Holiday Property Booking Software - The Pros and Cons
Clearly, on this site I am going to "big up" the pros of live online booking, but hopefully I can be impartial enough to give some of the pros and cons of both approaches to generating bookings through your property (or properties) web site.
Pros
We think live booking is the future so here are some of the general benefits of having live booking on your web site.
Open 24/7 worldwide
Open yourself up to guests from the other side of the world, booking via your web site while you are tucked up in bed!
If, for whatever reason you can't answer the phone or respond to an email in time, you can still accept confirmed bookings
Overcome the barrier of foreign language speakers booking your property - even if your booking system is not translated, it is easier for a foreign language speaker to make a booking via the web than over the phone.
Give the customer what they are looking for
Surfers are most likely looking to find a price, availability and make a booking. Live booking will satisfy their need and improve their overall experience of your web site.
Users are highly goal-driven on the Web. They visit sites because there's something they want to accomplish -- maybe even buy your product. The ultimate failure of a website is to fail to provide the information users are looking for.
"Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design", Jakob Nielsen 2007
Conversion
If someone does not get that instant satisfaction from your site, they are going to look elsewhere while they await your response... by the time you get back to them, the booking could be lost.
Customer service
How happy would you be if you needed to request availability and wait for an email or phone call back when you booked a train ticket, hotel or theatre ticket?
It is not rocket science - you will be providing better customer service by giving the ability to book there and then.
Pricing
Alter your rates simply, so be more price sensitive and increase your occupancy.
Fill a difficult gap period to fill or an awkward last minute spot in low season.
Cons
I don't like to admit it but there are some down sides to providing live bookings on your site.
Even if you do go ahead and set yourself up with a live booking service such as Bookster, you should be aware of these implications and prepare for them.
Double Bookings
You are more likely to get double bookings if you have your property available to book live.
If you accept a booking over the phone you are not always going to be sitting at your computer to block the dates off on the property booking software. This leave a window of opportunity for double bookings
Guest Vetting
There is no opportunity to vet guests before they punch in their credit card and pay you a deposit. If you subsequently discover it is a stag or hen party that you would rather not stay you might find it difficult to explain, even if you have put this in your terms and conditions.
Calendar Management
This can become a big issue for property managers, yet another calendar to keep up to date, do you really have time?
In time Bookster will try to help out by allowing the publishing of rates and availability into 3rd party directories but in the mean time there is that little extra administration to do.
Clinching the Deal
When you are on the phone or even communicating by email, you may be able to sense a little bit of wavering and there is the opportunity to throw in a nice extra or lower the price to encourage someone to book. Clearly this is not possible to do if someone is surfing your site and simply looking at your prices.
Whatever approach you take, there is no right or wrong answer to how "live" your booking method is.
Our aim with Bookster is to give you the easiest possible way to try out the live approach without committing to a large set up fee or a lengthy contract.
See pricing and sign up to give it a go!
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