Has anybody used or considered 'freetobook' ? http://www.freetobook.com
The hostel sets up their vacancy info on their own website. Guests who book through your own website pay nothing at that moment, but you can ask for a deposit. The company copies your info to other (affiliated?) sites and charges you 10% for any bookings made there. I'm not sure how good they are at representing both rooms and beds.
13 years
I wonder if that is really a good deal for hostels. They would end up paying 10% on bookings through their own website, even for no-shows? Or are bookings on your own website free?
EDIT: bookings on the hostel's own website are free. I should have read the whole site first. :o
[INDENT]"As the name suggests it is free to set up, free to use, and all bookings on your own website are free of any commission. You keep every penny from every booking made on your own website."[/INDENT]
13 years
I'm not sure how good they are at representing both rooms and beds.
I'd wonder that too. Also the affiliated sites I could see seemed to be totally focussed to the hotel market which may not drive that many bookings to a hostel site selling dorms.Could be a good option for those who don't want to use BPO and hostelworld, which offers more or less the same thing.
Edit - It's not actually the same as BPO and HW - it says in the payment info:
"Freetobook will not take any payment from customer's booking on your website, leaving you free to take payment directly from your customer in a way that best suits you and your customer. "
Which means you have to manually get in touch with the customer to arrange payment. If you use HW as a booking option on your own website they take the 10% deposit and then pay it back to you at the end of the month. This booking engine seems like a much more cumbersome system for payments.
13 years
Which means you have to manually get in touch with the customer to arrange payment. If you use HW as a booking option on your own website they take the 10% deposit and then pay it back to you at the end of the month. This booking engine seems like a much more cumbersome system for payments.
Could this actually be an advantage? Some hostels choose to make manual contact anyway, providing a welcome to the guest and confirming his booking. Hostel managers often say they like to 'take a look at' a potential guest. Some guests want or need an opportunity to send a message to the hostel, eg a request for a lower bunk, and they are unable to do this easily if they have booked on HW or HB.
13 years
Could this actually be an advantage? Some hostels choose to make manual contact anyway, providing a welcome to the guest and confirming his booking. Hostel managers often say they like to 'take a look at' a potential guest. Some guests want or need an opportunity to send a message to the hostel, eg a request for a lower bunk, and they are unable to do this easily if they have booked on HW or HB.
I can see your point there, it's just that if you are taking say 5 to 10 bookings a day for a medium sized hostel, or many more for a large hostel, then every one of those people you would have to phone - costing money, especially if they are overseas, and then get their credit card numbers and take a payment. This may be especially difficult if you experience language difficulties with the customer. Personally i think customers are happier to put their cc details into what they consider a trusted site than give them over the phone to someone they don't know. It is indeed safer, as we don't get the CV2 number from a HW booking, while if I take a phone booking I have to ask for the CV2 number.
I know managers who like to make contact with every booking. Personally I don't see then need. They can easily make an email enquiry if they have special requirements.
13 years
I am in this business or a long time now. I think what a hotel or hostel needs is not just a cheap or easy solution, but a solution by which they can their manage all their customer relations with their guests, even if this is a hotel. I would recommend reseliva booking engine which I took part in developing, which i am not shy to say. Or you can prefer other advanced systems like pelican, rezlogic, which however may not be tailored for hostels.
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