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BOOKING ENGINES
With the growth in the use of the internet by the general
public, a rapidly-increasing proportion of hotel bookings are now being made
online, rather than by calling or writing to the hotel directly. A lot of this
growth has come from online travel companies such as Travelocity, Expedia and
Hotels.com (see
travel
portals and
merchant
model). However, hotels are realising that by selling through such
companies they are giving up control over the level of rates that are booked,
as well as diluting their revenue by selling their rooms at a
discount.
The answer to this is to encourage wherever possible the use of the hotel's own
website to take bookings. Many hotels have a simple "contact us" or "booking
request" page on their website. This allows the customer to fill in an online
form which generates an reservations enquiry by email to the
hotel.
However, the customer will realise that it may take many hours or even days
before a reply is received, and that reply will often take the form of "sorry,
but we are fully booked". For that reason, guests are looking increasingly for
hotels which offer an online booking option, where it is possible to see the
most up-to-date availability of rooms, and to make a booking where confirmation
is received instantly.
To offer such a facility, the hotel needs to attach
a "booking engine" to its website. This will help to maximise the number of
bookings made via the site, at the same time reducing the time spent by hotel
staff in answering enquiries which do not result in a confirmed booking. By
encouraging repeat guests to book directly in this way, the hotel can move
towards its aim of reducing their reliance on online travel
companies.
A
variety of booking engines are available, some of which can be tailored so that
the colours, fonts, logos, etc., match the rest of the site.We can help you to
select and install the most appropriate booking engine for your
site. |
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