Why list your B&B/hotel with booking engines?

24. Apr, 2009 7 Comments

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First, what is a booking engine? A booking engine is a computer system that provides the back-end transactions for an internet-based reservation system. Various booking engines exist on the market and cater to different needs, from selling only accommodation to a complete travel package that might include air tickets, car rentals, lodging and vacation activities.

Hoteliers are able to list their properties with such websites, which allows those respective websites to sell their inventory for a commission. This is not limited to big hotel groups, but even owner managed properties, are able to add their inventory with these booking engines.

Another added benefit with booking engines is that they offer affiliate programs, which allows third part website (not travel related) to display affiliate links of booking engines on their websites free of charge. Any booking generated as a result of the link displayed on third party website gets owner a referral commission.

I recently upgraded my portal www.accommodate.co.za into a booking engine powered portal. It’s currently using three booking engines under one domain name, that being Hostelworld (for accommodation and tours), CarTrawler (for car rentals) and TravelStart (for flight tickets). Such a facility enables me to offer travel packages from across the globe without owning a physical travel agency.

This means a hotelier enjoys the benefit of having their property promoted in various websites free of charge (though commission is charged for every booking confirmed). As a hotelier owning a website is only the begining towards improving your occupancy rate. You need to use the available facilities offered to widen your online presence through booking engines, which will improve your occupancy rate at the end of the day.

Below is a list of booking engines that I recommend for both hoteliers and website publishers:

BOOKING ENGINES ADD YOUR PROPERTY LINK SIGN-UP TO AN AFFILIATE
www.lastminute.com Lastminute.com/application Lastminute.com sign up
www.safarinow.com Safarinow.com/cms/join SafariNow.com signup
www.booking.com Bookings.org/hotelreg Booking.com sign-up
www.expedia.com Joinexpedia.com Expedia.com sign-up
www.hostelworld.com Hostelworld.com/signup.php Hostelworld.com sign-up
www.orbitz.com Corp.orbitz.com/partnerships Orbitz.com/App/Affiliate
www.hotelscombined.com Hotelscombined.com/Hotelier Hotelscombined.com/Affiliates
www.cartrawler.com Not offered Cartrawler.com/signup
www.travelocity.com Not offered Travelocity.com sign-up
www.travelstart.co.za Not offered Trafficsynergy signup third party

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Article By Muzi Mohale
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7 Responses to “Why list your B&B/hotel with booking engines?”

  1. SouthAfrica.To (1 comments) Reply 24. Apr, 2009 at 10:04 am

    Great article, nice to see one written for us guys who run online travel portals – and that’s an invaluable resource for links. We also use Travelstart for flights (you can link up with them through Trafficsynergy), & hotelscombined is great for accommodation. Had a quick look at Cartrawler and am signing up to their program. Thanks again for the useful info.

  2. Muzi Mohale (91 comments) Reply 24. Apr, 2009 at 10:30 am

    I’m glad that you find value on my contribution. Would love to know other booking engines outside of accommodation…please share if you have.

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