Online Booking Systems
15 August 2014
Version: 1.5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
3
Why have an online booking system?
3
Where to start?
3
What this document covers
3
Online Booking Systems
4
What should you be looking for?
4
Top Suggested Booking Systems
7
Examples
9
What if I already have an online booking system?
13
Why do I need an Online Merchant Facility (OMF)? I don’t use one with
Wotif, etc.
13
How do I get an Online Merchant Facility (OMF)?
14
Summary
14
INTRODUCTION
Why have an online booking system?
The use of the Internet has exploded in the last ten years with over three quarters (76%) of Australian
internet users making a purchase or order over the internet in 2012-131. Adding the 40% of global
online users2, it makes sound business sense to make your tourism product visible and bookable
online. Statistics show that more and more bookings are made outside normal business hours; with an
online booking system, your product is available 24/7.
Where to start?
Tourism Victoria has released an excellent, easy-to-read document, titled “Online Booking Made
Easy”3. The document outlines how an online booking system works, what operators need to do and
the advantages. Also available through Tourism Victoria is their Tourism eKit4 which contains useful
information and links not just about online booking systems (Tutorials 34 and 35) but also the wider
internet and social media areas.
What this document covers
The aim is to provide you with an independent review of what top booking systems are available, how
they can assist you in promoting your product and the costs involved. So … let’s get started!
1
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2012-13
2
Internet World Stats (internetworldstats.com), March 2014 estimate
3
http://www.tourism.vic.gov.au/images/stories/Documents/Marketing/online-booking-made-easy.pdf
4
http://tourismekit.atdw.com.au
Online Booking Systems
Yarra Ranges Tourism is transitioning from Bookeasy to TXA. The reasons for the transition are:
extensive distribution network and benefits; real-time bookable system; nationally supported booking
system; administration efficiencies for the operator and Yarra Ranges Tourism.
What should you be looking for?
What online booking system you choose will be dependent on your needs. Listed below are the top
suggested systems outlining what they offer and their fees.The four main areas we’ve evaluated them
for are:
1. Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA)
The online booking system needs to be integrated with TXA (TXA is managed by V3). It is beneficial but
not mandatory that you also have an Australia Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) account. The TXA fee
is 2.8% inc GST only applicable to successful online bookings through TXA channels.
2. Online Merchant Facility
The number two item on your list is setting up an Online Merchant Facility (OMF). An OMF is like
EFTPOS, with similar process, but specifically designed for online. The OMF simply enables money from
your customer’s booking to be processed and deposited securely and automatically directly into your
nominated bank account, which means you get the money faster and hold all the funds. It is the most
secure way to process booking payments.
If you already have one, then you are on the way to setting up an online booking system. If not, most
banks offer this service or talk to V3 about TXA and they can help. TXA has negotiated a competitive
deal with a number of banks; call 1300 266 582 for details.
.
3. Property Management System
The third thing you must have is an electronic booking system connected to TXA. You will need
this no matter whether you have one room (or tour/activity) or many. For accommodation
operators, you should look at a Property Management System (PMS), tour/activity operators will
use a Tour Management System. These manage your business and inventory (eg. rooms/tickets),
rates and availability, marketing content (images/descriptions etc) and functions such as checkin/check- out, reports etc all in one system. Some systems also have embedded into them the
capability to manage all of your sales channels. It is the easiest and best solution to have all this
capability in one system because it takes away the need for manual tasks and the risk of double
bookings.
4. Channel Management System
Accommodation operators could also use a Channel management system. These may sit outside your
PMS and need to be manually loaded with your rates and availability to send them to big third party
‘travel agent’ sites such as Expedia, Wotif, Agoda and Booking.com. However, you must remember to
constantly manually keep these updated or double bookings will result. You select what channels you
would like your property to appear on.
Please note: you will be charged by these third party channels if you use them so make sure to include
their commission and/or fees when you evaluate the booking systems below.
Top Suggested Booking Systems
This isn’t a definitive list by any means. If you are already using an online booking system you are
happy with and it already integrates with Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA) systems, then there is no
need to change. If, however, you don’t have an online booking system or are looking to change, then
the table below will help. Prices quoted are including GST.
Yarra Ranges Tourism has audited all local accommodation operators to identify the most popular
booking systems currently in use. This has helped us develop the following recommendations of
preferred suppliers who, in recognition, have offered the following rates and discounts. We will be
retaining both Bookeasy and the TXA integrated systems for the forseeable future. This will enable us
to best service the visitor’s needs when visiting our websites for live bookable accommodation and
tours across the region.
To aid the local industry to be live bookable, we will also be facilitating information workshops with
these suppliers on an ongoing basis.
EXISTING
FrontDesk
Siteminder
Resonline
STAAH
√
√
√
√
BookEasy
Connected to TXA
Property Management
√1
√
√
($10/month
($50 one-off
)
set-up fee)
√
√
(Using Saturn
System
at $40/month)
Channel Management
√
√
√
√
√
System
Accessible via Web
√
√
√
√
√
Browser
Available for 1-10 rooms
√
√
√
√
√
Setup Fee
$0
$0
$99
$0
$150
(Mention
(Mention Yarra
Yarra Ranges
Ranges
Tourism and
Tourism and
this fee is
Booking Fee Rate
Monthly Fee
2%
2.8%
0
0
this fee is
waved)
$0
$39-$199
2.2%
2
waved)
$0
3
$59-$159
3
Fixed
(from $70)
Per Transaction Fee
Booked via VIC or Yarra
Ranges Tourism online (%)
$0
$0.80
$0
$4.80
$0
9% +
6%
6%
6%
6%
merchant
fee of
TXA Fee
1.42%
2.8%
2.8%
2.8%
2.8%
Total paid by operator
12.42%
11.6% plus
8.8% plus
11% plus
8.8% plus
total
80 cents per
$99 one-
$4.80 per
one-off
transaction
off setup
transaction
setup fee;
fee; then
OR fixed
then fixed
monthly fee
monthly costs
ongoing
monthly
costs
ongoing
EXISTING
FrontDesk
Siteminder
Resonline
support@
v3sales@v3
Daniel
support@
bookeasy.c
sales.com
Healy,
bookeasy.com
om
tel: 1300
daniel.healy
tel: 07 5667
266 582
@siteminde
2430
STAAH
BookEasy
Company Contact
tel: 07
5667 2430
John Klune,
salesaus@sta
ah.com
r.com
1 Must be Bookeasy GOLD operator. Additional fees apply to also connect to TXA.
2 Dependent on number of rooms – see http://www.siteminder.com/pricing/anzpac-pricing/
3 Dependent on number of rooms – see http://www.resonline.com/pricing/
Please note that a Facebook Booking app will be functional on the Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs Facebook page for
Bookeasy Gold operators.
Examples
Existing Scenario: Bookeasy and Stand Alone Regional Booking Service
Operator A has two rooms available as a Bed-and-Breakfast operation. They are a BookEasy Gold
client so have access to a Property Management System, a Channel Management System and an
Online Booking System. They’ve “sold” their two rooms at $100 per night for five nights via the
online Yarra Ranges Tourism (YRT) booking system or facilitated by the Visitor Information Centre
which brings in $1,000 for that week. The total goes into YRT’s account and, at the end of the month,
YRT will keep $90, the operator is paid $890 and Bookeasy is paid $20. The operator will retain $890. It
may take up to 16 days after the guest has stayed (Stay and Pay policy), dependent on time of
booking, for the operator to receive their money.
Future Scenario: TXA and Integrated Booking System
Operator B also has two rooms available as a Bed-and-Breakfast operation. They are a FrontDesk client
which has access to a Property Management System, a Channel Management System and an Online
Booking System. They’ve “sold” their two rooms at $100 per night for five nights via the online
Yarra Ranges Tourism booking system or facilitated by the Visitor Information Centre which brings in
$1,000 for that week. The operator will retain the full $1000 from the time of booking. The month
after the booking, TXA will invoice the operator for the total commission value and automatically pay
Yarra Ranges Tourism $60, FrontDesk $29 and TXA $25. There was one transaction involved (one
transaction for the two room booking) so a further $0.80 will be deducted. The final amount retained
by the operator is $885.20.
Scenario: Operator with no booking system but using Wotif, Stayz and Expedia channels
Operator C has two rooms available as a Bed-and-Breakfast operation. They have a small website
promoting their rooms but do not have an online booking system and are currently juggling the
bookings using a manual diary system and emails. In order to use a real-time booking system, they
need to :
1. Set up an online merchant facility (through their current bank operator or through Paypal
Merchant)
2. Determine which booking service operator provides a Property Management System as part of
their offering.
3. Pay set up fees (if appropriate) to their nominated online booking system operator
4. Integrate the online booking system with their website
5. Set up the Property Management System with the details of their rooms, rates and availability. This
will feed into the Book Now button on their website.
6. As an extra add-on, if their online booking system operator provides a channel management
capability, they can nominate third party sites where their rooms, rates and availability can be
promoted. Third party sites may include Wotif, Booking.com, Expedia, etc., who charge 12-15%
commission for sales made through them, so the operator should take these into account when
calculating their costs.
Focussing only on Distribution, if Operator C sells their two rooms at $100 per night for five nights
using BookEasy and have selected Wotif and Expedia as their Channels. They’ve sold two rooms for
five nights through the Visitor Information Centre via BookEasy one week; two rooms for five nights
through Wotif and two rooms for five nights through Expedia on different weeks. At the end of the
month, the Distribution costs would be:
Total revenue for month: $3000
Commission to BookEasy: $20
Payable to Yarra Ranges Tourism (as booked through Visitor Information Centre): $90
Payable to Wotif (12%): $120
Payable to Expedia (15%): $150
The operator will retain: $2,620 from which they will need to take out the cost of their receiving the
payment from Wotif/Expedia via virtual credit card (~1%-2%) , plus any proportionate costs of their
electronic systems/set up fees and per transaction costs that may be associated.
Process Flow: BookEasy and Visitor Information Centre
Process Flow: TXA and Integrated Booking System
What if I already have an online booking system?
The next steps for you may be as easy as ticking a checkbox in your booking management system.
TXA have a list of online systems that are already integrated with them at
http://www.atdw.com.au/txa/bookingsystems/ or contact your online booking system provider. Please
note: There may be a one-off or monthly fee charged by your system provider to connect your booking
engine to TXA.
Once you are online and your tourism product is viewable on ATDW and TXA, it’ll be bookable
through multiple websites. Latest research5 shows that 57% of travellers indicate that they book online
when the product is available with secure payment and instant confirmation.
Why do I need an Online Merchant Facility (OMF)? I don’t use one with Wotif, etc.
Although the booking is done through TXA, the system doesn’t actually take, handle or hold
any monies. TXA provides a secure payment process and gateway directly and automatically from
the customer’s card to your bank account through your OMF. Customers’ credit card details are
not captured, stored or passed on which is the most secure way to process booking payments.
Having an OMF enables money from online bookings to be deposited directly into your bank account.
It also eliminates the need for you to also have an on-site EFTPOS terminal if you choose. With third
parties such as Wotif, you will wait for your money until after the customer has checked -out and pay a
larger commission percentage for the privilege6.
If you are not using an OMF but a system of emails or encrypted server-stored transactions, it presents
a security risk for the customer, you the operator, the banks and credit card companies. If the credit
card details are fraudulently obtained, you the operator, are responsible and liable and may result in
the bank taking away online/offline credit card processing entirely from your business. For example,
5
http://www.statisticbrain.com/internet-travel-hotel-booking-statistics/
6
As of June 2014, Wotif charges 12% commission - http://www.travelweekly.com.au/news/wotif-to-raise-supplier-commission
Sony7 kept customer credit card details on their servers instead of using an OMF and they were hacked
in 2011 for that information. In 2007, RosesOnly8, the online florists, had their database of customer
credit card details hacked and millions of dollars were fraudulently spent via the credit card details
stolen.
How do I get an Online Merchant Facility (OMF)?
In the first instance, talk to your current banking facility as the majority of them offer OMFs. For
standard cards (eg. Visa, Mastercard), there is typically a a merchant fee of around 1% for standard
credit cards (may be higher for premium cards) offset against a minimum monthly fee. Paypal also
provides an online merchant account - see paypal.com for details. Alternatively, V3 (runs TXA) has
negotiated group deals with a number of banks for OMFs, contact V3 on 1300 266 582 or email
V3sales@V3sales.com.
Summary
Congratulations on getting online and setting up your online booking system!
Although this is only one part of your Sales and Marketing strategy, it is a vitally important one.
Using the national TXA open booking platform means your tourism property is ‘visible’ nationally
and internationally. Having your asset available and ready to book is key in the digital era. As the
payment booking funds processing, settlement and other aspects of online booking is handled
by TXA, you can concentrate on your business and servicing your customers.
7
http://www.wired.com/2011/04/playstation-network-hacked/
8
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-09-15/hackers-steal-credit-card-details-from-roses-only/670366