First impressions have more say in guest experience than you think. That’s where hotel reservation software comes in.
With this system, guests can book a room at your hotel from any channel of their choice. They won’t have to call you to check room availability since this system can track everything. Such a seamless experience will leave a great first impression on your customers and enhance their overall experience.
However, this tool is different from an online booking engine. Instead of simply taking bookings, it manages everything from check-ins to room assignments.
So, let’s explore reservation software hotel in detail!
What Is Hotel Reservation Software?
Hotel reservation software is a tool that helps hotels manage their booking process efficiently. While that might seem simple enough, its capabilities go beyond reserving rooms.
It primarily handles reservations, tracks room availability, and integrates bookings from various sources. It keeps every reservation in one place whether the guest uses your website, online travel agencies, or makes direct bookings.
As a result, you can manage all bookings in a single dashboard without having to hop between multiple tools.
Moreover, updating room availability in real-time helps you avoid double bookings. You can also initiate online payments and even automate the process.
However, all this will only be possible if you use a hotel reservation system alongside other tools. These include a channel manager, a booking engine, and a POS system.
6 Reasons Why Every Hotel Should Invest in a Hotel Booking Reservation Software
With the availability of online booking engines and travel agencies, investing in hotel reservation software might seem useless. However, these software solutions can rarely replicate the benefits of a proper reservation system.
Here are six reasons to invest in such a solution:
- Enhancing customer experience: Having real-time access to room availability and other data makes for a seamless booking experience. This can lead to long-term customer loyalty.
- Upselling and cross-selling: Apart from rooms, you can add other amenities to the system. This provides opportunities to upsell and cross-sell to increase revenue.
- Streamlining booking processes: This system makes your work more efficient by taking the burden off your shoulders. Moreover, guests won’t have to wait for you to book their room, which makes for a faster booking process.
- Getting more bookings: An easy and direct booking process encourages guests to choose your hotel over others. As a result, you get more bookings, increasing your revenue.
- Saving time and money: A hotel reservation system reduces errors. It also automates and streamlines your booking process, which saves time and improves revenue management.
- Gaining valuable insights: Since you’ll have a holistic view of all your booking channels, you’ll gain valuable insights. This data can help you make data-driven decisions to improve your booking process and overall hotel operations.
Key Features of a Good Hotel Reservation System
Choosing a good hotel reservation system requires exploring its key features. You need to know what to look for before you invest your hard-earned money in a software solution.
So, firstly, a good reservation system should have content management features. Your employees and customers should be able to access any information they need for a seamless booking process. Plus, there should be filters for your guests’ ease.
Moreover, it should provide real-time updates to avoid multiple bookings and errors. A good reservation system also has multiple payment options. After all, an online booking doesn’t make sense without online payment options.
Lastly, it should offer flexibility and integration to ensure it fits your hotel’s specific needs.
How To Use Hotel Reservations Software
To uncover the potential of a reservation system, you need to understand how to use hotel reservations software. After all, there’s a lot more to it than just booking rooms. So, here’s what you need to do:
- Set up the software: The first step is to install the software on your system. The provider will usually send a team to help you with this process. However, if your system is cloud-based, you can simply access it online.
- Integrate with other systems: A hotel reservation system usually works alongside a channel manager, Internet booking engine, and POS system. So, integrate those into your software.
- Configure the settings: Once you have access, set room types, pricing, availability, etc. Make sure your customizations meet your hotel’s needs for the best results.
- Manage reservations: With the last two steps, you’re ready to take bookings and manage them. So, input guest details, including room preferences, check-in/check-out dates, and contact information when they make the booking. However, this will only happen when the guest asks you to reserve a room. So, automate this process for when they want to make online bookings themselves.
- Handle check-ins and check-outs: Use the software to check guests in and assign them to their booked rooms. You can also update the room’s status for accurate tracking. Once the guests are ready to leave, check them out and handle the billing process using the software.
- Generate reports: A hotel reservation system also lets you generate daily or weekly reports to track progress. Analyzing this data allows you to make data-driven decisions to improve your hotel operations.
How To Take a Reservation in Hotel Managing Software
To make a reservation using hotel management software, you’ll follow similar steps to making a guest booking online. However, you’ll be handling a different interface.
While 72% of people prefer online reservations, some visit hotels and ask attendants to book their rooms. This shows that learning how to take a reservation in hotel managing software is a fantastic optimization.
If it was a guest booking the room, they would’ve accessed your hotel’s website. However, employees usually have access to the hotel’s systems. So, start by accessing the software through your credentials and navigating to the reservation or booking section.
Next, initiate a new booking, but don’t enter anything yet. You’ll have to talk to the guests and ask for their preferences. Guide them through the process, answering any questions they might have.
For simplicity and error avoidance, you may ask guests to write down their information on paper. Then, you can enter it into the system.
Once you’ve entered the information, ask the guests to review it. Calmly wait for them to tally and confirm everything.
After reviewing the information, you can confirm the booking. You’ll often have to check the guests in immediately after taking such bookings.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Hotel Reservation Software
Let’s end this discussion by answering some frequently asked questions about a hotel reservation system.
What is hotel reservation software?
Hotel reservation software is a digital tool for managing bookings, tracking room availability, and handling reservations.
People make hotel bookings through various means like the hotel’s website, social media, or third-party reservation platforms. A hotel reservation system capable of managing bookings from all these courses provided it has the right integrations.
What hotel reservation software does best?
Streamlining the process is what the hotel reservation software does best. However, that is just the beginning.
These software solutions also ensure accurate room availability tracking and efficiently manage reservations from multiple booking channels. Every feature enhances the overall guest experience.
Can I get hotel reservation software for free?
Yes, you can get hotel reservation software for free. However, this is not a good approach.
Free options rarely give you all the features you need to make the most of a reservation system. So, it’s better to invest in a good one. If you’re skeptical, you can register for the free trials and get a feel of the software before investing.
Get More Hotel Bookings With a Reservation Software
Hotel reservation software may seem unnecessary due to booking engines and social media. While these sources might be enough to take reservations, they can’t rival a proper reservation system.
This software is the best approach because it streamlines booking processes, accurately tracks room availability, and provides actionable insights. Another great idea is to set up hotel WiFi marketing.
With this tool, you can automate your marketing initiatives by leveraging your WiFi. With Beambox, you can build email and SMS contact lists, get reviews on autopilot, and gather data about your customers.
Beambox is a brilliant all-in-one WiFi marketing platform helping 12,000 businesses grow and scale.
Do you want to be next? Start your trial today!
