[INFOGRAPHIC] 20 essential requirements for a booking engine for chains

The needs of hotel chains, due to their own diosyncrasy, may be different from those of independent hotels. Because of their volume of beds, because of their greater capacity to attract repeat customers, because of the versatility of their products, because of the heterogeneity of their audiences, or because of the variety of their destinations, if the chains do not ensure that they have a “full team” reservations, this fact will dramatically contribute to them wasting their extraordinary sales potential.

In this sense, we invite you to ask yourself the following question: Does your current engine simply allow reservations or does it really enhance reservations? Below, we list 20 essential requirements, divided into three different blocks, to guarantee that your answer to this question is always the second option.

Does your current booking engine simply allow bookings or does it really boost bookings?
David Madrigal, COO Paraty Tech

FUNCTIONALITY

1. Flexible calendar : the traveler is not always clear when to travel and, sometimes, the price can push him to decide. Provide a display format that quickly and easily indicates the cheapest days of the month and availability.
2. Supplements and packages : the booking engine, far from limiting your marketing, should be a reflection of your ideas and allow you to sell exactly how you want, when you want and where you want. For example, packages help you differentiate yourself from the OTAs' offerings, turning stays into more complete experiences for your clients.
3. Geolocation of rates, prices and content : not all markets choose the same time of year to book, nor are all audiences willing to pay the same amount. It is important that your engine can show one rate or another depending on the geographical location of the users, even allowing you to discern offers and content based on it.
4. Selecting a specific room : go a little further… allow your users to not only choose a type of room, but to select a specific room. Make them feel special, that they can really decide where to sleep, in what area of the hotel to stay.
5. Hotel selector by destination and filtering system : clients usually know where they want to go, but they do not have a specific hotel in mind or do not know the name of it. Help them filter their searches both by destination and by services, so that they find exactly the hotel they dream of. Go a little further and use cookies to show them, first of all, those establishments that best suit their requirements and preferences.
6. All payment facilities : even if you finally charge in euros, let everyone see in their own currency how much their trip will cost, and offer them all the possible options regarding payment methods, thus increasing your probability of conversion: payment with or without card, bank transfer, payment installment/deferral, Paypal, Bizum, Amazon Pay, Redunicre, Placetopay, Payjp, Unipay, etc. Many customers are already opting for alternative payment methods.
7. Maximum integration : Nowadays it is almost mandatory that your booking engine is fully integrated in every way. With metasearch engines, channel managers, pms, crm, mass shipping platforms, revenue management tools, etc. Integrations streamline processes, saving you time and money. Find out your needs first and demand integration with your systems.
8. Ability to adapt and aesthetic customization : if you want to inspire trust, it is essential that the jump to your booking engine from your website is fluid, natural. In this sense, your booking engine must offer you possibilities for aesthetic adaptation without limitations.
9. Price Comparison and Matcher : If you are clear about your business rule, make sure that your booking engine always shows exactly the prices you want it to show. You can do this with a real-time price match. In addition, a price comparison widget with OTAs will prevent your users from leaving your website to evaluate other channels.
10. Business Intelligence by hotel and by chain : information, data, are everything to maintain correct control of your marketing. Don't settle for bare Business Intelligence systems. If you are in charge of a chain, your Business Intelligence must provide thorough monitoring of sales and availability data both per hotel and for the entire chain.

Getting a customer to reach your official website is complex. In many cases, even if you finally manage to drag him to your site, you will have done so at the cost of a high price or a high commission. That's why everything must be perfect.
Daniel Sánchez, CRO Paraty Tech

EMPOWERING

1. Offer of alternative establishments : if the establishment that a certain client is looking for is not available or is closed, you can surely offer them an alternative. Don't let her leave your website without at least giving her some consideration.
2. Active retargeting : There are many ways to retain your customer when they want to abandon the booking process. For example, offering real-time incentives that change your mind. If they still decide to leave, make sure they always have a link on hand to resume the reservation whenever they want. Either in your email, or on the website's home page when you return. You can't waste their interest.
3. Upselling and Cross-selling : if you want to increase the value of your reservations and be able to improve your customers' experience in your establishments, you must have an upselling and cross-selling system that checks availability in real time. Maybe when you booked you couldn't afford a Junior Suite, or you didn't feel like a massage or an excursion. But days or months later, their situation or mood may be different and you have to be there.
4. Assigned Account : You are very good at what you do, we are sure. But no one knows a booking engine as well as its creators. Demand the services of an assigned account, a specialist in revenue management, who will help you optimize and make the most of all the possibilities of your booking engine.
5. Searches without availability equal to zero : you cannot allow a user to leave your page with the feeling of not having found what they were looking for. Reducing unavailability searches to zero should be your priority objective. Did your client want a double room and you didn't have any? Offer him a triple and inform him of the reason for the increase in price. At least he will feel that you have made an effort to accommodate him.

20 Essential Requirements of a reservation engine for chains, Paraty Tech

LOYALTY

1. Loyalty club : never forget to make your customers feel special. A Loyalty Club integrated with your booking engine will allow you to offer them unique conditions, generate beneficial disparities with OTAs in a justified way, awaken a feeling of belonging and encourage the desire to return.
2. Telephone assistance : the voice continues to inspire a lot of confidence, despite the emergence of technology and digitalization. Furthermore, call centers or customer experience centers have evolved to become extraordinary loyalty channels, which offer very effective possibilities, such as cancellation recovery campaigns, pre- and post-stay campaigns, integrations with WhatsApp and chats, generation of invisible disparities in real time, etc.
3. Repeat customer recognition : prevent your customers from having to re-enter data you already have. Take advantage of them to greet them, offer them services that you already know they are interested in, make them feel welcome when they return, saving them time and effort. If you can also reward them in some way for choosing you again, your reservation is guaranteed.
4. Pre-stay email and birthday greeting module : it is important that your clients feel special during their stay, but also before and after it. Email is very practical to provide them with interesting information or improve their stay before their arrival, but also to wish them a happy birthday, have a gift with them and make them smile when they are immersed again in the routine of their daily lives.
5. Satisfaction questionnaires : it is good for your clients to tell you how much fun they had during their stay, but even more important is for them to be honest and tell you what they did not like about your hotel or service. Make it easy for them with a simple satisfaction questionnaire and make sure they are aware of your intention to improve for them and the steps you take in that direction.

In short, getting an interested customer to reach your official website is a complex task. And in many cases, even if you finally manage to drag him to your site, you will probably have done so at the cost of a high price or a high commission. Everything must be perfect. Therefore, having your technology provider put at your disposal a 24-hour technical incident resolution service is also decisive in materializing this effort, and ensuring that every customer who reaches your direct channel completes the reservation or, failing that, leaves the reservation. website with the clear idea of returning, knowing that it is your best option.