With the continuous development of the tourism industry, the growth of hospitality industry is talking numbers. Grasping the trend of looking up information through the Internet, many hotels have created websites with online booking features to meet all of their customers' requirements.

Let's learn what Booking engine is and what you need to know about online booking engines in this article with Cohost AI!

What is Booking Engine?

A booking engine is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application used by hospitality businesses that hotels, resorts, rental apartments, motels, and other businesses in the hospitality industry use.

An online booking engine, also known as an IBE (Internet Booking Engine). It is an application or software that collects customers' booking and credit card information and integrates it with other hotel management software such as a PMS, CRS, channel management, or payment gateway.

The development of this tool aims to simplify the booking process by automatically determining the hotel's availability by check-in/check-out date, checking room type information, rental prices, special offers, and utilities, if applicable.

Furthermore, the Booking engine supports payment immediately after the booking schedule is confirmed (instant confirmation).

The advantages and importance of a booking engine for lodging businesses

Cost savings

The significant benefit for hotels using Online Booking Engines is that they can receive direct bookings without having to pay commissions to third-party distribution channels such as OTAs, GDSs, agents travel, and so on. Typically, accommodation business owners must pay 10-20% OTAs for each booking, including advertising costs.

Direct room billing and eliminating distribution channel commissions significantly increase the hotel's profit margin. The Booking engine transforms your hotel website into a self-service online store open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Build brand awareness

Establishing a unique brand is critical for businesses looking to expand in tourism. Along with demonstrating the distinctive value of your product, your brand must also build customer trust and loyalty in the face of the growing trend of B2C personalization. Once you've defined your brand's characteristics, your website is the ideal place to apply for and find a customizable Online Booking Engine that fits your needs.

Collecting customer data

Managers can easily handle automatic bookings without fear of losing customer information. They can ultimately obtain and process data related to guests' staying without any problems.

Secure payment integration

A standard booking engine system can handle the issues mentioned above to help improve service efficiency and hotel professionalism. The booking engine has payment integration capabilities. Customers can easily book a room and pay quickly and directly using international and domestic payment cards.

How the booking engine works

The booking engine was not created by a team of web developers (website developers) or a team of website designers. In fact, the Booking engine is a product that works in tandem with third-party hotel management software - Property Management System (PMS). If the property does not have a website but only a Facebook fan page, they can still send their customers a link to the Booking engine.

Since the system automatically synchronizes the number of available rooms in real time, the customer successfully makes a reservation. The management system will be public information and the customer's desired time.

Let's take a look at the following examples with Cohost AI:

Some examples of booking engines

Website

In the previous example, Ao Garden already has a website, which was created using Cohost AI's Website design service (see here).

The website design team's job is to create a design for the hotel room availability check. The BOOKING section now includes a link to the Booking engine. When customers click this button, they are immediately redirected to the Booking Engine interface.

No website

In case small-scale hotels do not have a website, a link to the Booking engine will be added to the BOOK NOW box on the Facebook Fanpage. Customers can directly click this button to be taken to the Booking engine's interface.

Big corporation

Most large corporations that own hotels or lodging chains create their own booking engines. Furthermore, they are automatically linked to management software and systems. Most businesses will use a single system to manage all of their sub-brands.

In the previous example, InterContinental is a Luxury brand among the IHG group's elites. When you visit the InterContinental website, select the Check Availability button, and the system will take you directly to the IHG Group Booking engine's interface.

Top 3 most popular booking engines

Online travel agencies, also known as OTAs, include Booking.com, Airbnb.com, Traveloka, Agoda, and many others.

Nowadays, almost all online booking engines have mobile optimization, so you can fully utilize the integration into your website. One of the requirements for expanding your online reservations and optimizing your sales is unquestionably implementing this technology. So, what are the main choices currently?

Mews

The Mews's Booking engine is an excellent choice for providing guests with a simple experience. You can use it as a widget or as a standalone website. With the Mews API, you can even create your own interfaces.

Mews provides a quick and simple booking process with up to 20 currencies and languages, connecting various bundled products for cross-selling purposes. Furthermore, with secure payment, Mews can be booked by third parties, such as travel agents, relatives, and friends.

Another unique feature of Mews is its ability to be customized to match your brand identity for the best possible customer experience. Colors, symbols, logos, and the look and feel of your website can all be changed to create a more familiar feeling for customers who want to use the service.

SiteMinder

SiteMinder's booking engine is optimized to improve every step of the booking process, providing easy access to hotel apps that assist in driving digital transformation. Customers can be confident that the booking process will go as smoothly as possible thanks to a secure payment system.

Property owners, in particular, no longer have to invest a significant amount of time and money in developing their own system when using SiteMinder, but can instead take advantage of the tool's intelligent integration capabilities.

Avvio

Avvio is an AI-powered booking system that uses data science to improve customers' online booking experience. Furthermore, the software integrates a central reservation system, business information, and channel management to provide you with the best experience possible when using the software's excellent optimization features.

Conclusion

It is undeniable that hotels are attempting to establish online booking engines to save expenses and ensure better management of consumer information. Many hotels have successfully created an online booking channel using the Booking engine and cutting-edge marketing techniques. Cohost AI hopes to have given you a lot of helpful information through this article to help you comprehend how it functions and the significance of the Booking engine in the lodging and hotel industry!