By Neil Salerno – October 2003

Recently, I’ve received many emails from hoteliers who are in the process of developing their strategic marketing plans for the Internet market in ‘04. It’s exciting that so many people recognize the ultimate potential of the Internet. It’s a shame, however, there are still many people hiding their heads in the sand, while their competition and third-party providers continue to erode their market share. 

Among all the elements of a successful web site marketing program, certainly one of the most important is the site’s reservations booking engine. The booking engine performs two important functions. It satisfies the net users’ desire to make real-time reservations while on-line and also provides the hotel with a database of visitors and guests to solicit future repeat business. 

For hotels with a keen instinct for one-to-one marketing techniques and recognize the future long-term value of communicating with their visitors and guests, the database building and maintenance features of a good booking engine are essential. If all the experts are correct, this database will represent up to 20% or more of a hotel’s total room business; a significant number.

Marketing 101 teaches us that it is far easier and more cost-effective to solicit repeat guests than it is to find new ones. If your sales team is sharp, it’s already being done for group business. Now, you have the ability to solicit repeat Internet guests and the many additional visitors to your web site. 

OK, so what is the best booking engine out there? Although I am familiar with several booking engines, I recently set out to see what is available for individual hotels and hotel chains. After a solid week of after-midnight surfing and many cups of coffee later, I found several good functional booking engines and some not-so-good ones.

Since I have several friends who sell booking engines, I won’t rank or even list them here, but I would be happy to share my findings with anyone who cares to email me. For the most part, they can all accept real-time reservations; although some much better than others. Anyone looking to improve their site’s booking ability or those needing a reservations booking engine, there are some important considerations:

• Functionality. Is it easy to use? Does it look professional? 

• Design. Does it use hotel/travel terminology? Is it customizable to match your web site? Does it get the job done in the fewest clicks possible?

• Technology. Will it accept an unlimited number of rates, room types, and packages? How well does it handle negotiated rates? Is it password enabled? 

• Database. Does it have the ability to build and maintain a database of visitors and reservations-makers? Will the database download to Word or other common application? Do you have access to it on a 24/7 basis?

• Maintenance. Is it easy to maintain rates and inventory? 

• Affordability. How much is the monthly “rental charge” or booking percentage?  Is it reasonably affordable? 

Obviously, nothing with real value is free. I found that prices vary considerably, but the average is around $90 per month. Of all the engines I reviewed, I found one that gives the hotel and/or hotel company the ability to actually own the booking engine while providing the ability to have technical support and access to future software upgrades. Its beta pricing is less than a comparable booking engine’s rental fees for only one year. It has good flexibility and will also operate on your own server, providing total and complete control of your data. 

Bottom-line; find the booking engine that’s right for your hotel; one that provides the tools you need to promote future business, while efficiently taking real-time reservations. If you are already working with an Internet marketing consultant, it’s a good idea to have them investigate what is available in the marketplace. Some of the popular early entrees to the marketplace a few years ago simply haven’t kept pace with the many changes in technology since then.

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