Online Reservation Software are online tools that hotel businesses use to process reservations. Hotels relying on manual processes like pen and paper to run their operations, often feel the need to switch to an Online Reservation Software. Quick benefits like automated systems to reduce booking errors, implement online payments to increase cash flow, and create a more centralized approach to improve efficiency and save time is what hoteliers are looking to get out of Online Reservation Software.

Hotel businesses feel the need to optimize on the evolving technology and many, irrespective of size or location, are adopting them rapidly to increase revenue and occupancy. Be it a Bed and Breakfast, Motel, Service Apartment or a Full Service City Hotel, everyone can benefit from Online Reservation Software. Infact, its the small and mid sized properties who gain the most out of evolved hotel software. A lot of these properties usually run a tight ship when it comes to resources like staff and revenue.

Areas where hoteliers are benefiting from Online Reservation Software

Seamless check in

With no Online Reservation Software in place, booking may get lost or damaged. Your frontdesk staff may be attending to customers or assigning tasks to other department like housekeeping and can easily lose track of the bookings that have come in. This is a common scenario and can easily escalate to situations where guests arrive at your hotel and wait endlessly till you figure out which room are they reserved for.

If your hotel is connected to an Online Reservation Software, not only can you capture your walk-ins and call-ins, but also maintain a real time update of reservations that roll in through OTAs. This lets your staff to be on top of the complete reservation data, giving them the time and confidence to plan their schedule better.

Easier booking experience for guests

With guests getting more comfortable with online channels, OTAs dominate the market pretty much. Call-ins and walk-ins are few, with only corporate and travel agents making up for a fair share apart from OTAs. Online Reservation Software let hoteliers connect with online booking channels seamlessly. In fact, evolved cloud PMS’s like Hotelogix is popular for its seamless 2-way integration with Channel Managers which leads to real time room rate and inventory update. Double bookings, missed booking, etc are a thing of the past now.

Online Payment option

With popular online bookings come online payment requirement. Integrating your hotel with a software that supports online reservations but not payment gateways make for poor business decision. Also, creating a safe and secure environment for guests when they are booking online is crucial. Shopcart abandonment is a very common problem across businesses, major reason being lack of security. Empower your hotel with an Online Reservation Software that help your guests provide a safe, simple and flexible payment solution.

Connecting with Guests

Today’s guest expect a certain level of communication when they book with you. These can be booking confirmation mails, seasonal offer mails, thank you mails when they check out, request for review mails and so on. To carry out all of these manually would be a nightmare. Modern Online Reservation Software let you automate the entire process, saving time and effort for you. You don’t need to worry about which database to send it to and what time.

Analyzing hotel data

An evolved Online Reservation Software gives you the ability to optimize on your existing hotel data. Your marketing campaigns, pricing strategy, future plans, all of them depend on how you analyze and make of the data. Hotelogix PMS for instance gives you access to 100+ reports giving you better insights into your hotel. Accessibility of these reports play a major role because if it’s difficult to access, then it becomes a tedious and time consuming process.

We leave you with a checklist for choosing the best Online Reservation Software for your hotel,

-Features (Check for the one’s that your hotel requires, look out for features that may come at an additional expense)

-Cost (Are there any overhead expense involved in the system. Look out for extra fees and such)

-Support (Talk to existing clients for the kind of support that the Online Reservation Software vendor provides to them)