So what next for you? Do you already have online booking software? Are you looking for one? If you are, you’re in the right place. In this article, we are going to share the top 10 online booking system requirements that will help you choose the best tool for your business.

We have to admit, it is difficult for us to give unbiased tips on choosing an online booking system since we run one and love ours. That aside, we would direct customers to other booking systems if we think that our software won’t be a good fit for them. At the end of the day, our key focus is on building good relationships with our customers, so we will provide you with unbiased advice on the most important booking system requirements.

1. Talk to Your Team

Before you start researching which online system to work with, interview your team about their needs. You should brainstorm every key area of your business; from admin to finance, marketing, operations, and sales. Ask them what their key requirements for the online booking system are and which of them aren’t being met at the moment.

Align that list with your company’s overall goals so that you have a comprehensive understanding of what your company needs and wants from tour and activity operation software. This first step helps to give you a foundation for your research.

2. Figure Out What You Need and Want

Compile a list of all the things you need, and then sort the list into two columns: must-haves and nice-to-haves. This will help you understand the difference between what your business needs and wants. And that will ultimately impact your purchasing decision.

Your team should be around when you do this so that you don’t miss any key need or want.

Here are some of the differences between basic and complex booking software systems. Align your wants and needs list with this one to figure out which type of booking system you need.

Basic online booking system requirements:

• Cloud-based
• Payment options (Credit card, bank transfer, PayPal, deferred payment processing, cash)
• Inventory system
• Real-time booking
• User-friendly interface
• Customer support
• Integrations with an email marketing software

Complex online booking system requirements:

• SMS and email automation
• Language and currency settings
• Email customization
• Integration with third-party software (e.g. POS Systems, Rating Portals, etc.)
• Detailed sales reports
• Voucher and promo code management
• Distribution channel management (e.g. the Regiondo Channel Manager)
• Resource management

3. Align Booking System Requirements with Your Company’s Goals

Your team has provided their input and you have your list of must-haves and nice-to-haves. You need to add your company’s goals to this list to draw a clean line between those two columns. Sure, having a particular feature is nice, but if it does not align with your goals, you shouldn’t really be making that extra investment. The key is to focus on what is important for your business.

4. Consider Your Budget

In an ideal world, you shouldn’t base your decision on the cost of the software. However, in the real world of business, you need to figure how much you are willing to pay for an online booking system. If you go with a standard option, you will need to factor in the cost of commissions and fees as that would affect your bottom line and profit margins.

5. Is it Simple and Easy to Use?

One of the first things you need to think about while looking for the right online booking system is simplicity. How easy is it to use? Will your customers find it user-friendly and easy to book their tour? Is it easy to integrate with the other systems you are using? Think about your CMS system!

Time is essential in your business and one of the main booking system requirements is simplicity and ease of use.

6. Can You Configure Your Travel Policy?

An online booking system needs to enable you to set an advanced policy configuration. Without that feature in place, and without compliance, your business is exposed to a lot of unnecessary fees and fines.

A good online booking system will allow you to define your service, the value of transactions, departure and destination cities/countries, tour buses, meeting points, additional information, etc.

7. Reporting

Reporting is a key part of any business and is an important feature to look for in an online booking system. An in-depth report will enable you to have a better view of your reservations and increase your level of control in tweaking and adjusting policies and other features.

A reporting tool would easily enable you to download customer details, itineraries, and other important analytics data. One of the important online booking system requirements is also to give a clear view of your financial data, payout reports, and tax information.

8. How Will Your Internal Processes Change?

You need to think about how your internal processes will change and prepare for what you may need, like additional staff training. Some of the changes that are likely to take place are as follows:

• Your daily processes will most likely become automated or be significantly reduced. For example, you probably won’t be spending as much time communicating with customers via email or phone since everything will be handled via the online booking system.
• Your staff can easily and readily view and share information among the company more efficiently.
• Your mobility will increase as bookings can be managed anywhere and anytime, on a mobile or tablet. Your staff will know the status of your business and can better and more flexibly manage schedules.

9. Is the Software Easy to Integrate into Your Site?

Cloud-based online booking systems usually have widgets that can be easily added to your site. Keep in mind that although they are very easy to integrate, you won’t have much control over the booking flow. Users are often redirected to the booking platform to complete their booking, which means that the user leaves your site during the process.

You can have more control over the process if you go with a custom solution. That way, you’ll be able to better analyze how users are behaving during the booking process and can thus optimize conversions.

10. What about the Quality of Customer Support?

This point is very important for consideration. Getting support when you need it is vital to your business. Yes, self-service support systems are great, but you need to get answers in a timely manner when you’re having technical issues. It could have a huge impact on all your business.

So you need to ask the following questions: What’s the turnaround for support? Do we need to pay extra to get our questions answered on time? Is customer support available in our time zone? Do the technical support team speak my language?

Wrapping Up

Going through booking system requirements and choosing the best tool takes time. You need to think about costs, which features you need and want; and a lot of other questions highlighted above. Go with the option that best suits your needs and gives you and your customers the best user experience.

You might also like:

• SaaS vs On-Premise: Which Solution is Cheaper in the Long Run?
• 12 Free Marketing Tools To Boost Your Online Sales
• SaaS Booking System vs In-House Development: Which is Right for You?

The post Online Booking System Requirements: 10 Things to Consider appeared first on Regiondo.

It’s estimated that tours and activities online penetration will reach 21% in 2020. Therefore, having an efficient and user-friendly online booking system is one of the key determinants for the success of your business.

IT strategies for making these reservations are numerous seeing that technology has advanced so much. But the solution boils down to the type of booking system you choose for your tour or activity business.

You can either go for in-house development or use a SaaS (Software as a Service) booking system. SaaS systems offer several benefits including lower cost, scalability, and ease of implementation among others. No wonder this is becoming the most preferred solution by most companies.

In this article, we’ll delve deeper and explain what in-house and SaaS services are. We’ll also compare these two solutions and help you make a more informed decision when opting for your company’s booking system.

What is a SaaS Booking System?

SaaS is a software solution that’s hosted and managed by a service provider and used by businesses remotely.

In the past, for a customer to make a reservation, they would have to call your company and talk directly to a staff member. This process is tedious, to say the least.

With the introduction of online solutions, the process is more streamlined. Customers can survey the available dates and times, weigh their options, and make a booking decision at any time or day. No need to talk to anyone and no more limitation to business days and working hours.

To set up this online booking system, you need a program that will hold all the necessary information and enable the booking process. This is where the SaaS system comes in.

SaaS programs allow your company to use a booking system without the need for complicated and expensive infrastructure or hiring IT professionals to do the work. SaaS providers host the software in their own location or on the cloud and make the program available to different businesses in various locations.

Tour and activity businesses today opt for SaaS solutions because of how efficient, cost-effective, and user-friendly they are.

In-House or On-Premises Solution

The in-house solution, just as the name suggests, requires you to build your own software within your business and using your own servers.

Installing on-premises software involves getting human resources to work on the system and buying the necessary IT infrastructure. You can source the program from a 3rd party provider but install it in your own servers unlike with a SaaS solution where the software is hosted at the provider’s servers.

Granted, with in-house development, you have the advantage of owning the product, having access to all the data, and being able to build the system as per your needs. But all these demands extra time and money from you that could have been channeled to your core business which is selling tours and activities.

Comparison

Let’s take a closer look at how in-house development compares to SaaS booking solutions.

Cost

One aspect of a SaaS booking system that stands out the most is how cost-effective it is compared to on-premises solutions.

Most SaaS providers offer several packages depending on the features you want. These packages are available at different price points for businesses to choose from. The varied pricing makes it easier for your tour or activity company to select the most appropriate package as per your company’s budget and requirements.

The only other cost is the transaction fee which covers the costs for credit cards and 3rd party payment service providers like Stripe.

As for on-premises development, firstly, the upfront cost is much higher. You need funds to hire IT staff dedicated to setting up the software and hardware. Then there is the recurring maintenance cost and remuneration for your IT personnel.

All these costs add up and result in a more expensive solution. All in all, a SaaS booking system will usually end up being cheaper. You can look at our other article giving a detailed breakdown of the costs involved in SaaS vs on-premises development.

Winner: SaaS Booking System

Estimated cost of using a SaaS booking system vs building an in-house solution. Source.

Implementation and ease of use

One of the benefits of SaaS booking solutions is the speed of implementation. As soon as you subscribe to the software, it’s available for use in your company.

In addition, SaaS solutions are typically user-friendly, making it simple to understand and operate. You will not need to hire internal IT experts to operate it.

An in-house system on the other hand requires time to build and install in the business premises and devices. It is therefore not as quickly available as the SaaS solution. More to that, when you need to upgrade your system, the in-house booking system may need to go through some downtime, which means you won’t be able to accept bookings for a while.

Winner: SaaS Booking System

Customization

On-premises solutions offer more flexibility in terms of customization. Since you have access and control over the whole system, it’s easier to customize almost everything.

On the other hand, some SaaS booking systems are tailored for tours and activities so you will usually find everything you need to operate your business. If something is missing, you might be able to request a feature from your provider but there is no guarantee it will be implemented or how long it would take.

Winner: In-house development

Maintenance and Support

With any software product, good maintenance and support are necessary to set up and keep the system running. This will involve taking care of devices, infrastructure, and features of the program.

With SaaS booking systems, the 3rd party provider handles all these aspects of the product. You don’t need internal staff to handle the maintenance. You can also easily get support from the provider either through live chat, manuals, or social media.

In-house development on the other hand requires you to handle the maintenance and support. Your hired IT staff will look into any issues that need attention. Any questions concerning the features of the software should ideally be answered by the experts on your team or externally, if you hired an agency to build your system..

All in all, though maintenance and support are available with both SaaS and on-premises software, the SaaS support will come at no additional cost or effort on your end as the user.

Winner: SaaS Booking System

Scalability

One of the benefits of SaaS solutions includes the ability to seamlessly grow and expand your business with the software, without adding considerable costs.

If for any reason, you want to scale down, it’s also relatively easy to do so with a SaaS system. This can help minimize costs during times when business is slow.

But scaling an in-house system is not as easy or straightforward. You need a long-term plan to be able to expand or upgrade your system. This may also end up being quite costly.

Winner: SaaS Booking System

Security

Security is one of the biggest concerns with big brands or companies when dealing with 3rd party software providers. Are the systems well guarded? Is your data safe?

If you are working with high-end SaaS providers, like Regiondo, you can bet on getting top-notch security. The provider handles all the security issues so your business does not have to worry about it. To be certain of this, it’s important to know the user and data protection mechanisms or techniques set up in the provider’s data centers.

Some of the most common protection mechanisms include SSL, firewalls, and intrusion detection. You can also go a step further and request the 3rd party’s certifications for the security practices they utilize. This will give you peace of mind and assure you of the safety of your data and your business.

On the flip side, enforcing security and regulatory requirements with in-house development typically requires more time and resources.

Winner: SaaS Booking System

Should You Switch to a SaaS Booking System?

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s go through the key questions you should answer before opting for a software as a service provider:

1. What are your reasons for choosing a SaaS service?

This is the most fundamental question your company should answer.

Since you’re reading this article, you probably have a pressing need that’s making you consider getting a SaaS booking system. It’s safe to say that that is a sign you do need this service.

But just to be clear, you need to have a concrete business reason for getting a SaaS solution. The need to provide a seamless and easy booking process for potential clients is by far the most vital reason for getting a SaaS booking system.

2. Do you have a development team?

If your tour company does not have IT personnel to set up and run an in-house booking software, and cannot afford to get such a team, then going for a SaaS provider is better.

All the backend running of the software and the infrastructure maintenance is handled by the provider in a SaaS program. You, therefore, don’t need internal staff to do this work.

3. Do you need custom features?

If you run a large tour company or attraction, it could make sense to introduce custom changes based on the volume of sales you have. In these situations, in-house development will give you more options. That said, it’s costly and SaaS solutions nowadays should be able to cover your requirements in most situations.

Conclusion

So there you have it, your guide to deciding between in-house development and SaaS booking solution.

Both models have their pros and cons based on:

• Your budget
• Level of customization desired
• Security needs
• Implementation speed
• Maintenance and support.

A SaaS booking system will typically save you huge upfront costs of setting up software and acquiring IT infrastructure. You can also get top-notch security if you go for a high-end provider like Regiondo.

You might also like:

• SaaS vs On-Premise: Which Solution is Cheaper in the Long Run?
• 12 Free Marketing Tools To Boost Your Online Sales
• Website Best Practices for Tour and Activity Companies

The post SaaS Booking System vs In-House Development: Which is Right for You? appeared first on Regiondo.