Software for taking online bookings

Yeah I think paying for Adwords sucks. But I acknowledge that it probably works. What I do is buy a domain name 3 years ago and point it to a hostel website. Then when you need to use it you will find that Google will treat you much nicer. I launched a brand new website last week that is already on the first page of Google.

When is the best time to plant a tree? - 20 years ago;)

But just maybe it is better to get three years of bookings via adwords instead of following my idea.

HostelTraveler.com is now offering 20% off rates for featuring a fully integrated booking engine on your hostel website. This special offer is being offered now for the holiday season through February 28, 2010 for new users who try the booking engine on their website.

HostelTraveler.com has always offered the lowest cost for an instant booking engine. Compare HostelTraveler.com's regular 1.9% price with the minimum of 5% and up for almost every other service out their. If you're not using HostelTraveler.com for your booking engine, your paying more for the exact same service! Debunk all myths ... there's no service charges, no hidden costs. You get the same or better for lower cost.

With this special offer, you can now get 20% better rates than ever before for the next 6 months. Plus, choose from a range of deposit collection options (which you can't get elsewhere), and full no-show and cancellation protection (which you can't get elsewhere).

Email HostelTraveler.com for more information, or visit:
http://www.instantworldbooking.com/join_us.php

From your website I have read your costs. You are not offering the lowest cost booking engine. I'm sure there are others too but HostelMate offers a commission free web bookings module including a PMS from $29 per month. I'd think realistically a small amount of guest bookings a month would put you well over this price in commission costs.

Thanks Hostelmate for your comments. HostelTraveler.com always welcomes corrections to information we publish, especially if it involves comparisons to other services. Yes, there are flat rate booking engines with low monthly costs. I guess we could agree that of the "commission-based" booking engines, HostelTraveler.com offers the lowest rates, with 1.9% being our lowest option (1.52% with our current discount special offer). Of course, if you are a small hostel, pushing no more than about $1,900.00 per month in bookings through your website, then HostelTraveler.com's promotional rate remains cheaper than $29/month. Then again, if you have a new website or a low-volume website that you are trying to grow traffic on, you can run HostelTraveler.com's booking engine on your website indefinitely with no cost, since there are no costs unless you have a booking.

HostelMate can also handle custom deposit collection by allowing the user to choose to take any deposit amount from the guest booking, anywhere between 0-100%. Guest can pay by credit card or PayPal account. So yes you can get it elsewhere.

Again, thanks Hostelmate for the comparisons. Yes, Hostelmate and HostelTraveler.com offer quite different services. Apparently, HostelMate offers front-desk software. HostelTraveler.com does not. HostelTraveler.com on the other hand does not require you to use Paypal as your payment processor, which many properties do not want to use. We handle all the payments for you. For some users, using both Hostelmate and HostelTraveler.com for their individual strengths may be a great solution.

There are many great services out there, and we always encourage hostels to try out other services to meet their personalized needs. Once you do, contact HostelTraveler.com, and we'll explore with you areas where we can offer a better or more customized solution, and usually a better price. And, as always, there's never a cost or obligation when you try HostelTraveler.com's services. We only charge if there's a booking.

Hi,

We've been using the HW booking engine (as we also use BPO and are so far happy with it). The problem is, that I would like to get a fully integrated BE for the website, but the ladies at HW doesnt seem to understand my questions..

I have seen tens of hostel websites with nice, custom BE's. How do they do that? Is HB offering any chance to free customization? I dont get much out of this topic as i thought this would list and discuss more about different booking engines for your website. (now it seems to cover everything from SEO to PMS).

Good tips are warmly welcome, as a new business owner I wouldnt like to learn everything by mistakes.. :)