Looking for an affordable and easy to learn front desk booking software. Please let me know if you have any recos.
10 years
I like bananadesk,
very well optimised for hostels, its very easy to add multiple beds to a booking for groups, and if the hostel is too full that people have to change beds in order to stay thats easy to do too.
the inbuilt booking systems not the best around though. bananadesk offers a free months trial so you can check it out fully
10 years
I have been using bananadesk also for over a year with myallocator as a channel manager.
Find both very good and easy to use.
10 years
Loventis is one of the best systems I've used, in terms of channel management and syncing bookings from the majority of hostel booking sites.
Only problem I could conceive would be that the bookings arrange themselves per room and not per bed - we weren't a hostel that allocated beds but if you do I could see it being an issue.
Otherwise fantastic software!
9 years
I've seen youtube videos about some of these softwares but I dont see what they actually offer that I couldnt do myself in Excel. Of course Id have to transfer the details from a booking email to the spreadsheet but that isnt so much of an inconvenience that I would be willing to pay for some unnecessary software to do that for me. Am I missing something??!?!?!
9 years
Well they link to your channle manager so any bookings through phone or walkins where you input their details in to you PMS it automatically removes the bed from the OTA's through the channel manager.
It also keeps track of who has paid and you can do analyisis depending on the PMS on where you are getting your bookings and which rooms are giving you the best return.
I think for the price of the software and time saved it is very valuable.
9 years
We custom made an Excel sheet for our receptionists that has exactly the information that they need to do their jobs. On an operational level, it’s great. Simple to learn, easy to use, visually straightforward and intuitive. On a management level it’s significantly less useful though. The reporting capacity is limited. There are no features to facilitate cashing out and changing shifts or verifying how much money should be in the till. Any emails that go to guests have to be sent manually instead of using an automated system. Having a PMS would provide a lot more functions than my Excel sheet could, which would make my job easier and make me more productive. That would be valuable for me.
Now it’s just a question of finding the one that operates as closely as possible to my own Excel sheet so that it’s still easy and intuitive for my receptionists to use.
9 years
I've come across a good PMS and channel manager in one, called Little Hotellier. It's designed more so for small hotels more than anything. It's web-based, links in with HW, HB, Agoda, BDC, EXP, etc. and you can use it on your website for direct bookings.
I contacted them the other day regarding their pricing, to see if their pricing model (per room), is applicable to hostels. I didn't hear back, so I will chase them on Monday. I will let every one know what I find out. :)
They also have a free newsletter that comes out once or twice a month, with tips on how to get the most of your hotel, and travel trends. Really good newsletter. Hostel managers/owner should definitely sign up for it.
9 years
I contacted them today, and they said they happily accept hostels at a special rate.
For example, if your hostel has 15 rooms, with 60 beds, they would not charge you for 60 beds, they would charge you for 15 rooms.
One down side of using them is if you regularly change your room types throughout the year, you would have to contact them to adjust it I believe. It's a little pricey for all the bells-and-whistles, but overall it's a good PMS to use.
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