Online Reservation Systems

I guess to start, this thread was created because a small question was misconstrued and I feel bad about the whole thing.

• Does anyone use a reservation software program that also strongly markets you the same way being attached to Booking.com does?
• Do you have your own website integrated with a "Book Now" feature?
• Do any of these programs you use implement commission? Or just monthly fees?
• Can you work with the program, update rates, write your own content or does the company do everything for you?
• Have you switched to other companies due to a lack of something you needed? To/from who?

• Does anyone use a reservation software program that also strongly markets you the same way being attached to Booking.com does?

I use ResKey. It just handles making reservations, taking guest's info, providing tax reports, etc. Marketing is up to me.

• Do you have your own website integrated with a "Book Now" feature?

Absolutely!

• Do any of these programs you use implement commission? Or just monthly fees?

Just monthly fee.

• Can you work with the program, update rates, write your own content or does the company do everything for you?

I set and change my own rates and write my own content.

• Have you switched to other companies due to a lack of something you needed? To/from who?

No, never used anybody but ResKey. Love them.

Arks said:

• Does anyone use a reservation software program that also strongly markets you the same way being attached to Booking.com does?

I use ResKey. It just handles making reservations, taking guest's info, providing tax reports, etc. Marketing is up to me.

• Do you have your own website integrated with a "Book Now" feature?

Absolutely!

• Do any of these programs you use implement commission? Or just monthly fees?

Just monthly fee.

• Can you work with the program, update rates, write your own content or does the company do everything for you?

I set and change my own rates and write my own content.

• Have you switched to other companies due to a lack of something you needed? To/from who?

No, never used anybody but ResKey. Love them..

Click to expand...

I saw another post that the rates skyrocketed! Do they have great customer service? How long have you used them?

My answers are pretty much the same as Arks. I am actually using ResKey for two different business -- cottages, and boat rentals. Previously I had tried a different reservation system (WebReserve) for the boat rental business, but I liked ResKey so much from the cottage business that I switched to it for the boat rentals as well.
Regarding the marketing aspect, using something like ResKey to manage your calendar, provide your own online bookings from your own website, and keep track of your guests, does not preclude also using Booking.com or other marketing or listing site. You can "drive" your availability on many listing and "online travel agency" (OTA) sites (such as Booking.com) from your own master calender on ResKey (or similar system) either using iCal links, through a channel manager (such as MyAllocator), or some dedicated linkages built in to ResKey (e.g. TripAdvisor).
For us, the only outside listing site or marketer that we are currently using is AirBnB, and our availability calendars on that site are driven from our ResKey master calendar. We previously tried TripAdvisor's "TripConnect" program, again driven by ResKey, but the metadata recorded by the ResKey activity log showed that none of the clicks we were getting (and paying for) from TripAdvisor were converting, so we stopped using them (I think TA-surfers are just not our audience).

nataliebee said:

Arks said:

• Does anyone use a reservation software program that also strongly markets you the same way being attached to Booking.com does?

I use ResKey. It just handles making reservations, taking guest's info, providing tax reports, etc. Marketing is up to me.

• Do you have your own website integrated with a "Book Now" feature?

Absolutely!

• Do any of these programs you use implement commission? Or just monthly fees?

Just monthly fee.

• Can you work with the program, update rates, write your own content or does the company do everything for you?

I set and change my own rates and write my own content.

• Have you switched to other companies due to a lack of something you needed? To/from who?

No, never used anybody but ResKey. Love them..

Click to expand...

I saw another post that the rates skyrocketed! Do they have great customer service? How long have you used them?
.

Click to expand...

The skyrocketing rates were for ResNexus, not ReservationKey (also known as ResKey).

We use web reserve and an additional web based program called site minder. Site minder allows us to open or close a room or change a price on all reservation systems at one time. It helps prevent overbooking (if one person is booking my last room on expedia and I'm booking the same room over the phone, as an example.)

Arks said:

• Does anyone use a reservation software program that also strongly markets you the same way being attached to Booking.com does?

I use ResKey. It just handles making reservations, taking guest's info, providing tax reports, etc. Marketing is up to me.

• Do you have your own website integrated with a "Book Now" feature?

Absolutely!

• Do any of these programs you use implement commission? Or just monthly fees?

Just monthly fee.

• Can you work with the program, update rates, write your own content or does the company do everything for you?

I set and change my own rates and write my own content.

• Have you switched to other companies due to a lack of something you needed? To/from who?

No, never used anybody but ResKey. Love them..

Click to expand...

Everything Arks says is applicable for me also. The only difference is I used Webervations prior to ResKey (or RezKey = ReservationKey). When it was sold to the megacorp, it did not get the improvements promised.
When JB found ResKey and told us about it, I jumped in that week and many followed. As time has passed, he has added bells and whistles and features we innkeepers asked for and the price did not increase all that much from what it was in the beginning. Tech support is excellent.

OnTheShore said:

nataliebee said:

Arks said:

• Does anyone use a reservation software program that also strongly markets you the same way being attached to Booking.com does?

I use ResKey. It just handles making reservations, taking guest's info, providing tax reports, etc. Marketing is up to me.

• Do you have your own website integrated with a "Book Now" feature?

Absolutely!

• Do any of these programs you use implement commission? Or just monthly fees?

Just monthly fee.

• Can you work with the program, update rates, write your own content or does the company do everything for you?

I set and change my own rates and write my own content.

• Have you switched to other companies due to a lack of something you needed? To/from who?

No, never used anybody but ResKey. Love them..

Click to expand...

I saw another post that the rates skyrocketed! Do they have great customer service? How long have you used them?
.

Click to expand...

The skyrocketing rates were for ResNexus, not ReservationKey (also known as ResKey).
.

Click to expand...

Oh! That's right. Sorry I must've just glanced at the name of it.

Had a sales call yesterday at 8:30am with kid telling me lots of innkeepers were calling his company because of the rate increase, and because his reservation software company "really understood our business."
I responded that if he really understood our business he wouldn't be calling during the breakfast rush.
And then I hung up the phone.
PS: Anyone have any guesses what two letters are missing from "ermiology" /HateCaptcha

PhineasSwann said:

Had a sales call yesterday at 8:30am with kid telling me lots of innkeepers were calling his company because of the rate increase, and because his reservation software company "really understood our business."
I responded that if he really understood our business he wouldn't be calling during the breakfast rush.
And then I hung up the phone.
PS: Anyone have any guesses what two letters are missing from "ermiology" /HateCaptcha.

Click to expand...

TN terminology. But I get those captcha things wrong all the time.
Same kid called here altho not during breakfast.

Nataliebee, I think it's important that you're clear about the difference between an OTA (OnlineTravelAgency) like booking.com, Expedia, Priceline, etc & a reservation system or property management system.

• The OTAs take a large commission and list your information on their own booking site.
• A reservation system is how you can have reservations online from your own website and typically have a small monthly fee. It integrates with your own website and you're able to keep ALL the money from the online reservation.

You state on that other thread that approx 80% of your reservations come through an OTA (booking.com). If your b&b owner would allow a reservation system to take online reservations from your own website it could save you many, many thousands of dollars a year. You can still be listed on booking.com, but you'd also be able to take reservations online from your own website with no commissions.
Reservation systems not only allow your own reservations from your website, but they also keep track of all your financials...reports. With a click of a button you would be able to see your occupancy rate, gross revenue, taxes collected and more. It's a huge time saver and I can't imagine trying to keep all that information in a book or binder which would take hours of bookkeeping.
BTW, please don't feel bad about that other thread. We're here to help and not point fingers. The more you know, the better you and the owner can make informed decisions.

Breakfast Diva said:

Nataliebee, I think it's important that you're clear about the difference between an OTA (OnlineTravelAgency) like booking.com, Expedia, Priceline, etc & a reservation system or property management system.

• The OTAs take a large commission and list your information on their own booking site.
• A reservation system is how you can have reservations online from your own website and typically have a small monthly fee. It integrates with your own website and you're able to keep ALL the money from the online reservation.

You state on that other thread that approx 80% of your reservations come through an OTA (booking.com). If your b&b owner would allow a reservation system to take online reservations from your own website it could save you many, many thousands of dollars a year. You can still be listed on booking.com, but you'd also be able to take reservations online from your own website with no commissions.
Reservation systems not only allow your own reservations from your website, but they also keep track of all your financials...reports. With a click of a button you would be able to see your occupancy rate, gross revenue, taxes collected and more. It's a huge time saver and I can't imagine trying to keep all that information in a book or binder which would take hours of bookkeeping.
BTW, please don't feel bad about that other thread. We're here to help and not point fingers. The more you know, the better you and the owner can make informed decisions..

Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I would of course like to present this to the Owner with all the facts and figures; as the Admin. of course I was aware of these programs but there seems to be pros and cons to each system, thus the new thread. Because this is my first full year in the Inn (and wearing many hats) I can see the need after calculating how much Booking.com is costing us, and how an investment like an reservation system would be quite great.
I like to be hyper-organized, and would love a program that would essentially do it all!

We use a New Zealand Based company - myuktravel which works out at £45 a month for live oneline booking through my web site and a channel manager which automatically opens and closes my other Online Travel Agencies preventing overbooking - also does full selection of reports - covers 11 rooms
1 feature I havn't found elsewhere is I can set days when I know it will be busy to 0% commission so showing on my web site and not anywhere else to force direct bookings so fill most friday nights and all saturday nights commission free.
Also does where I can set up discount or offer codes to track advertising ie take a paper add can see for definate if anything comes of it so I know if its worth doing again. Also means my diary is cloud based so can see it from any computer, tablet or my phone if out and about or if my computer packs up doesn't matter can carry on immediately.

We use a New Zealand Based company - myuktravel which works out at £45 a month for live oneline booking through my web site and a channel manager which automatically opens and closes my other Online Travel Agencies preventing overbooking - also does full selection of reports - covers 11 rooms
1 feature I havn't found elsewhere is I can set days when I know it will be busy to 0% commission so showing on my web site and not anywhere else to force direct bookings so fill most friday nights and all saturday nights commission free.
Also does where I can set up discount or offer codes to track advertising ie take a paper add can see for definate if anything comes of it so I know if its worth doing again. Also means my diary is cloud based so can see it from any computer, tablet or my phone if out and about or if my computer packs up doesn't matter can carry on immediately.

You can get a website with a booking engine free here at http://thebookingfactory.com it also comes with a free property management system also. You can sign up anytime to play with an account instantly to see if you like it.
Disclaimer: I am the founder of this company.
As far as I am aware there isn't anywhere else you can get a free website, but if you wanted a free booking engine then there are a few out there and they do work. Some may have more milage than others.

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though.

I tried it and after one month cancelled. Didnt like it. It caused me problems. Too generic and I like to personally speak to guests or at least email them.
That was my experience.
I went back to my old system with Booking.com and feel much happier. Sure I pay a little more commission but feel it is worth it. If I get any problems Booking try to help with it.

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though..

Click to expand...

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though.

Click to expand...

How do you like them so far? I hear a lot of good comments about the free version. Do you have to have the paid version to use the channel manager or do you have to get a separate channel manager?

Morticia said:

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though..

Click to expand...

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though.

Click to expand...

How do you like them so far? I hear a lot of good comments about the free version. Do you have to have the paid version to use the channel manager or do you have to get a separate channel manager?
.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though.

Click to expand...

How do you like them so far? I hear a lot of good comments about the free version. Do you have to have the paid version to use the channel manager or do you have to get a separate channel manager?

Click to expand...

My setup is a bit weird, because I've written my own PMS years ago and want to continue to use that. My main reasons for using freetobook is I get a free listing on visitscotland website and freetobook will post availability to them. I'm a member of visitinvernesslochness and again freetobook posts availability on their website. All of that is free.
The bits I pay for are about 8% on bookings that come through those two channels, which is very few, although strangely I do get quite a lot of people book on our own website who say they found us on these two others. I pay for their booking engine on my mobile site because basically my system isn't great on smart phones and I can't be bothered to update it for this. I pay to use their diary download in ICAL format facility, my PMS downloads this once a day, runs a comparison with it's own and flags up any discrepancies, help me make sure I keep them both in sync.
I do like their system, it's easy to use with block-outs, availability changes, etc. I've also met one of the brothers who originally designed the system and set the company up and they do honestly seem to want to supply a system that's free to use for small businesses.
Still on my todo list for this winter is to get our local DMO to use their "together" facility so potential guests can do availability searches on our DMO website.

Highlands John said:

Morticia said:

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though..

Click to expand...

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though.

Click to expand...

How do you like them so far? I hear a lot of good comments about the free version. Do you have to have the paid version to use the channel manager or do you have to get a separate channel manager?
.

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

Highlands John said:

I don't know how International they are, but I recently switched to freetobook. No commission on bookings, easily plugs into your own website, channel managers into other systems like b.com. Doesn't do your marketing for you though.

Click to expand...

How do you like them so far? I hear a lot of good comments about the free version. Do you have to have the paid version to use the channel manager or do you have to get a separate channel manager?

Click to expand...

My setup is a bit weird, because I've written my own PMS years ago and want to continue to use that. My main reasons for using freetobook is I get a free listing on visitscotland website and freetobook will post availability to them. I'm a member of visitinvernesslochness and again freetobook posts availability on their website. All of that is free.
The bits I pay for are about 8% on bookings that come through those two channels, which is very few, although strangely I do get quite a lot of people book on our own website who say they found us on these two others. I pay for their booking engine on my mobile site because basically my system isn't great on smart phones and I can't be bothered to update it for this. I pay to use their diary download in ICAL format facility, my PMS downloads this once a day, runs a comparison with it's own and flags up any discrepancies, help me make sure I keep them both in sync.
I do like their system, it's easy to use with block-outs, availability changes, etc. I've also met one of the brothers who originally designed the system and set the company up and they do honestly seem to want to supply a system that's free to use for small businesses.
Still on my todo list for this winter is to get our local DMO to use their "together" facility so potential guests can do availability searches on our DMO website.
.

Click to expand...

Still on my todo list for this winter is to get our local DMO to use their "together" facility so potential guests can do availability searches on our DMO website.
Look at BedPosts.uk. They have a Cotswolds page that works the way you are thinking. They would have more of them if more groups of B & Bs in an area would sign up. And there is NO COMMISSION on bookings. Club membership is 50 quid per year.