Buying stuff online is stressful enough, but booking hotels these days can be excruciating. Deals appear and disappear before your eyes as you search site after site, cross-referencing.
When hotels don’t pay booking fees to third parties, they can afford to offer lower rates directly to guests. Many hotels will also price match if you find a better deal elsewhere.
Save Time
Online bookings are quicker, cheaper, and more convenient for guests and hotels. Managing real-time reservations with hotel software also reduces operational costs and gives hotels more profit per reservation. When hotels allow guests to book rooms directly on their websites, they aren’t paying for commissions from a third party, making offering competitive prices easier.
When guests input their dates and specifications into the system, the software validates their request and ensures all information is correct. This eliminates the need for staff to input reservations over the phone manually and significantly decreases the chance of errors. As guests input their details, they’re also more likely to include their payment method of choice, which again cuts down on manual work for staff.
In addition, when a guest books online, it’s much easier to upsell extra services like room upgrades or meal packages or even promos like the Booking.com promo code, which helps to increase revenue and customer satisfaction. Guests can click to add the desired options to their booking, and they’ll receive confirmation email notifications that are easy to understand and manage.
As a result, providing a seamless and convenient booking process is the best way to improve your guests’ experience and build loyalty. Ensure your customers know the possibility of booking online by promoting it across your various communication channels and social media accounts.
Save Money
One of the biggest reasons to book a hotel online is to save money. Using comparison websites to search for rooms can help you find the best deals, and some even let you know when hotels have added fees (like that dreaded resort fee). Calling a hotel directly can also be a great way to save. Hotels may drop prices when they have excess inventory, and you can often negotiate a deal.
Another great way to save money when booking a hotel is to use your rewards or credit card points. Many hotels offer travel portals where you can earn points, or even free nights, for booking with them. Or you can look for “hot” or auction-style sites, which give you a list of available hotels at a price you name. You can also save by booking last minute or staying in a non-luxury hotel.
A hotel reservation system allows guests to make reservations directly with the hotel and gives hotels a new source of revenue that they don’t have to share with third parties. A good reservation system also enables upselling of extra services, meal packages, and room upgrades. This takes the pressure off of front desk staff, which can help them to provide better service and improve operational efficiency. And a real-time booking system enables your hotel to display availability based on actual demand, which is critical for maintaining a competitive edge.
Save Energy
Online reservation systems allow travelers to book rooms directly at your hotel. This eliminates the need for them to go through third-party booking platforms, which means you can avoid paying commissions. This not only saves on transaction fees but also increases the profit potential for your establishment.
Real-time availability updates are automatically synced across channels, allowing you to update your prices based on actual demand and eliminating the risk of overbooking your rooms. It also reduces manual errors and the time your staff needs to manage them, which frees up valuable resources to focus on customer service.
With an online reservation system, guests can easily select their preferred dates, enter their details, and process payments in a few clicks. This allows you to avoid unnecessary phone calls and emails, giving a better customer experience. Adding room upgrades and extra services is easy with a few clicks.
An online hotel booking engine is an excellent way to increase your hotel’s visibility, especially for smaller hotels needing more resources to pay for costly digital advertising campaigns. It also helps small hotels to establish online credibility and create a user-friendly, memorable experience for their visitors. In addition, online bookings are also a convenient and safe option for travelers because they can be made through short forms with secure payment portals.
Save the Environment
If your hotel does not use an online booking system, a person must manually update each reservation from different distribution channels. It is a time-consuming task that increases the risk of double-booking. With an online reservation system, live rates and availability are automatically updated across all sales channels — reducing the risk of overbooking, which helps ensure smooth operations for guests and staff alike.
Online reservation systems allow guests to select their preferred room types from the comfort of their homes, offices, or anywhere else. They can also add extra meals, transfers, or upgrades to their reservation and complete the transaction quickly and efficiently. By providing this convenience, hotels can increase revenue and build loyal customer relationships while minimizing the need for staff to interact with customers over the phone.
By connecting to a leading channel manager and property management system, online reservation systems can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems, making it easy to manage reservations across all channels. Offering discounts or promotions directly through the hotel’s website is also possible, generating even more revenue.
A good online reservation system also provides your guests with email confirmations, which is a considerable advantage compared to traditional methods. This makes the guest experience much smoother and ensures they remember their reservation. This way, the hotel can avoid no-shows and keep its revenues intact.
