booking-engine
Direct booking website cost: what small operators pay
Between zero and about $3,500 a year in software, plus 2.9% and 30 cents a payment. The published builder prices, what a build really costs in developer weeks, and how much business has to move direct before any of it pays for itself.
Is a direct booking website worth it for a small hotel?
For most properties at 8 to 25 rooms a direct booking website is worth it, and for four specific kinds of property it is not. Here is how to tell which one you are, the arithmetic that decides it with two worked examples, what the US and Canadian parity rules do to your discount, and the free work worth doing while you wait.
Cabin booking software: thirteen systems, their published prices, and which suits a cabin
Thirteen systems a cabin or lodge owner would really run, each with the price its own page publishes and who it suits. Then the seven things cabins need that a hotel system never thinks about: seasonal minimum stays, deposit and balance schedules, off season closing, check-in with no signal, cleaning routes, damage deposits and whole property bookings.
Mews API: how to build a direct booking page
The developer's read on the Mews API, and the owner's. Two references at docs.mews.com, a public demo environment to build against, certification before a production key, an access token per building, and a reservation state that holds the room while the guest pays.
Cloudbeds API: how to build a direct booking checkout
Cloudbeds will write a real booking into the property system from your own page, and it will not take a cent of the money. There is no hold on the room either, so a refused card leaves a booking your own code has to cancel. What that build involves, and what the platform costs.
Guesty vs Hostaway: which is better for a small lodging business
Guesty publishes a starting price and Hostaway quotes every account, so an 8 to 25 unit property cannot compare them without two sales calls. Here is what each one costs, what its support covers, what happens when a guest's card fails, and which sort of property should buy which.
Guesty API documentation, and what a direct booking page costs to build
Guesty has two APIs, and the narrow one is built for a direct booking site: your checkout requests a reservation quote, Guesty guarantees that price for 24 hours, and the quote becomes a booking. Nothing it publishes says the dates are held while the guest pays.
Bed and breakfast direct booking: how a small B&B gets more of them
Direct bookings at a bed and breakfast come from people who already have your name. What it takes to catch them: a booking page that holds the date and takes a card, a clear read of what your Booking.com contract lets you charge, a deposit guests will finish, and somebody asking at checkout.
Hotel rate parity: what your contract covers and what you can still do
Rate parity promises a booking platform the same or better price, conditions and availability than you make available anywhere else. Booking.com runs three versions of it, and the United States and Canada get the widest one by default. Here is what the clause reaches, what it can be used for, and the narrow routes that stay open.
Direct booking discount: how deep you can safely go
A direct booking discount stops paying for itself at about 12 to 13% off list once card fees are counted, or at about 30% if you also fund a platform loyalty discount. The three cases worked on one real stay, where the discount has to live so the platforms never read it, and why a US or Canadian property has to check its Booking.com parity clause before publishing one.
The best direct booking website builders for a small lodging operator
Houfy at $7.99 a listing, Guesty at $9 plus 1%, Lodgify from $14, OwnerRez at $40 for the first property, Hostaway's Pro site at $49 plus 0.5%, CraftedStays at $89.99. Ten builders with their published prices, who each one fits, and what the percentage plans really cost once your own site starts selling.
How to increase direct bookings for hotels, and what each step costs
A dollar of booking value moved from a platform to your own website is worth about twelve cents to you. Here is every step that moves it, with what each one costs to put in place and how much it has to return before it breaks even.