What kinds of systems does your hostel use to manage reservations and guests?
Here are some of the ones that I have seen:
Any others to add? Recommendations or warnings about one system vs. another?
17 years
I have a Front Desk system that I developed for several Hostel in NYC. The software accepts reservations from the website into the system. If anyone is interested in seeing this let me know.
Has anyone heard of a company called Hallisoft?, they also have a FD system.
17 years
I'd be interested in hearing more about your custom solution.
I just searched Google and the Hallisoft Web site is here for anyone that is interested in more information:
http://www.hallisoft.com/
17 years
We created a system which is currently in four locations at this time. The Front Desk system accepts reservations from the hostels website, or allows reservations to be made at the hostel. There is also a maid module and a maintenance module that are included in the system. Are you looking for a system for a location or for a system you can build and market?
17 years
I don't have my own hostel, but I'm always interested in information about front desk systems for hostels. I will send you a PM.
If building a system I would only be interested in a community-driven, open-source project (GNU GPL license). I think that an open-source solution would provide the most benefit to hosteling in general.
17 years
In the past I was interested in building a front desk software system specifically for hostels.
After I stopped working inside of hostels the idea was put aside. A part of me is still interested in it though... Any programmers out there? :D
In the early 90s I approached the English YHA on the subject of a computerised system. It turned out they were negotiating with a company, and they engaged them to produce a package. After much expense, and expensive training courses for the staff, the whole thing collapsed as unworkable.
Presumably, the requirements of the package were documented by a group of YHA managers, and passed to a company who were skilled programmers but knew nothing about hostels. I imagine that there was not nearly enough consultation, maybe none at all, between the programmers and the people who would be using the system. (A volunteer manager told me she went on the course, and could see immediately that it would not work in real life, but when she pointed it out the managers told her not to 'rock the boat' by criticising it!)
Of the systems currently on offer, it sounds as if several are hotel packages that have been tweaked, and several others are tied to particular booking engines which means they may not be flexible enough. The idea of a package that a hostel can 'own' and modify using their own skills, without having to go to an impersonal software house, seems very attractive.
I would be very interested in being part of a team developing an Open Source project. I am competent in C, HTML, PHP and MySQL databases.
17 years
Presumably, the requirements of the package were documented by a group of YHA managers, and passed to a company who were skilled programmers but knew nothing about hostels. I imagine that there was not nearly enough consultation, maybe none at all, between the programmers and the people who would be using the system. (A volunteer manager told me she went on the course, and could see immediately that it would not work in real life, but when she pointed it out the managers told her not to 'rock the boat' by criticising it!)
Hahaha, that sounds 100% familiar to me! Déja vu! Twice!
I don´t know if anyone is aware that ASSD was originally developed for the Bavarian Youth Hostel Federation. The house where I worked in Munich was the first one where they used it. Thank god after I left - I would have gone berserk with rocking their boat! ASSD has improved significantly since the early days, but it still sucks.
in 1999, I worked in a YHI hostel in Vienna (Myrthengasse), they also had a custom-made software just for them and another house. Same crap.
We are basically happy with the software we use at Wombat´s, except for the price tag: € 9000 per year just for the licenses, plus expensive hardware (it wouldn´t run properly on more "normal" stuff), plus huge bills for speedy bandwidth between the server in Vienna and the hostels.
I am not aware of a single hostel which is happy with the front desk software they use. When I speak to hostel managers I have never seen before, one of the first questions is always a desperate "which software do you use?"
Without doubt, there´s a huge demand and nothing decent on offer. Go right ahead, cough up some good stuff. It won´t make you Bill-Gates-rich, but rich enough.
17 years
I started a new thread about open source front desk hostel software. If you have thoughts/ideas, please add them there.
If enough interest builds, I think it would be a fun project that would provide a real benefit to hostels.
I'll reply to your posts in the other thread.
17 years
I develop custom software that is geared just for hostels, here are some features of it:
1. It integrates with a website and reservations made on the website show up in the Front Desk system.
2. It has three modules, the main system module, the maid module, and the maintenance module.
3. It has many reports.
If anyone would like to see some screen shots or has any question please email me directly. I am not sure whee to go with this, but is is a nice system.
Email is [email][email protected][/email]
17 years
Why dont you post some screenshots rigth here?
I know more than a couple are interested, me included
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