Know all about Hotel Booking Engine, Functionality, Cost, Types, and Ways to Build
Know all about Hotel Booking Engine, Functionality, Cost, Types, and Ways to Build Introduction What is a hotel booking engine, and what are its basic functionalities? Types of hotel booking engine How does a hotel booking engine work? What are the features of a good hotel booking engine? What are the benefits of using a hotel booking engine? Ways to build a hotel booking engine Concluding Thoughts Over the years, travel has gradually started becoming an increasingly accessible commodity, which has made people worldwide frequently plan trips to explore new countries, cultures, and cuisines. A survey from Skift states that in 2023, online booking of hotel reservations worldwide will surpass the 70% mark. Gradually, travelers prefer the convenience and flexibility of various online booking platforms. The world has come much closer, and travel seems easier. However, this adaptation of the digital landscape in travel has presented hotels with a unique challenge to capture a larger share of online bookings and offer a seamless experience for guests. The solution comes in the form of a hotel booking engine, which, as its basic workings take direct reservations through its website and other online channels, maximizes profits. This blog aims to give you an overview of a hotel booking engine and why it is important to have one for your business. Let’s jump right in! What is a hotel booking engine, and what are its basic functionalities? A hotel booking engine is a software application that is integrated into a hotel’s website, allowing guests to search for available rooms, compare rates and make secure online reservations. In simpler terms, your hotel’s online storefront gives your potential customers a user-friendly platform to complete their booking journey from start to end. The hotel booking engine allows customers to search for hotels, rooms, prices, and locality, compare images/videos, and book rooms via the website or mobile app. A hotel booking engine is helpful for business owners to list hotel room availability, feed hotel information, accept bookings, collect payments, track bookings, & collect reviews. The goal of every booking system is to list inventory and enable online bookings worldwide. The primary purpose of the hotel internet booking engine (IBE) is to detect and process online reservations coming from a hotel/accommodation provider. Other vital roles of the hotel booking engine are: Integrating and syncing with the hotel’s details from all the web pages and sometimes social media pages. Cross-selling services at the time of booking. Managing promo codes and discount rates. Displaying the best obtainable rates to customers against prices available on competitor’s sites. Sending emails at different stages like sign-up, booking confirmation, check-in, and check-out. Types of hotel booking engine Hotel booking engines are categorized into three major types based on business needs: Business-to-Customer (B2C): Used by OTAs to provide hotel inventory to end-users for booking hotel rooms. Business-to-Business (B2B): Used by large hotel suppliers, bed banks, consolidators, and aggregators to sell hotel inventory to other businesses. Business-to-Enterprise (B2E): Preferred by big organizations or corporate companies to regulate bookings for their employees, with added benefits or discounts on hotel pricing. Additionally, multi-channel booking engines integrate various B2B, B2C, and B2E features, providing all-in-one solutions. How does a hotel booking engine work? The basic functionality of the hotel booking engine remains the same across all software. It includes primary features such as inventory management, search functionality, rate display, secure booking process, and integration with PMS. Let’s understand how these functions work. Inventory Management: Managing inventory is the core aspect of your online website. Here, the booking engine connects with your channel managers, suppliers, GDSs, Whole Sellers, Self-Contracted Inventory, etc. This integration ensures real-time room availability and precise rate information, which mitigates the risk of overbooking and makes it a comforting experience for guests. Search Functionality: Every hotel booking engine has search functionality that lets users search for the available rooms according to their needs, viz., dates, number of guests, room types, and desired amenities like staying with breakfast or without and more. The hotel booking engine filters the available options based on chosen criteria, giving the result of what they are exactly looking for. Rate Display: This function shows the user rates of multiple types of rooms and packages with applicable taxes or fees. This adds a layer of transparency for the user to make informed decisions based on their budget and preferences. Secure Booking Process: Once the guests’ journey on your website has reached this point, the booking engine paves the way for a secure online payment process. This process includes collecting guest information, processing secure payments and sending confirmation emails. Integration with PMS/Suppliers: Once the successful booking is carried out, the booking engine automatically updates your PMS or suppliers with new reservation details, ensuring every department in the hotel is aware of the bookings and can arrange the preparation likewise. Read more Ideal Features that a Hotel Booking Engine Must Have What are the features of a good hotel booking engine? Every hotel booking engine software offers some features that enhance the guest experience, simplifying hotel operations. Let’s look at some common features. Mobile-Friendly Design: In recent years, every technology has shifted to a mobile-first approach, which applies to hotel booking engines. A well-designed and developed hotel booking engine comes with seamless mobile optimization across all devices, including smartphones, tablets, and more, catering to the growing trend of mobile booking. Multiple Payment Options: Providing your service to a global audience is no easy feat; thus, keeping a global aspect in mind, the hotel booking engine should support various payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, and secure online wallets. Additionally, offering local payment options can attract customers from specific regions. Promotional Offers and Packages: A competitive hotel booking engine always tends to showcase special offers, packages, and last-minute deals to incentivize bookings and boost revenue. Guest Reviews and Ratings: The world should know about your incredible services, which is why integrating guest reviews and ratings adds credibility that fosters trust with potential guests, significantly influencing booking decisions. Multilingual Support: Like payment methods,
15 Ideal Features – You Must Check in Hotel Booking Engine
Ideal Features that a Hotel Booking Engine Must Have Overview Essential Features to Consider in a Hotel Booking Engine Reasons to Choose ZentrumHub Booking Engine Are you thinking about switching from your current booking engine provider to a new one? Or, going from an offline to an online booking model? Finding the right hotel booking engine that fits your requirements is challenging. However, defining precise requirements will help you choose the right vendor. Below are some things that can help you to outline your needs clearly and in selecting the right vendor as well. Let’s start with the basics of a hotel booking engine. A hotel booking engine is a versatile software designed to cater to Hotel Business Owners and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). It is a centralized platform to showcase hotel information and enables seamless online bookings for end-users. Read “Understand Hotel Booking Engines – Functionality, Cost, Types, & Ways to Build an IBE” for more in-depth insights. 15 Essential Features to Consider in a Hotel Booking Engine Before you compare different booking engines, evaluating the features they offer and how they can benefit your business is crucial. Here’s a list of must-have features to look for in a hotel booking engine: Online Travel Agents Integrations: Flexibility to add or remove travel agents based on your business requirements. Revenue Management: Systematic dashboard to show all bookings, discounts, offers, cancellations, and revenue generated. Supplier Management: Access to an expansive hotel inventory with the option to add, remove, or pause individual suppliers from the booking engine. Easy-to-Use Interface for OTA & Customers: A simple, readable, and tailored to meet user requirements Customizable Booking Engine: The ability to customize options within the system to suit your specific needs. Back Office: Easy way to manage bookings, analytics, suppliers, revenue, and other essential aspects. Mark-Up: Flexible mark-ups for different suppliers, different kinds of hotels, city-wise mark-ups, seasonal mark-ups, etc Device Compatibility: Responsiveness for smooth UI on various devices, like mobile, laptop, and tablet Fast & Accurate Search Results: Option auto-suggestions and varied results based on search queries for a seamless user experience. Zero Booking Failure: Ensuring that booking failures are minimized to avoid further issues AI-enabled Search Patterns: Auto-suggest and search patterns based on ratings, customer feedback, and user behavior. Multi-Language and Multi-Currency Support: The ability to adapt language and currency preferences based on user locations. Deduplication or Mapping: Hotel and Room capability for deduplication and accurate listing Reporting and Analytics: Detailed booking reports for effective analysis and data-driven decision-making SEO Potential: Built-in SEO capabilities to enhance online visibility and attract organic traffic to your booking platform. As an OTA, finding the right booking engine can significantly impact your business’ success. If you’re looking for previously mentioned features, we have carefully developed a hotel booking engine that Fortune 500 companies globally trust. Reasons to Choose ZentrumHub Booking Engine ZentrumHub is an emerging travel tech company renowned for its cutting-edge hotel booking and supplier connectivity platform. With an easy-to-operate interface and AI-enabled features, the intelligent booking API ensures lightning-fast access to hotel inventory within 2 seconds, guaranteeing swift and efficient services. Leveraging a vast network of 50+ global hotel suppliers, including names like HotelBeds, Expedia, Web Beds, Agoda, Yalago, OYO, Yatra, and more, ZentrumHub offers unparalleled business connectivity options. Whether supplier integration or end-to-end booking engine requirements, ZentrumHub’s universal single platform makes it effortlessly manageable. ZentrumHub is becoming a preferred choice among travel businesses for global hotel supplier integration and booking engine platforms. Let’s explore the key features that make ZentrumHub the industry leader: Features: ChatGPT Integration: ChatGPT-based search feature to find the best suitable hotels in the intended destinations Supplier Management: Seamlessly integrate hotel suppliers for a diverse hotel inventory. Revenue Management: Systematic dashboard to show all bookings, discounts, offers, cancellations, and revenue generated. Easy-to-Use Interface: User-friendly interface for a smooth booking experience. Multi-channel: Accepts Booking from mobile, website, and travel agents. Customizable Booking Engine: Tailor the platform to your brand and unique requirements. Mark-Up Facility: Flexible mark-ups for different suppliers, different kinds of hotels, city-wise mark-ups, seasonal mark-sups, etc Fast & Accurate Search Results: Quick loading times and precise search results for user engagement. Zero Booking Failure: Seamless booking confirmation process to avoid discrepancies. AI-Enabled Search Patterns: Personalized search options based on user preferences. Deduplication or Mapping: Hotel and Room capability for deduplication and accurate listing Price Comparison: Users can easily compare prices, amenities, and special offers from different hotels to find the best deals. Multi-Language and Multi-Currency Support: Adapts to diverse languages and currencies for global users. White Label Solution: The platform offers a white label solution, allowing travel agencies and tour operators to brand the system as their own, enhancing their brand presence in the market. Support and Training: Software provides ongoing technical support, training, and assistance to clients for a smooth implementation Reporting and Analytics: Detailed booking reports for informed decision-making. B2B and B2C Portals: ZentrumHub develops B2B and B2C portals, enabling travel agencies and tour operators to manage their business operations SEO Potential: Built-in SEO capabilities for enhanced online visibility and traffic. 24/7 Customer Support: Access experienced assistance via call, chat & email, with a separate dashboard to track your support tickets. XML Integration: XML integration with a wide range of suppliers, including global distribution systems (GDS), hotel aggregators, and other travel content providers, expands travel product offerings. Select the solution that best suits your travel business and maximize your revenue with Zentrum Connect and Zentrum Booking Engine. Choosing the right hotel booking engine is crucial for success, and each top-ranked booking engine has unique strengths and features. Hotel businesses should carefully evaluate their needs and requirements to find the best fit that enhances their efficiency, customer experience, and revenue generation. Read more blogs on Booking Engine Step-by-Step Guide – Go Live with ZentrumHub Know all about Hotel Booking Engine, Functionality, Cost, Types, and Ways to Build Ideal Features that a Hotel Booking Engine Must Have Why Must Every Travel Business Invest in Online Booking Engine?