Some Must Have Features of a Hotel Booking Engine

[Airline Booking Engine]

The growing craze for exploring the world has led to a boom in the hospitality business worldwide. The big the hospitality group is, the more complex is to maintain its operation. However, internet booking engine makes the task easy for the hotels to a great extent. Around 80% fussy travelers research over internet to find out the hotel of their choice and approximately 60% of the travelers make their reservations online. Vacationers prefer reserving the accommodation well in advance to shun the last-minute rush and to avoid the unavailability issue.
A well-maintained online reservation system makes the task easy both for the hoteliers as well as for the guests. With this software, the guests can directly get different details about their accommodation, see the rate charts and also enjoy the freedom to book for their accommodation online from anywhere they want. On the other hand, the software minimizes the management hassle as everything is done online and the data gets automatically saved into the servers. Advanced booking systems automatically update the details and send a confirmation mail to the guest’s e-mail id; this ensures the end-users that the booking has been done.
Though internet reservation software quickens the reservation process, the hoteliers must consider including some basic features to their hotel software before integrating it with their website. Some of the must have features of such reservation systems are briefly discussed below:
•    The online booking form that the guests fill up to book for their accommodation should be simple. Details like number of rooms, category of rooms and the dates for which booking is made should be there in the form with every detail precisely mentioned. Other than the most important details, avoid putting other less important ones as these might confuse the website visitors.
•    There should be a mentioning of the already booked rooms in the booking engine. This reduces the chance of confusion. Moreover, good online reservation software should have the facility to display the room again after the cancellation.
•    It is always a good idea to put some pictures of the room in the online software; this attracts the visitors and influences them to book the room. While uploading the photos, try to put a 3600 view of the room so that the guests can get a precise idea about the décor and the amenities.
•    There should be clear mentioning of the room tariff in the hotel booking engine and it should include all the taxes and other service charges. People don’t like hidden costs and charges, and this often creates distrust among the guests. Hotels offering all-inclusive tariffs get more guests and also earn referral business.
•    Hotel amenities and other complimentary services that the guests get with their accommodation should be mentioned in the reservation system. This helps generate more business and attracts more customers.
The technological advancement has led to the integration of new features into the online hotel booking engine and results in high conversion rates. To reach out to more potential customers, the hotels can also integrate their internet reservation system to different social media sites.