Hospitality Reservation Systems are moving into the realm of guest facing technology even as they consolidate room availability positions.
Originally designed and operated by airlines, the reservation system was later extended for use by travel agencies, and global distribution systems (GDSs) to book and sell tickets for multiple airlines. With time it got introduced in hotels too. The system essentially now processes online reservations made via the hotel’s website and then passes this information to the hotel’s own backend so that the information can be easily accessed.
Bookings are then managed by hotel staff. With the boom of the millennial traveller, now more than 700 million people are expected to book primarily online by 2023, so having an online reservation system is key to reaching a widespread audience.
A hotel reservation system is a simple software tool that helps to compile all bookings information at one place which is required for smooth operations.
One of the latest trends in the reservation systems space is the option to create multiple room reservations together. These systems now also allow users to update their profiles and record turn away or denial calls.
Most hoteliers integrate their systems with CRM to make it richer and a singular platform to give personalized and curated experience to their guests.
A strong, agile reservation system gives a greater sense of control over information and pricing. As the whole process is streamlined, it can establish clear rules for setting room rates, allocating discounts, and either upselling or cross-selling with customers in an effective and efficient manner, as opposed to traditional booking methods.
Since there is an array of loyalty programs available to the public, these systems assist majorly by verifying the different membership types. They also take into consideration previous stays while processing reservations. Hotel PMS (Property Management System) does the task of guest profiling.
The data collected by the reservation systems is helpful for the hotel to analyse and strategize on the way forward. Data such as demographics, segmentation, calls turned away is used in different ways.
AI, Chatbot, Voice recognition search and cloud IVR enabled and integrated with CRM, PMS and Payment systems are some of the new technologies used now in the systems. Reservation system uses computerized systems used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions.
The upgradation of reservation systems is done at a global level at pre-decided, regularly scheduled intervals. There has been a major change in the trend of traveller behaviour after the pandemic.
Read the full story that first appeared in Hotelier India’s Oct 2022 issue here: