Does anyone know of online booking software that can be used as a hostel's main booking system and that automatically feeds availability through to all the main online booking services such as hostelworld, hostelbookers, gomio, HI, etc? Updating availability on all these sites makes being on them all impossible for us. We have been able to use the Scottish YHA system up to know, which automatically fed through to HI and hostelbookers, but they don't want affiliates using their system anymore.
Can any other systmes do this? If it doesn't already exist, is there anyone out there interested in developing one?
16 years
But if every BE allowed multiple allocations I'd imagine that BEs would be springing up all over the place
Hotels seem to have good distribution management systems, so it's probably just a matter of time for hostels. It would probably be a good thing for hostels to have freedom to allocate their beds to many booking sources and manage the whole thing from one interface.
16 years
I can see how that might happen - I doubt HW will be dominant forever - things change in any market - but even getting all the BEs you mentioned to co-operate might be difficult. I know nothing about the technicalities of doing this. But if every BE allowed multiple allocations I'd imagine that BEs would be springing up all over the place
I wouldn't mind of new BE's. The more engines there are, the bigger the competition is, which could lead to better quality, costumer service and evolution, especially if you don't have to do the manual allocation. Just like it happens to hostels right now It is not enough just to create a BE, you need to market it as well( advertisements, PR, social networks, etc.) which means more and more people would be introduced to hostels: This would mean more guests...
16 years
HostelTraveler.com is a major booking engine provider that acknowledges the desires indicated in this thread, i.e., to feed availability and allocations automatically to a provider for online booking. We are currently exploring various options for auto-update of online calendars and availability via open XML interface.
HostelTraveler.com is welcoming enquiries from partners who may wish to form informal consortiums to facilitate the electronic sharing of hostel availability data. Please contact us if you wish to explore opportunities to share availability electronically, or have existing XML feeds that you wish to integrate.
You can learn more about HostelTraveler.com's services at the following page on this website:
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/service/hosteltraveler.html
16 years
Apparently Charts Backpacker software offers this facility via it's charts portal interface. Claims to offer integration in real time with:
Booking.com, BookPayStay.com, Check-in.com.au, Expedia.com.au, Ezibed.com, Gogogo.com.au, Hostelbookers.com, HostelWorld.com, Hostelsclub.com, Howzat.com, LastMinute.com, Mybookings.com.au, NeedItNow.com, Not1Night.com.au, Quickbeds.com, RatesToGo.com, ReadyRooms.com.au, ReservHotel.com, Roamfree.com, Standbyrates.com.au, Stay247.com, Tastemptations.com.au (IMS), TheOaksGroup.com.au, Travelocity.com, Wotif.com – and the number is growing all the time.
Not sure how this would work - I guess you have to enter your user login details for any of these sites. Be interested to hear of experiences with it. Could be very useful I'd imagine. Interesting interface - seems to have no GUI, just an old style terminal style entry.
16 years
We are evaluating Charts at the moment. Would be interested to hear from anyone with experience of it. Will post a separate thread about this. It looks very good for functionality, including being the answer to the original question in this thread. Our questions are really about cost-benefit and the user interface which is less user friendly than what we are used to.
16 years
ASSD also integrates with many booking engines:
- Booking.com
- RatesToGo
- Venere
- GOMIO
- HostelsClub
- HotelBeds
- HostelBookers
- HostelWorld
- BTM
- HRS
- HostelMania
- and many more
(see the link for details)
16 years
Apparently Charts Backpacker software offers this facility via it's charts portal interface. Claims to offer integration in real time with:
Booking.com, BookPayStay.com, Check-in.com.au, Expedia.com.au, Ezibed.com, Gogogo.com.au, Hostelbookers.com, HostelWorld.com, Hostelsclub.com, Howzat.com, LastMinute.com, Mybookings.com.au, NeedItNow.com, Not1Night.com.au, Quickbeds.com, RatesToGo.com, ReadyRooms.com.au, ReservHotel.com, Roamfree.com, Standbyrates.com.au, Stay247.com, Tastemptations.com.au (IMS), TheOaksGroup.com.au, Travelocity.com, Wotif.com – and the number is growing all the time.
I've checked their website and couldn't find the info you mentioned... Can you please share the link?
Is there any way to download a trial version?
16 years
Charts is... different. Its brilliant from a managerial point of view - surprisingly powerful, all at the tap of a few key strokes.
For the front desk however... its awful. hard to learn, hard to use; counter-intuitive doesnt even begin to explain. its not that bad to pick up if you already know how to run a front desk but if its all new to you... i wouldnt want to be running charts.
in all honesty, i HATED charts when working the front desk. when i started tinkering with it as a manager, it grew on me a lot. but at the end of the day, its teh FD that use it the most and if its not working for them, it doesnt work for the hostel.
16 years
I've checked their website and couldn't find the info you mentioned... Can you please share the link?
Is there any way to download a trial version?
http://www.online-int.com.au/downloads/
If we go for it, it might help us if you mention me in any contact with Andrew Guzowski (Online Systems).
Cheers
16 years
I've checked their website and couldn't find the info you mentioned... Can you please share the link?
Is there any way to download a trial version?
I copied that info from this page:
http://www.online-int.com.au/products/portal.htm
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