What kinds of software or services do people use to take bookings through your own Web sites?
Here are some that I know about:
Are there others that people have used and would recommend?
I'm especially interested in services that run on hostels' own Web sites and that can handle taking bookings at multiple locations.
16 years
Well I'm moving to Dubai on the 15th to open a hostel there but if your in Munich before then sure. I can send you a few screen shots if you would like?
15th as in February 15th??? Wow.
Nevermind. I will be in Amsterdam eventually to ask the Piggies directly.
Good luck with Dubai. I guess mixed dorms and a hostel bar selling alcohol will be no option there?
16 years
reading all this, i think i need to take a course in web development or something - so i at least have a clue what all the technical jargon you guys are using is about!
Well this is the first thread I've seen on this site where I'm almost completely bewildered!
16 years
"CMS" means content management system. They are programs that you put on your Web server that let you easily manage your pages through a Web browser. The content is stored in a database. Hostelmanagement.com (the main section of the site, not the forum) is built with a content management system.
I think that hostels (or just about anyone) should use content management systems for their Web sites because it makes the Web sites easy to update, and easy to add a lot of pages of content without the editors needing to know any Web design knowledge.
Trying to grasp the concept:
There are some packages which allow you to change certain bits of code, such as font sizes or colours, without having to go into the html code and then uploading the file to the server. Is this what you're talking about?
Or are you saying that some programmers, in order to make things easy for users, put alterable pages into simpler files (such as text files) and tell users how to make changes to those pages (such as simply adding text) such that the changes appear to visitors properly laid out?
Or is it what I have been doing behind the scenes with small-hostels.com which I inherited, converting a site which is well-written as a static site but a nightmare to update with new hostels, into one where a new hostel owner just fills in a form and the data appear in the required layout (still manual intervention by me is needed, but only 20% of what was needed previously) ?
16 years
I looked at Go2hostels site and it seems to be written for people who already know all about the subject. As a newcomer I want to know what it is and what it does, and for an introduction I am faced with this:
"With hostel websites offering more and more information and specials, guests move from portals to these websites. Go2Hostels offers these websites a booking interface that allows guests to book beds directly on the hostels website. Go2Hostels offers this interface for free by using cost price deposits and no booking fee."
"Guests move from portals to these websites" What are portals, and what is that to do with what?
What are "cost price deposits".
Could someone please help me with a sentence along the lines of:
Go2hostels is a ******* which provides a service for ****** by making it possible for ***** to do ****** instead of having to do ***** .
And then it says: If you want to book beds, go to Famous Hostels. So do they only provide their service (or software, or whatever it is) to Famous Hostels? Or are Famous Hostels defined as "Hostels that use Go2hostels"?
16 years
...converting a site which is well-written as a static site but a nightmare to update with new hostels, into one where a new hostel owner just fills in a form and the data appear in the required layout (still manual intervention by me is needed, but only 20% of what was needed previously) ?
Probably something like that. My ebook on "Intro to Online Marketing for Hostels" talks a little about using a CMS. Basically there are many free content management systems (software) that you just upload to your server and it makes a Web site for you that you can edit without having to know HTML or Web design. You still need some technical knowledge to install and configure it, but it's much easier than building a site from scratch or managing multiple HTML or PHP files.
Here is an example screenshot of the page editor from a CMS. This allows people at the hostel to update their own Web site without needing to know Web design:
The following image is a partial screenshot of configuration settings in a CMS -- in this case a customized installation of Drupal. The daily operation of the site can be done through Web forms instead of by editing files:
For building sites with a CMS I recommend a free system called Drupal. If you are just building a blog I recommend either Drupal or WordPress. You can extend either system with community-contributed modules or with custom PHP programming. It's easier than starting from scratch.
16 years
And then it says: If you want to book beds, go to Famous Hostels. So do they only provide their service (or software, or whatever it is) to Famous Hostels? Or are Famous Hostels defined as "Hostels that use Go2hostels"?
"Europe´s Famous Hostels" is a little club of well-established hostels all over Europe. Each throws in a little money for common marketing.
Apparently, Go2Hostels was developed for the flying Pig Hostels of Amsterdam. They are part of "Europes Famous Hostels", so they brought in their software to the common "Europe´s Famous Hostels" website.
"Europe´s Famous Hostels" exists since ten years or so. I guess at least half a million Euros has been spent to make the brand known.
If you, as a person who spends a lot of time in the web, reading about hostels, don´t know what the **** "Europe´s Famous Hostels" is it must be cuncluded that this marketing effort was a complete failure. I always suspected that, thanks for confirming this.
Go2hostels is a ******* which provides a service for ****** by making it possible for ***** to do ****** instead of having to do ***** .
Err, the thing is:
Getting 100 booking requests every day makes a lot of work. If you want to save work, you link to Hoselworld from your website - no more email enquiries, only confirmed, guearanteed bookings. Disadvantage: Hostelworld gets 10% commission on every booking.
Solution: get the same software Hostelworls uses and cut out the middle men. Keep those 10% for yourself.
16 years
"Europe´s Famous Hostels" exists since ten years or so. I guess at least half a million Euros has been spent to make the brand known.
If you, as a person who spends a lot of time in the web, reading about hostels, don´t know what the **** "Europe´s Famous Hostels" is it must be cuncluded that this marketing effort was a complete failure. I always suspected that, thanks for confirming this.
EUR 500,000? :eek:
Next time the European hostels want to spend that much in marketing a Web site, please tell me. :)
16 years
I have come across Europe's Famous Hostels, and somewhat confused it with the 'certificate' thing that some hostels proclaim as 'voted one of the top ten hostels in Europe last month'. And my experience is more from the guest than the hostel side, and you don't get backpackers saying: Hey, I'd love to stay in a Europe's Famous Hostel, they say: What are the best hostels in Prague?
It just seems a bit odd that a site publicising a software package for hostels should ask whether you want to book beds, and why it should offer only a particular set of hostels. So I take it that Go2hostels is a product of the Famous Hostels group.
Getting 100 booking requests every day makes a lot of work. If you want to save work, you link to Hoselworld from your website - no more email enquiries, only confirmed, guearanteed bookings. Disadvantage: Hostelworld gets 10% commission on every booking.
Solution: get the same software Hostelworls uses and cut out the middle men. Keep those 10% for yourself.
OK, I understand the aim. So, is this a software package that you install on your hostel website? Is it free (for the basic package)? Does the hostel allocate beds to it as it does to Hostelworld? Does money change hands at the time of booking?
You say this does not yet link automatically to a front-desk system. If so, it is still a lot of work, although less than having to answer emails personally. With regard to our proposed front desk system, should we be visualising writing a hostel website package of this type that DOES link?
16 years
If you are not using a statistics program for your Web site, I would recomend it. Google Analytics is free and a very good program. These programs tell you what people are typing into their search engine to find your place and where they are from. It's a great tool!
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