms and will allow them to compare more efficiently.

3. Booking process

After selecting the rooms, guests will proceed to the booking process. This process consists of guests filling out their personal information, selecting any additional services and entering payment information.

4. Payment gateway

A booking engine integrates with a secure payment gateway allows guests to choose from various methods like credit cards, debit cards, or any other online payment system.

5. Confirmation

After the payment is made, a confirmation email is generated and shared with the guest. This email contains details of the booking and payment receipt.

6. Integration with PMS

Integrating the booking engine with the Property Management System (PMS) ensures accurate inventory management, avoiding situations of overbooking or double booking.

7. Customer support

Often a booking engine offers built-in live chat or chatbots to help guests with their queries and enhance customer interaction.

Importance of booking engine for hoteliers and guests:

A booking engine is useful for both guests and hoteliers.

Below are the benefits of a booking engine for guests:

1. 24/7 Accessibility

This allows potential guests and visitors to visit at any time and real-time availability offers flexibility to guests to book as per their preference.

2. Easy booking

A booking engine provides guests with a simplified reservation process, making the whole process seamless.

3. Secure payment processing

A secure payment gateway allows guests to make transactions online without any concerns or trust issues.

Below are the benefits of a booking engine for hoteliers:

1. Enhanced revenue

Direct bookings allow hotels to save up on hefty commissions and generate more revenue.

2. Data and analytics

A booking engine provides detailed reports and insights,enables hoteliers to find the area of improvement. For example, data of conversion rates over a specific period can offer valuable insights to the hotelier. Thus, they can fine tune their pricing strategies accordingly and attract more bookings.

3. Efficient management

A booking engine can be integrated with the hotel Property Management System (PMS) consolidating bookings from all channels.
Provides a centralized dashboard for management.

Thus, a booking engine caters to the needs of both guests and hoteliers, making it essential in this industry.

Key criteria for selecting the right hotel booking engine

All the features to look for in a hotel booking engine:

User-friendly Interface: A user-friendly and intuitive website creates a lasting impact on guests and enhances their booking experience.

Mobile Friendly: This will allow guests to make reservations through their mobile or tablets, streamlining the user experience. According to a recent survey, 35% of travelers book their stays via mobile devices.

Google’s Free Hotel Booking Links: With Google’s Free Hotel Booking links, it's now easier to boost your hotel’s visibility and increase direct bookings. It allows you to show your hotel’s availability at no cost.

Customization: A booking engine should allow you to customize the website and set the theme according to the hotel’s brand image. It should allow hoteliers to optimize prices according to their pricing strategy.

Multilingual and Multicurrency Support: This feature can increase your global reach and will allow guests from any region to make a reservation. This will ensure a seamless process for international guests.

Secured Payment Gateway: The booking engine should be integrated with a secure payment gateway so that guests can become confident in making reservations.

Upselling: A booking engine should enable you to sell additional services alongside accommodation, providing an opportunity to boost your revenue.

Integrate: A good booking engine should allow you to integrate with PMS (Property Management System) and channel manager. Integration ensures seamless synchronization between various systems, enhancing operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.

Reports and Stats: A booking engine should provide you with insights into occupancy, bookings, revenue and many such reports to find the areas of improvement and maximize efficiency.

Data-driven campaigns: A booking engine should be able to provide you with detailed reports for you to run data-driven marketing campaigns, to increase engagement and bookings.

Conclusion

The above guide has given you insights on how to choose the right booking engine for your hotel.

By understanding key features and benefits, you can make informed decisions that will streamline your operations, enhance guest experience, and maximize revenue.