Trends in hotel booking-engine design

A new study by the Università della Svizzera italiana takes a closer look at the booking-engine trends of the main hotel chains. The study is based on an in-depth analysis of features, functionalities and contents of 162 hotel chain booking-engines worldwide.
 

What are booking engines‘ main functionalities? How can booking engines sound as the welcoming voice of a receptionist?

A new study by the Research laboratory of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) investigated contents and functionalities of the main hotel chains’ booking engines worldwide. Measuring the interactivity of reservation systems and selecting relevant practices from 162 hotel chains, it helps to understand how to design or improve a booking engine.

Results show a quite low degree of engagement with prospective customers, and suggest that a human-like interaction system may be the next step in this area. In other words: a booking engine should move from being just an inventory management system up to becoming a recommendation system.

The increasing share requested by intermediating online travel channels may push hotels towards a higher degree of disintermediation, hence investing in their own booking engine.

Source: Hotel Marketing