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How to take online bookings

Computer keyboardOnline booking is an essential requirement for most hotels and is becoming increasingly important for small guest houses, bed and breakfasts and self catering businesses as well as attraction providers.

By adding an online booking system to your own website means that you will have the tools to compete with the larger hotels and attractions, as well as attracting overseas visitors.

The way an online booking system works is a link is added to your site which forwards the viewer to the online booking system provider.  The provider completes the online booking transaction on your behalf using a secure payment gateway and will forward the payment to you according to your contractual arrangement.  

Online booking systems allow you to manage your room availability and pricing through your browser and can provide back end support including invoicing and an electronic diary to keep your bookings up to date.  You don’t need any coding skills but you do need basic proficiency on a computer.

Bookings made online are transacted in ‘real time’ therefore you always need to check the online availability before taking other types of bookings e.g. telephone bookings or you can run the risk of double booking.  

There are many online booking systems available and charges do vary considerably so it’s important that you select the system which best suits your business needs. Additionally you should consider how the various online booking providers network within the industry.

For example Eviivo Front Desk partners with online businesses including lastminute.com, expedia, bedandbreakfasts.co.uk, travelsupermarket.com which means that in effect they are marketing your business through some very large partner organisations, but it does come at a price.  Generally speaking, the more marketing they do on your behalf the higher the fees but you can opt in and opt out of promotional activity depending on your accommodation availability.