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Hotel Reservation Software
Compare All Hotel Reservation Software
SimplyBook.me
SimplyBook.me
SimplyBook.me is a cloud-based scheduling solution designed for service businesses in multiple industries. It provides a booking site so that users can accept online bookings, collect client feedback to optimize revenue and servic...Read more
TicketingHub
TicketingHub
TicketingHub is an online ticketing platform designed to help can entertainment, travel and tourism and transport businesses manage any type of venue from a small comedy show to the London Eye. The platform enables organization...Read more
Bookinglayer
Bookinglayer
Bookinglayer is a cloud-based hotel and reservation management solution. It is designed for small to midsize businesses in the tourism industry that provide accommodations and activities. Bookinglayer features a real-time int...Read more
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling is a cloud-based appointment scheduling software solution that enables business owners to manage their appointments online. The product caters to the needs of small and midsize businesses as well as individual pr...Read more
Software pricing tips
Read our Hotel Reservation Software Buyers GuideSubscription models
- Per employee/per month: This model allows you to pay a monthly fee for each of your employees.
- Per user/per month: Users pay a monthly fee for users—normally administrative users—rather than all employees.
Perpetual license
- This involves paying an upfront sum for the license to own the software and use it indefinitely.
- This is the more traditional model and is most common with on-premise applications and with larger businesses.
Rated best value for money
GuestPoint
GuestPoint
Utilizing more than 20 years of hands-on experience in the industry, Centium Software developed GuestPoint, a comprehensive hotel management solution for small to mid-sized properties. ...Read more
Newhotel Cloud Suite
Newhotel Cloud Suite
Newhotel Software’s Cloud PMS is a flexible Web-based hotel management system that features a graphical reservation calendar, multiple report types and point-of-sale (POS) integration....Read more
Vendor Remote
Vendor Remote
Vendor Remote from Rezserve Technologies is a cloud-based hospitality management solution designed to help hospitality businesses of all size and types which includes hotels, inns, motels and resorts to manage online bookings, res...Read more
Amadeus Hotels
Amadeus Hotels
Amadeus' LinkHotel CRS maximizes the reach of hospitality companies by distributing rate and inventory information across multiple sales channels, as well as offering reservation and rate management....Read more
Popular Hotel Reservation Software Comparisons
Buyers Guide
Last Updated: March 10, 2022Here's what we'll cover in this guide:
What is hotel reservation software?
Common Features of Hotel Reservation Software
Key Considerations
Market Trends to Understand
What is hotel reservation software?
Hotel reservation software is an application that helps hotels, resorts, home-stays or lodges accept bookings from customers and collect payments online. The tool allows customers to choose the date and length of their stay as well as the type of room that they want. Customers can also pay the rent amount upfront through credit card or net banking options. Hotel reservation software can be integrated with your hotel website and with other third-party booking websites to help you seamlessly manage bookings and room availability.
Common Features of Hotel Reservation Software
Hotel reservation systems perform several functions related to online reservations, including managing rates and inventory and storing customer profile information. These systems also interface with various sales channels to ensure your hotel’s inventory and information is available to guests no matter where they reserve a room. These channels include:
- The Global Distribution System (GDS; defined below)
- Online travel agencies
- Booking engine software and reservation call centers
Finally, most reservation systems can interface with a property management system, which is used to manage other areas of a hotel’s daily operations.
Here’s a list of the most common capabilities of hotel reservation software:
| Feature | Description |
| Reservation tracking | Enter and track reservations in a “tape chart”: a color-coded grid of reservations hoteliers can modify to reflect changes in availability. Some systems, like more robust travel agency software, include the ability to track where reservations originate (e.g., from the hotel website or an online travel agency). |
| Rate management | Adjust rates and determine which rates are available to certain guests during certain times of the year or during promotions. |
| Customer data profiling | Manage phone numbers, payment information, membership status, statistics on past stays and other information about guests. |
| Internet booking engine | Many hotel reservation systems can enable online booking from your hotel’s website, turning your site into a veritable booking engine—an essential function today. |
| Global Distribution System integration | A GDS is a network that stores the rate and inventory information of hotels connected to it by a central reservation system. Online travel agencies also access the GDS, and use the information to ensure consistency for customers when booking online. Connecting a hotel to these networks with hotel reservation software allows guests to book rooms on systems other than the hotel’s system. Though the technology is aging, four major GDSs exist today (Worldspan, Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre) that are still used by most hotels. |
Key Considerations
If you are in the market for hotel reservation software, here are a few factors to consider during your search:
Choose a system that fits the size of your hotel. Hotel reservation systems can vary in the number of rooms, number of properties and room types they support. Select a system that accommodates your hotel’s needs: choosing one that is designed for larger hotels when your business is a small bed and breakfast, for example, could make the reservation process more complicated than necessary. Large resorts, on the other hand, may require dedicated resort tools to meet their needs.
Consider GDS integration. Hotels should still consider GDS integration when choosing a hotel reservation system to ensure that rooms and rates appear correctly on the several thousands of sales channels GDSs link to.
Evaluate usability. Choose a system with an interface that is easy for you to decipher and that gives your hotel the most exposure to sales channels. More importantly, since the systems allow for online bookings, you should pick one with an easy-to-use customer interface. A simple, intuitive interface can mean the difference between a completed guest transaction and a failed conversion.
Market Trends to Understand
The biggest challenge for the hotel industry today is wrestling revenue back from online travel agencies, which have attracted travelers with reduced rates from hotels. Keep these trends in mind when comparing hotel reservation systems:
Online travel agencies. With the advent of the Internet, traditional travel agencies were undercut by airlines and hotels that could now offer direct sales to customers through their websites—avoiding the fees required to be listed with an agency.
Online travel agencies (OTAs) developed their own Internet presence by connecting to the GDS. These websites, such as Expedia, Priceline and Orbitz, focused their services on sorting and and comparing hotel rates and inventory to make planning easier for travelers.
OTAs charge hotels 10 to 25 percent in commission fees for being listed—but neglecting the millions of dollars generated through those websites is not an option for the vast majority of hotel managers. By using an appropriate hotel reservation system and increasing your online marketing strategy, you can drive more bookings directly from your website.
Metasearch engines. Other websites, such as Kayak and HotelsCombined.com, scour through the OTAs’ independent search engines to bring users a live inventory of hotel rooms across multiple OTAs. They allow users to sort these results by price, rating and other filters. These sites redirect travellers to the hotel website or OTA for the final purchase, and generate revenue through advertising and listing fees.